Growth in broadband users, just not Plusnets

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5278856.stm

"Nearly 73% of online homes used broadband in June, up from 54.4% in the same month last year".

Puts PNs recent almost static customer base, and share price, in context.

I'm sure the customer base has grown substantially between June 05 and June 06. It is in the past few months that the growth has been slower than the previous year (although it is back to around the same level as it was a couple of years ago I believe - based on published customer numbers and a hazey recollection of a comment made by an ex plusnet empoyee a month or so back)

edited to clarify the growth figures better.

Edited by ScaryMonkey (Wed 23-Aug-06 23:27:30)

Where are you getting the info that growth is back to the same level from?

I've clarified my comment a bit more because re-reading it, it could of been read differently to how I meant.

Basically I am using the latest reported growth figures. They were more in line with the growth rates a few years ago rather than the ones Plusnet have seen for the past 18 months.

The main gist of my post was to correct the implication of the OP that BB usage had grown immensly and PN hadn't seen an equally high increase in users. This is incorrect as PN customer numbers have increased dramatically in the past 18 months. It is just recently that they have slowed back down.

In reply to:

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PN customer numbers have increased dramatically in the past 18 months.

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Don't forget that they bought 18,000 last November with Metronet...

Yes, but the market is still growing dramatically (albeit somewhat slower in %age terms) and Plusnet have not kept up. Their latest figures were absolutely atrocious. I would be willing to place a fair bet on their figures going into negative territory for Q3, because I think Sky are going to be giving them an utter hammering.

I wonder how many of those still remain.

Regards

bs0d.

Most of them, probably. I know one or two other MN users- they do a bit of email, a bit of browsing... and it (mostly) works fine. They don't visit this bbs

IOW, they're the sort of customers that PN want- undemanding, with low usage and no fancy requirements. And as has often been mentioned here, the same sort of customers that TalkTalk and Sky are after.

Interesting times ahead, I think.

Sounds like me (though I do visit ADSLG!). I'm on PAYG, never really use more than 2GB a month, not much P2P and don't use PlusNet's email/web/etc. The main reasons I stay is that I haven't had any probs (yet), I've got some referrals, and the thrown-in MySQL tabes are very useful (and I don't fancy paying

The correct interpretation of the statistics (imho) is given by The Times today, wherein it is written:

"UPTAKE of broadband has dropped to its lowest level for four years, according to official figures, although the number of broadband households in the UK is approaching ten million.

A survey of internet service providers by the Office for National Statistics found that, in the quarter to the end of June, the increase in broadband connections among consumers and business users was only 5.5 per cent.

The rise represented the lowest quarterly increase since 2002 and was down from a 10.3 per cent increase in the previous quarter."

In other words, the market is reaching saturation point - meaning that PlusNet no longer have a long queue forming at their door to replace all the departing punters.

With this underlying contraction in the market growth rate, plus the stiff competition coming from the new convergence and 'free' providers, plus the utter misery being suffered by many PN customers as a result of technical failures and CS meltdown, they're going to need one helluva miracle PDQ just to keep going.

All their chickens are coming home to roost at the worst possible time for the company.

Simon