European ISP Market Growing

The ISP market in Western Europe was worth $4.3 billion in 1998 according to IDC.

IDC found the amount of revenue generated by European ISPs increased by 53 percent during 1998, and will grow another 44 percent by the end of 1999. Between 1999 and 2003, the European ISP market will see a compound annual growth of 32 percent, IDC found.

The revenue generated by the corporate sector of the ISP market will begin to slow in 2002, IDC reports, due to a drop in leased line prices and the availability of lower-priced broadband alternatives.

Euromonitor has reported that the UK had 4.3 million Internet subscribers at the end of January 1999, and that this number would likely increase to 9 million by 2002.

The UK ISP market is worth $601 million per year, according to Euromonitor, and this does not include income from telecommunications companies, advertising, or Web hosting and design services.

In 1994, the UK had 385,000 Internet subscribers. By 1998, this had grown to 3.83 million. The UK saw 132 percent growth in Internet subscribers between 1997 and 1998.

The UK’s leading ISP is Freeserve, a free service provider, with competition provided by AOL, CompuServe, Demon, BT Internet, and MSN.