The rollercoaster ride that has been Freeserve...
By Tony Hallett
Published: 14 January 2004 17:30 GMT
14.01.99 Free internet service provider (ISP) Freeserve is claiming to have signed up its 900,000th member - making it the largest ISP in the UK.
Freeserve, which launched last September, is a joint venture between retail group Dixons and business telco Energis. More than 700,000 of the accounts have been used during the last month, giving Freeserve a clear lead over its closest rival, AOL, which has 500,000 members.
Benjamin Ensor, an analyst at Fletcher Research, said: "Sixty per cent of Freeserve members are already internet users, either switching over from another ISP or setting up a second account. It is not surprising that people are trying it out: the question is whether Freeserve can sustain it."
14.01.04 Could Freeserve sustain it? Let's cast our minds back. Here we had a company - albeit backed by a high street giant - that came from nowhere to claim the crown of UK's largest ISP within four months.
Others - notably X-Stream - would claim to have beaten the better-known Freeserve entrepreneurs to the business model but, make no mistake, this was the company that would be copied in a number of countries, including Germany and Italy. More established players such as AOL and Demon were truly worried.
The big switch, of course, came as unmetered dial-up access began to be offered. Freeserve was not shy to get in on the act but when broadband also became a mainstay, the word 'free' in its moniker started to sound vaguely ridiculous.
Then came the well-known flotation - you remember: a price that went very high then very low in a double-quick time - and the sale to France Telecom-owned ISP Wanadoo.
Now we have a Dixons Group, completely divorced from Freeserve (and siding with AOL in-store), and a company that is about to become Wanadoo UK. Or something.
It was a more than interesting ride - and it took a mere five years.
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