PlusNet buys Metronet for £1.7m

UK ISP PlusNet has bought fellow ISP Parbin for £1.7m.

Parbin, which trades as Metronet, has some 16,000 broadband customers. PlusNet will now offer those customers a wider choice of broadband packages as well as access to its own brand of VoIP, PlusTalk.

Metronet also provides pay-as-you-go broadband - an idea recently taken up by Bulldog. As well as supplying internet access, Metronet provides hosting and domain name registration services.

Lee Strafford, PlusNet's chief exec, said PlusNet will now get access to Metronet's growing customer base and be able to take advantage of the company's reputation.

The move is proof the UK broadband market is in a consolidation phase. The recent $6bn mega-merger of NTL and Telewest kicked off a feeding frenzy that has seen Sky snaffle Easynet and Pipex buy Freedom2Surf.