This page is maintained by Nick Christenson, npc@jetcafe.org. It was last updated on December 22, 2004.
The point of this page is to track the relative sizes of the larger Internet Service Providers, where size is measured by some notion of the extent of their customer base, whose primary base of operations is outside of the United States. Very little information has been made publically available on this, and as far as I can tell, no attempt has ever been made to collate it. The purpose of this page is to make this attempt. It will disappear if anyone with real time and resources ever decides to track this information.
The only way to gain real information on the size of the customer base of any ISP is via their own announcements. Of course, we have no real idea what the methodology is that they are using, nor can we tell whether these numbers are in any way accurate. Nonetheless, this information can show some relative sizes without needing to be horribly accurate.
All this information is gathered via contributors who have sent in information for this page. Your contribution is necessary to make and keep the data on this page meaningful. If you ever hear an ISP quote its own size in any non-confidential context, please email it to me, npc@jetcafe.org along with a reference to the source of this information, whether it be a Usenet news posting by an ISP staff member, a newspaper clipping, a press release, etc.. Of course, representatives of the ISPs themselves are invited to send me their numbers when they can be released.
The "Country" column of this table is becoming less and less relevant over time as many of these ISPs, especially the European firms, expand into each others markets. Nonetheless, I've tried to associate ISPs with their countries of origin and/or their largest markets. Needless to say, this is imprecise at best.
The goal of this page is to list every ISP outside of the United States that can legitimately claim more than 100,000 subscribers and list their actual size as accurately as possible.
By the way, I will no longer be adding information from Internetnews.com or affiliated web sites, as I believe their ethical standards for journalism are beneath contempt.
| ISP | Country | Subscribership | Date | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wanadoo | Europe | 9,000,000 | 20040203 | The Register |
| T-Online (Deutsche Telekom) | Germany | 8,700,000 | 20010523 | Industry Standard |
| Tiscali | Italy | 6,800,000 | 20001220 | Yahoo! |
| AOL Europe | Europe | 6,400,000 | 20030430 | 2002 Annual Report to Shareholders |
| Nifty | Japan | 5,180,000 | 20020707 | Yahoo! |
| Korea Telecom | Korea | 3,800,000 | 20020708 | Yahoo! |
| World Online International | Holland | 3,700,000 | 20000726 | World Online web site (at the time of the Tiscali acquisition) |
| Yahoo BB | Japan | 3,817,000 | 20040131 | January 31, 2004 issue of DSL Prime |
| AOL Deutschland | Germany | 2,500,000 | 20010125 | Yahoo! |
| Freeserve (Wanadoo UK) | United Kingdom | 2,440,000 | 20041029 | The Register |
| Hanaro | Korea | 2,200,000 | 20020708 | Yahoo! |
| So-net | Japan | 2,200,000 | 20020522 | Yahoo! |
| BTopenworld | United Kingdom | 2,000,000 | 20020417 | Las Vegas Review-Journal |
| Telecom Italia | Italy | 2,000,000 | 20000403 | The Standard |
| ODN (Japan Telecom) | Japan | 1,900,000 | 20020522 | Yahoo! |
| Thrunet | Korea | 1,300,000 | 20020708 | Yahoo! |
| Freenet | Germany | 1,300,000 | 20001214 | Yahoo! |
| Terra | Brazil | 1,200,000 | 20031218 | Yahoo! |
| Softbank Corp. | Japan | 1,010,000 | 20021020 | Yahoo! |
| surfEU.com | Europe | 1,000,000 | 20010220 | surfEU.com press release |
| Universe Online | Brazil | 1,000,000 | 20010427 | Yahoo! |
| Bell Canada | Canada | 909,000 | 20020427 | July 24, 2002 issue of DSL Prime |
| LibertySurf | France | 900,000 | 20000405 | Yahoo! (Purchased by Tiscali in January, 2001) |
| Virgin.net | United Kingdom | 800,000 | 20000110 | Andover News |
| AOL UK | United Kingdom | 800,000 | 20000306 | CNet News |
| Germany.net | Germany | 800,000 | 20001214 | Yahoo! |
| NTL | United Kingdom | 690,000 | 20030502 | The Register |
| 3web | Canada | 500,000 | 20000227 | Email from a Cybersurf employee. |
| Infostrada | Italy | 500,000 | 19990919 | CNet News |
| America Online Latin America | Latin America | 492,000 | 20020514 | Yahoo! |
| Plala | Japan | 470,000 | 20000711 | CNet News |
| Telstra | Australia | 400,000 | 20000216 | Yahoo! |
| Compuserve, UK | United Kingdom | 400,000 | 20000306 | CNet News |
| Netscape Online, UK | United Kingdom | 400,000 | 20000306 | CNet News |
| Club-Internet | France | 320,000 | 20000216 | The Standard (at the time of the Deutsche Telekom acquisition) |
| Rogers@Home | Canada | 312,000 | 20010108 | Canada NewsWire |
| ITG | Great Britain | 300,000 | 19991102 | Yahoo! |
| OzEmail | Australia | 300,000 | 199902?? | OzEmail web site |
| Look Communications | Canada | 294,000 | 20001102 | Look Communications press release |
| Skynet | Belgium | 285,000 | 20001206 | Invited talk at the LISA 2000 conference |
| AddCom | Germany | 271,000 | 20001220 | Yahoo! (at the time of acquisition by Tiscali) |
| Eircom | Ireland | 240,000 | 20000817 | Financial Times |
| Jippii Group | Finland | 230,000 | 20010515 | Jippii Group web site |
| SK Telecom | Korea | 189,000 | 20010716 | Yahoo! |
| Demon Internet | Great Britain | 180,000 | ? | Demon Internet web site |
| Dreamline | Korea | 180,000 | 20010716 | Yahoo! |
| Pacific Internet | Singapore and Malaysia | 173,700 | 20040209 | Yahoo! |
| Internet Direct | Canada | 150,000 | 19991025 | Look Communications press release (at the time of the merger with Look Communications) |
| Czech On Line | Czech Republic | 150,000 | 20000420 | Internet News |
| Clear Net | New Zealand | 150,000 | 20030221 | Clear Net web site |
| Telewest | United Kingdom | 135,000 | 20000218 | Internet News |
| AOL Latin America | Latin America | 129,000+ | 20000802 | CNet News |
| Telmex | Mexico | 110,000 | 19990211 | CNet News |
| Airtelnet | Spain | 110,000 | 20030203 | The Register (at the time of acquisition by Tiscali) |
| chello broadband n.v. | Europe | 106,500 | 19991213 | Internet News |
| Pacific Internet | Hong Kong | 103,200 | 20040209 | Yahoo! |
| Satyam Infoway | India | 100,000 | 19991125 | Satyam Infoway press release |
| Oceanfree.net | Ireland | 100,000 | 20000119 | The Irish Times |
| Paradise.net | New Zealand | 100,000 | 20030201 | TelstraClear web site |
| NTL | United Kingdom | 100,000 | 20031015 | The Register |
| Pacific Internet | Philippines | 93,200 | 20040209 | Yahoo! |
| ihug | New Zealand | 90,000 | 20021015 | ihug web site |
| Wanadoo Belgium | Belgium | 85,000 | 20020207 | The Register (at the time of the acquisition by Tiscali) |
| Primus Telecommunications | Canada | 80,000 | 200201.. | Primus web site |
| Telecom New Zealand | New Zealand | 72,000 | 20030630 | Telecom New Zealand web site |
| America Online Brasil | Brazil | 68,000 | 20000726 | Internet News |
| TotalNet | Canada | 60,000 | 19990927 | Internet News (at the time of the PSINet acquisition) |
| Pacific Internet | Australia | 56,700 | 20040209 | Yahoo! |
| GoConnect | Australia | 56,000 | 20000804 | Internet News |
| Cable Bahamas | Carribean | 22,000 | 20040909 | USA Today |
| Pacific Internet | India, Thailand | 21,300 | 20040209 | Yahoo! |
| Global OnLine Japan | Japan | 20,000 | 19991125 | Internet News (at the time of the Exodus acquisition) |
| Prime-Online | Canada | 12,000 | 199905?? | From an employee, second hand. |
| i-Manila | Philippines | 10,000 | ?? | i-manila web site |
| Internet Connect | Canada | 8,000 | 20000825 | Look Communications press release (at the time of acquisition by Look Communications) |
| Cesnet | Czech Republic | 8,000 | 20000124 | Internet News (at the time of acquisition by Contactel Ltd.) |
| InterPacific Online | Canada | 7,300 | 20000905 | Look Communications press release (at the time of acquisition by Look Communications) |
| Geoline | Mexico | 1,000 | 19991110 | Yahoo! (at the time of the buyout by Todito.com) |
| Optus Internet | Australia | #3 in Australia, less than 300,000 | 20000131 | Internet News |
| Ciudad Internet | Argentina | ? | ? | ? |
This page Copyright Nick Christenson, 1998 - 2004, All Rights Reserved.