INTELLIGENCE FROM THE BROADBAND ECONOMY

The death spiral of dial-up Like a log rolling downhill, the decline of dial-up Internet access is picking up speed. Six million Internet users will flee dial-up services this year, and another 6 million will abandon dial-up next year, according to “The Battle for the North American Couch Potato: Bundling, Internet, TV, Telephone Report” from The Convergence Consulting Group. The big losers in this flight to broadband are service providers such as AOL, EarthLink, MSN and United Online, said analyst Brahm Eiley. “They are definitely the ones that are going to see the most decline,” he said. “That is why all of them have tried to diversify and move out of dial-up. They can see the writing on the wall.” At the same time, residential Internet usage is creeping up, now at 66% and headed for 70% by 2008. The broadband growth curve is steeper, in double digits for at least the next three years.