BroadBand User Service - UKPlus
Madasafish
Madasafish is the main brand of Brightview, which was an independent Internet service provider in the UK, established in 2001. On 6 July 2007, BT acquired Brightview for a consideration of GBP 15.8 million in an all cash deal. As part of the deal, all the Brightview brands, including Madasafish and Global Internet, and its contract to provide the Waitrose.com services were transferred to BT, increasing the latter’s broadband customer base by 62,000. In October 2007 it was announced that Global Internet would be merged into the Madasafish brand. BT is continuing to run Madasafish as a separate brand, managed in conjunction with PlusNet. Formerly, BT quoted total subscriber numbers for the Brightview brands and PlusNet combined in its quarterly results, but this appears to have ceased in its 2008-09 financial year.
Network Type & Services Offered
| | DSL | Cable | FTTx | Lan | WiFi | WiMax | 3G | Other |
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| Residential |
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| Wholesale |
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| Bundled services | |
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| Additional services | Dial up, Telephony |
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Standalone Tariffs| Name | Customer Group | Access Type | Up Kbps | Down Kbps | Activation Charge | Install Charge | Equipment Charge | Monthly Rental | Usage charge (per MB) | Tax inc | Currency code | Features | Promotional Offers | Notes |
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| MAX | Residential | ADSL | | 8,000 | | | 60.00 | 14.99 | | ✔ | GBP | 5 GB data transfer limit; 100 MB web space; 1 static IP address; free unlimited e-mail addresses; free e-mail virus protection and spam filtering; webmail; access to over 110,000 newsgroups | Monthly rental discounted at GBP 9.99 for first six months.
Router charges waived.
The users can receive free evening and weekend calls when they switch their line rental to Madasafish. | Usage charges - GBP 2.00 / GB; Monthly usage cap – GBP 99.99.
Maximum achievable speed has been quoted. | | MAX Plus | Residential | ADSL | | 8,000 | | | 60.00 | 25.99 | | ✔ | GBP | 20 GB data transfer limit; 100 MB web space; 1 static IP address; free unlimited e-mail addresses; free e-mail virus protection and spam filtering; access to over 110,000 newsgroups | Monthly rental discounted at GBP 19.99 for first six months.
Router charges waived.
The users can receive free evening and weekend calls when they switch their line rental to Madasafish. | Usage charges - GBP 2.00 / GB; Monthly usage cap – GBP 99.99.
Maximum achievable speed has been quoted. | | MAX Premier | Residential | ADSL | | 8,000 | | | 60.00 | 29.99 | | ✔ | GBP | 50 GB data transfer limit; 100 MB web space; 1 static IP address; free unlimited e-mail addresses; free e-mail virus protection and spam filtering; access to over 110,000 newsgroups | Monthly rental discounted at GBP 25.99 for first six months.
Router charges waived.
The users can receive free evening and weekend calls when they switch their line rental to Madasafish. | Usage charges - GBP 2.00 / GB; Monthly usage cap – GBP 99.99.
Maximum achievable speed has been quoted. |
Financial Performance| Date | Total revenue | EBITDA | Net profit | ARPU | Notes |
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| 31 Dec 2006 | 6,735,000 | 1,270,000 | 212,000 | | Six months to end-2006, for the Internet Division only | | 30 Jun 2007 | 10,047,000 | 3,598,000 | 484,000 | | Year to June end-2007, for the Internet Division only |
Network Architecture and Development| Headline | Details |
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| PlusNet network | On 14 November 2007, Brightview announced its plans to merge its networks and infrastructure with PlusNet, another broadband brand owned by BT. The combination will allow the operator to add new features to its existing services as well as deliver improved services in future. |
Marketing Programs| Headline | Details |
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| Tariff Increase | In 2Q06, the operator increased the monthly rental rates of its residential and business service, ‘Max broadband Plus’ by 8 percent. | | Service Plan | In 3Q06, the company ceased to offer its residential service ‘Max broadband Premier’ | | Speed Increase | In 1Q06, the operator upgraded the speeds of all its residential services from 2 Mbps to 8 Mbps. | | Security services | Parental Control: On 27 March 2007, Brightview's ISP, Madasafish launched parental control services for its broadband customers, supporting advanced security and protection features for the online content. The service is available at no cost for the first 30 days and then at a monthly price of 1.99 GBP.
Madasafish also offers BullGuard and Intego security packages for its customers; see under Business Partners
| | New residential service | In 4Q06, the operator launched a new residential service, ‘Max Premier’ with speed of up to 8 Mbps. | | Free wireless kit | On 13 June 2007, Brightview offered a free wireless networking kit to its broadband subscribers through Madasafish. It includes a wireless router and a USB connected wireless network card allowing the customers to make wireless connections. | | Call centre | In 2003, Brightview planned to shift its Madasafish and Totalise call centre business to India. | | Referral Programme | In February 2007, the operator introduced a referral programme for its customers where the customers could receive GBP 20 for each successful referral and the referee also receives GBP 10. | | Market positioning | Madasafish is yet another retail brand under BT catering to the residential broadband market in the UK. The other brands operating under Brightview has been merged into Madasafish and BT continues to operate it as a separate entity. It offers three residential broadband services differentiated on the usage limits. | | Usage allowance | One feature of Madasafish's website is a page at http://www.madasafish.com/broadband/usage-allowance.shtml explaining how much customers can do - in terms of downloading videos for example - within the 5,20 or 50GB download allowances of the different Max services. | | Security suites | 9 Mar 2008: Madasafish recommends Intego security suite for Mac users at a maximum discount of 32%. For non Mac users, it offers BullGuard 7.0 at a monthly subscription of GBP 2.50. | | Reduction in VAT | 1 December 2008: Madasafish reduced the prices of its services as a result of fall in VAT from 17.50% to 15%, effective immediately. | | Ofcom voluntary code | 5 December 2008: Madasafish signed a new Ofcom voluntary code to be more transparent in its communication with the customers. As per the code, the operator is required to inform the customer the true broadband speed the customer's line can support and what factors would result in loss of speed for the customer. The code also requires the operator to explain the fair usage policy to its customers and alert them when they have been violated. |
Business Partners and Content Deals| Headline | Details |
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| Energis | In February 2003, Brightview signed an agreement with Energis to offer network connectivity to Energis’s customers. | | Bizworks | In November 2005, Brightview signed an agreement with Durban based Bizworks worth GBP 2 million to transfer all its call centre activities from India to Bizworks. | | Intego | Intego is the only security supplier for Macs that Madasafish recommend. It offers the Intego Internet Security Barrier for GBP 59.95 (Backup Edition) or GBP 79.95 (Platinum Edition) | | BullGuard | BullGuard is a PC security package with Antivirus, Antispyware, Firewall, Spamfilter and Online backup protection. Madasafish offers it to its customers for GBP 3.00 per month. |
Company History and Development| Headline | Details |
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| Acquisition by Invox | In August 2004, Brightview was acquired by Invox for a consideration of GBP 25 million. | | Acquisition of Global net, Freenetname and Dialstart | In 2002, Brightview acquired three ISP’s - Global net, Freenetname, and Dialstart from XO Communications. | | Sell-off | In October 2006 Invox sold off its loss-making home gaming division and the company became wholly focused on its ISP operations. The company subsequently raised new finance and changed its name to Brightview plc. | | Acquisition by BT | On 6 July 2007, BT acquired Brightview for a consideration of GBP 15.8 million in an all cash deal. As part of the deal, all three Brightview brands, Madasafish, Global Internet and Waitrose.com will be transferred to BT, increasing the latter’s broadband customer base by 62,000. | | History | Since 2001, Brightview has invested significantly in upgrading its network infrastructure, to offer fast and reliable services to its customers. In 2003, the operator, along with other five leading communication companies, launched ‘The Broadband Industry Group’ to promote broadband throughout the UK. | | Operator Profile | Brightview is a broadband service provider in the UK. Earlier, in 2004, Brightview was acquired by Invox Plc, an operator of home gaming enterprises. Until 2006, the operator offered broadband services through ten different ISP brands in the UK such as Madasafish, Freenetname, Global Internet and IC24. However, in 2006 it decided to focus on just Madasafish and Global Internet and the other brands and their customers were absorbed into these. The company also provides all the services for the own-brand ISP of the Waitrose supermarket chain.
Apart from offering broadband services, the company has made a significant amount of investment towards developing a shared technology platform and building a strong network infrastructure. It has also partnered with various leading organisations such as RIPE, NOMINET, ISPA and Broadband Industry Group to promote further development of the sector. |
Sources
[6728], [6729], [7163], [7916], [7917], [9072], [9073], [10163], [10931], [11801], [12788], [13097], [13708], [14509], [15522], [16278], [17092], [17888], [18912], [19761], [20408], [21139], [22345], [23030], [23818]
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