ISPs LOSING MARKET SHARE.(Internet service providers have new competitors)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)(Product Announcement)

EDN, August, 1999

Nontraditional service providers, such as Regional Bell Operating Companies, other telecommunications carriers, and cable providers, are emerging to threaten the market share of traditional Internet service providers (ISPs). Until now, America Online (AOL), AT&T, Microsoft Network (MSN), and several others have been the only dominant players in the fragmented US consumer ISP market, but that situation is changing. At the end of 1997, for example, AOL owned nearly 24.5% of the US consumer market, but by the first quarter of 1999, its share had dropped to 21.5%. MSN owned 3.6% of the total US consumer ISP market in 1997. By the first quarter of 1999, with only 1.5%, MSN owned less than one-half of its previous share.

--Cahners In-Stat Group, July 19, 1999