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Its original figure of 5 million by the end of 2006 was set in 2002, when there were fewer than 150,000 DSL connections and availability was limited to a third of the UK population.

The latest figures comprise connections sold by BT Wholsale, which supplies Internet services to a range of ISPs, including BT Retail, and BT Openreach, which offer unbundled services.

Ben Verwaayen, Chief Executive of BT Group, said: '2007 is beginning with broadband firmly established at the heart of the UK economy, helping businesses to compete and enriching people's lives. The UK now has over 200 service providers making it the most competitive broadband market in the

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world. That means fantastic choice and value for consumers, and a constant stream of new and innovative applications.'

Despite the rise in numbers, BT Retail's market share has remained steady at around 24 per cent. Cable networks, however, have not enjoyed the same upswing, and the majority market share it enjoyed in 2003 has now shrunk to 11 per cent, according to BT.

However, it's unclear how long such DSL growth can be sustained. Research group Point Topic's most recent figures in a report released 18 December, put global growth for Q3 2006 at a third, but down from the 41.5 per cent annual growth of the previous year.

But Western Europe and South-East Asia were the only areas to report an actual decline in adoption rates, with the former showing uptake had nearly halved from 11.6 per cent to 5.7 per cent.

The UK currently occupies the seventh spot in the top 10 broadband countries, relatively level with France and Germany in terms of sheer numbers. Point Topic points to the success of Local Loop Unbundling as one of the drivers behind the UK's success.

BT's figures show that unbundled connections account for around 13 per cent of its 10 million figure.