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According to C&W the business broadband business will be worth some £2.2bn by 2007. But home use will be even more at around £2.8bn. The company sees its opportunity in the growing numbers of home workers subscribing to broadband services and its current position as the second biggest voice carrier in the UK.

It points out that it already has some 7,400km of local cable already in place to take voice and data communications. On average this passes to within 1km of its target exchanges in 100 cities throughout the UK. These advantages, the company says, will give it savings of between six and 10 per cent on other competitors looking to take advantage of LLU.

Spearheading the drive for market share will be Bulldog which C&W acquired in May this year. Bulldog has already unbundled 38 exchanges in West and Central London and last week Bulldog launched new LLU-based services that include both a 4Mbps Internet connection plus voice services from £40 per month. C&W says that it expects that within four years it expects to be generating revenues of around £250 million a year.