In the midst of the rush by Europe’s many Internet service providers to consolidate comes the announcement that the Wanadoo unit of France Telecom will acquire Britain’s largest provider, Freeserve. The deal will create the third largest European Internet service provider behind T-Online of Germany and Tiscali of Italy. Together, Wanadoo and Freeserve have almost four million subscribers between them. The consolidation will give Freeserve the financial backing to expand its online services, and Wanadoo will gain access to British e-commerce market, which is expected to be worth $30 billion a year within the next five years.
Based on a report from The New York Times
