NTL is reported to be paying around £100 million in cash and
shares for the 51% of ISP Virgin Net that it does not already own
in a deal set to complete next week. NTL will take all the half
million Virgin Net dial-up subscribers. The Virgin Group will
continue to control the Virgin.net web site which will continue as
an entertainment portal.
According to reports in MediaGuardian.co.uk, the deal is
expected to make NTL the third largest ISP in the UK.
MediaGuardian.co.uk suggests that the decision to split from NTL is
the reason why Virgin.net postponed its unmetered internet access
package earlier this year.
Virgin and NTL have worked together on Virgin.net since 1996.
The separation of the two companies has been expected since
August.
