New subscriber figures from cable operator Telewest suggest that it has overtaken the leading supplier of rival broadband ADSL technology, BTopenworld.

The cable firm claims it can now reach 4.9 million UK homes and has 38,000 subscribers for its broadband service - a few thousand more than BTopenworld.

Figures could be further boosted this month as Telewest begins a six week joint marketing campaign with rival cable operator NTL to promote cable broadband.

However, while it has added on residential subscribers, the cable firm has admitted that business customers are yet to be convinced and has revamped its offering for small to medium sized enterprises, as first revealed by vnunet.com in June.

Adam Smith, managing director of the firm's business division, told vnunet.com that employees in most small business don't surf the internet, but rather use computers for email and calendar functions. He said that simply offering businesses a fast always-on connection was "not terribly competitive".

Telewest will now offer hosted Microsoft Exchange with Outlook applications over the broadband connections for an additional £10 per month.

But in bleaker news for the cable giant, Telewest admitted that its pre-tax losses for the first half of 2001 would be £415m on revenues of £648m, 24 per cent higher than for the £522m generated for the first six months of last year.

However, Analysts expect the firm to break even late in 2003 or early in 2004, and the company said it had sufficient funds to see it through to that point.