The rapid growth in New Zealand Internet use, combined with relatively easy market entry by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) has resulted in the competitive supply of Internet services.

2001 Census Snapshot1 (Who has access to the internet?) from Statistics New Zealand indicates almost 4 in 10 households have access to the internet in New Zealand, especially with households in the Auckland and Wellington regions, they have the highest rates of internet access at nearly 9 in 20.

On the other hand, empirical evidence collected points out the seriousness of the competitive threat ISPs have to face while they capitalize on the large population of Internet users. The research conducted by Nielsen/Net Ratings2 (19/11/2001) shown on the number of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) within each country in comparison to the country's population presents New Zealand has ranked 7th place globally, having 36 ISPs within a relatively small population of 3.8 million. That means slightly over 100,000 head counts per ISP in New Zealand.

From the marketer's perspective today, challenges and opportunities coexist in the broad marketplace; undoubtedly any ISP without excep

Even though economically and technically strong companies have more resources and opportunities to penetrate the targeted markets than newly established or small-scale service providers, however, it doesn't mean these small and medium sized providers are always struggling to their disadvantages. Unlike legal or medical services, Internet services are much more perceivable and accessible as far as tangibility of the quality of the service is concerned. Potential customers are used to or somewhat familiar with Internet-based services, resulting in more alternatives to choose from by themselves when they consider taking on one of them. Accordingly customers understand they own more chances to switch away from the current service providers.

One aspect of competition between ISPs focuses on subscriber loyalty, typically measured by the turnover rate. In 1997, one in seven subscribers worldwide abandoned their ISP every month---a turnover five times higher than that for mobile telephones4. On the other hand, research has shown that it costs five times as much to win a new customer than it does to keep a current one happy. No one can ignore the fact that many ISPs are currently not profitable, and therefore the retention of subscribers is of a vital importance for ISP survival strategy even though the number of Internet service providers has been mushrooming with low barriers to ISP entry since the advent of internet-based services.

tion needs to exert all the marketing efforts to retain current customers and attract new customers as well while the pressure to make money has increased substantial

Some common words found in the essay are:
ISPs Xtra, ISP Zealand, Nielsen/Net Ratings, Service Providers, ClearNert Xtra, Providers ISPs, Auckland Wellington, Telecom NZ, Global Network, ISPs Internet, service providers, internet service, internet service providers, internet services, telecommunications companies, potential customers, customers internet, business customers internet, access internet, population 38, five times, business customers, switching switching barriers, service providers isps,
Approximate Word count = 1080
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)