Some 2.2m people have signed up for premium services in the US. Yahoo is looking to launch premium services in Europe in the first half of 2003.

However, some might argue that Europe could prove more of a quagmire for Yahoo than it thinks.

To start with there are a host of different providers, from former state monopolies to cables firms, to start-up ISPs. Plus, many take ‘bundled’ packages of TV, telephony and broadband form cable providers keen to provide their own portals, a la Telewest.

The one thing in Yahoo’s favour is that most broadband portals run by cable providers have not been very successful.