Top Euro ISP turns to porn

Europe's largest internet service provider, T-Online, said today it is planning to set up a porn portal.

The announcement follows a recent agreement with porn merchant Private Media Group to publish "adult" material on the T-Online owned Ya.com site.

The company hopes that the reinvention of Ya.com, which it bought for £342m last year, will boost the number of subscribers and offset drooping advertising revenue.

Should the so-called "adult portal" work, it may be integrated with other T-Online sites, the company said.

"It is a fact that adult content is the most popular area of interest on the web," said Alvaro Ibanez, chief web officer at Ya.com.

He added that Private Media would provide access to its extensive archive of "best high quality adult content".

With Italian ISP Tiscali hot on the heals of T-Online for that "number one in Europe position", the company said it is planning to grow its business by focusing on the more lucrative content that could be provided by its portals, rather than buying up smaller competitors.

T-Online has already lost £203m on the value of its French portal Club Internet and Ya.com Spain, something the company hopes to recoup through the creation of adult-orientated portals.