An increasingly revitalised Pipex has acquired two other ISPs - Toucan and the troubled Bulldog from Cable & Wireless - for a combined total of £36m. 

Pipex now has a customer base of 1.14 million, of which over 570,000 are broadband subscribers.

As well as the new customers, Pipex will now be able to supply a triple-play offering of broadband, fixed line and mobile, and gain further local loop unbundling (LLU) opportunities.

The LLU will give Pipex the chance to install its own equipment in exchanges rather than rent line services from BT.

Pipex paid C&W £12m in cash for its 110,000 long-suffering consumer and small-business customers, and has signed up to use C&W's unbundled LLU access network which covers 800 exchanges.

Toucan's 185,000 customers cost Pipex £24m, a combination of £20m in cash and a £4m investment in Toucan's previous owner IDT Telecom. 

"These acquisitions will enable Pipex to provide triple-play in the UK market by the end of 2007," said Pipex chairman Peter Dubens.

"Broadband, voice and mobile will be bundled and offered to our entire base in the coming months."

Pipex bought Homecall in March 2006 for an undisclosed sum, taking on the firm's £43m in debt and half a million customers thereby doubling Pipex's size.