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If plans proceed, customers would be able to get broadband through BSkyB without a satellite television subscription.

BSkyB chief James Murdoch has been testing a standalone service, known in some internet chatrooms as Picnic Broadband, which would aim to attract customers who are not interested in the satellite package. The new service is still in testing phase, and there is no set launch date.

The move would see Murdoch’s firm, which launched bundled broadband last year, competing directly with telecommunications companies including Tiscali, Carphone Warehouse, BT and Virgin Media. The move follows a recent surge in BSkyB’s internet and telephony customers, which has been attributed to BSkyB’s latest marketing campaign: ‘See, Speak, Surf’. In a trading statement for three months until 30 June, Sky announced that its total net customer base has risen by 17 per cent year-on-year to 8.58 million subscribers.

A Virgin Media spokesperson said: "BSkyB is playing catch-up in an extremely competitive broadband market, so it's not surprising they need to look at more flexible options for consumers.

"We have always offered a standalone broadband service and cable remains the only truly standalone broadband option. That's because all other broadband providers require you to take a phone line, where as we can supply super fast broadband services via a dedicated cable.

"Many households still prefer the value and convenience of taking a bundle of services, however, and our unique quadplay of services, including broadband, digital TV, home and mobile phone, means we can offer unrivalled choice and flexibility."

The broadband market is booming - BT reported yesterday that it has signed up more than 2,000 customers a day to its services since putting broadband at the centre of its strategy in 2002. The former state phone provider, which had just 172,000 customers in June 2002, now claims to have become the first broadband supplier to gain four million customers.