BT Group Plc said on Monday it had signed up more than 4 million customers to its broadband service, cementing its position as Britain's leading supplier.

Britain's dominant fixed-line telecoms operator said it had 172,000 broadband customers in 2002 when it decided to put broadband at the centre of its strategy -- meaning it has signed more than 2,000 customers a day since then.

The number of Broadband customers is one of the key performance indicators most closely watched by City analysts.

The broadband market has become hugely competitive in recent years with BT competing against cable operator Virgin Media, satellite operator BSkyB, Internet firm Tiscali and Carphone Warehouse for customers.

BT said in July it would focus its broadband strategy on quality and avoid the price war that has led some providers to offer laptops as incentives.

To help strengthen customer loyalty, it has also launched a broadband television service called BT Vision, which is based on the popular, free-to-air Freeview service.

BT said the Britain had overtaken Japan, France, Germany and the United States in terms of broadband penetration and was only behind Canada in the G8 group of industrialised countries.

"Four million customers is a great achievement in such a short time," BT Retail chief executive Ian Livingston said in a statement. "Broadband has proved to be one of the most popular new services ever seen."