This paper discusses the impact of growth in the UK dial-up Internet market on BT's underlying platform. Specifically it looks at the role of the telephony network provider in the delivery of IP-based transport services. As demand for more dial ports and attendant bandwidth increases, many customers are looking to outsource the basic infrastructure to specialist network providers. The challenge for BT is to design and build a cost-effective, scalable dial access network while maintaining flexibility in this highly changeable market environment. This is made more difficult as in many cases the necessary networking standards are only just being implemented by the vendor community.