EarthLink eyes what's left of AOL's dial-up business

Saying it is "best positioned to be the consolidator in this industry," EarthLink may be looking at acquiring AOL's dial-up business, the Wall Street Journal reports.

EarthLink CEO Rolla Huff argued that it made sense for the industry to start consolidating, especially considering there are no longer any growth prospects for the market as consumers have moved onto broadband.

In an interview with the WSJ, without actually confirming talks were ongoing with AOL parent Time Warner, Huff said a deal between the two would be beneficial. Both companies would save money and be able to provide better service, he noted.

Time Warner has reportedly been looking for a buyer for its ISP for quite a while. Last September, AOL CEO Richard Parsons called a sale of the company's dial-up business "likely," although he would not elaborate further.

According to the WSJ report, Time Warner has so far failed to generate much interest in AOL. One analyst said that EarthLink appeared to be the only company of note that looks to be a good fit.

Since taking over EarthLink following former CEO Gary Betty's death from cancer early last year, Huff has made some sweeping changes. Municipal Wi-Fi was cut out of the company's business plan -- it was once billed the company's future -- and EarthLink backed out of its Helio cell phone venture with SK Telecom. Huff indicated an interest in focusing on the company's core ISP business.

Such a acquisition from AOL would follow that plan. However, its not necessarily going to affect EarthLink's bottom line much, as dial-up subscriptions are way down and will continue to fall as the migration to cheap broadband continues.

EarthLink has seen this first hand: its dial-up subscribers are down 30 percent to 2.2 million. AOL's dial-up customer number has fallen to around 8.5 million.