Freeserve, the internet service provider that helped introduce many British households to the web in the late 1990s, is ditching its name three years after being bought by France Telecom.

The company, which was founded by Dixons in 1998, is changing its name to Wanadoo, bringing it in line with the rest of France Telecom's ISP businesses. Customers will be able to retain their existing Freeserve email addresses.

The move, which has been widely expected for some time, is part of a general restructuring of France Telecom's businesses. Including Freeserve, Wanadoo has 9.15m customers across the continent and is now part of France Telecom's "home" division. That restructuring also saw the departure of Orange's chief executive, Sol Trujillo.

France Telecom bought Freeserve in late 2000, a year after Dixons floated the business in London, and injected the ISP into Wanadoo, which was partially listed in Paris. France Telecom is in the process of buying back the 29% of Wanadoo it does not own. It is also buying back full control of Orange.

Jan Dawson, senior analyst at technology consultancy Ovum, said the rebranding was a logical step as the Freeserve name no longer made sense for the company and was something of a hindrance.

At launch Freeserve gained customers by offering a "free" service contract, but metered call charges. With the advent of broadband this plan no longer makes sense.

"The 'free' in Freeserve's brand has become something of a liability," said Mr Dawson. "Its usual positioning as a low-cost provider means that it is suffering. Rebranding would allow the company to move away from the Freeserve millstone."