Scandinavia tops broadband league table
20 March 2008
Scandinavia tops broadband league table
The Scandinavian region is the world leader in broadband deployment, with Denmark, Finland and Sweden counting broadband penetration rates of over 30 per cent at the end of 2007.
According to the European Commission, which released its 13th Progress Report on the Single Telecoms Market on Wednesday, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Belgium, Luxembourg and France all have broadband penetration rates higher than the US, which stands at 22.1 per cent.
Around 19 million broadband lines were added in the EU in 2007, the equivalent of more than 50,000 households every day, bringing Europe's overall broadband penetration rate to 20 per cent.
However, Viviane Reding, the EU's Telecoms Commissioner, said there is still scope to increase competition and reduce regulation. "Competition is limited for access to the fixed network which is still provided to 86.5 per cent of customers over the incumbent's infrastructure. In addition, though telecoms technologies know no borders, only 30 per cent of major operators' EU business is outside their home market," she said. "This shows that we still lack an attractive single market for businesses and services of European dimensions, so we must intensify our efforts to reduce the regulatory borders in Europe."
Reding said that the European telecoms sector is worth nearly Eur300bn, or 2 per cent of the EU's GDP, and grew by 1.9 per cent last year. Investment levels in telecoms in 2007 topped Eur50bn, a figure similar to the US and more than China and Japan put together.
The mobile sector continues to be the largest in the EU telecoms market, delivering revenues of Eur137bn, a rise of 3.8 per cent year on year. European mobile penetration rose to 112 per cent, compared to 103 per cent in 2006, and 3G penetration doubled to 20 per cent, or 88 million subscriptions. Mobile data services grew by around 40 per cent.
Fixed line voice revenues dropped 5 per cent as customers switched to mobile and IP services, although fixed carriers were compensated by strong growth in broadband services, which generated revenues of Eur62bn.
Consumers are increasingly benefiting from bundled offerings, Reding said, with 13 per cent of Europeans now subscribed to a bundled offer with a single bill. Around 12 per cent of those include TV in their package, with 23 per cent taking fixed line voice, 6 per cent taking mobile telephony and 24 per cent signing up for internet access.
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