Zoogony

ECTA Releases Figures on EU Broadband Penetration

The ECTA or the European Competitive Telecommunications Association had conducted a study on the 25 member countries of the EU to compare their progress in broadband penetration levels. The study that covers data until the month of October last year was released recently and the UK, surprisingly, finds itself among the leaders.

According to the results, Scandinavian countries including Denmark, the Netherlands, Finland and Sweden have performed very well with penetration rates as high as 30%. The average annual penetration increase of EU countries has been calculated to be around 20%, which is a very healthy rate, and has taken the total number of connections to as high as 110 million.

Even the UK, which is more often than not at the bottom of these lists, has improved its penetration rate to reach the 28 percent mark (Broadband Genie has info on broadband in the UK). However, countries like Ireland and Poland have shown disappointing results. Ireland’s broadband growth between 2003 and 2006 was quite unimpressive, and thus it has a very low position on the list. Poland too has not fared well and is currently at the bottom of the list with just a 10% penetration. One can hope for better results from these countries next time as they are right now in a high growth phase.

The study by ECTA did not take into account the speeds of broadband connections, thus, a comparison of the service levels among these countries cannot be made. One can however check the list of “the world’s top 20 fibre optic, high speed broadband connection enabled countries” to gain more insight into that aspect.

Although, the UK has shown a significant improvement in terms of the adoption levels, it does not necessarily indicate that the country can be proud of its broadband industry, especially as its performance in terms of speed, service and price competitiveness if quite poor.

Comments are closed.