Current Issues in Broadband

* what are the current usages of broadband?

- high speed internet - telephone - television (for instance Versatel in the Netherlands)

i.e - Communications - Information seeking - Information producing - Download - Transactions - Entertainment activities

* what is the current broadband penetration?

The current broadband penetration in OECD countries (December 2005) is 13.6% of the population. The growth rate of the penetration was 15% in 2005. The top 4 countries are Iceland, Korea, The Netherlands and Denmark with penetration rates over 25%. In real number, the country with the largest amount of subscriber is the USA. The lowest penetration rate is granted to Greece with 1.4%. The EU 15 averages at 14.2% penetration.

There is a significant difference in Internet penetration between developed and developing countries. The table shows the estimates of broadband usage per 100 inhabitants and the number of total subscribers in OECD countries.

Broadband subscribers per 100 inhabitants, by technology, December 2005

DSL	Cable	Other	Total	Rank	Total Subscribers
Iceland	25.9	0.1	0.6	26.7	1	78.017

Korea

13.6
8.3
3.4
25.4
2
12 190 711

Netherlands

 15.7
9.6
0.0
25.3
 3
 4 113 573

Denmark

 15.3
7.2
2.5
25.0
 4
1 350 415

Switzerland

 14.7
8.0
0.4
23.1
 5
1 725 446

Finland

 19.5
2.8
0.1
22.5
 6
 1 174 200

Norway* 17.8

2.9
1.2
21.9
7
1 006 766

Canada

 10.1
10.8
0.1
21.9
 8
 6 706 699

Sweden*

 13.3
3.4
3.6
20.3
 9
 1 830 000

Belgium

 11.3
7.0
0.0
18.3
 10
 1 902 739

Japan

 11.3
2.5
3.8
17.6
 11
22 515 091

United States

 6.5
9.0
1.3
16.8
 12
49 391 060

United Kingdom

 11.5
4.4
0.0
15.9
 13
 9 539 900

France

 14.3
0.9
0.0
15.2
 14
 9 465 600

Luxembourg

 13.3
1.6
0.0
14.9
 15
 67 357

Austria*

 8.1
5.8
0.2
14.1
 16
 1 155 000

Australia

 10.8
2.6
0.4
13.8
 17
2 785 000

Germany

 12.6
0.3
0.1
13.0
 18
 10 706 600

Italy

 11.3
0.0
0.6
11.9
 19
 6 896 696

Spain

 9.2
2.5
0.1
11.7
 20
 4 994 274

Portugal

 6.6
4.9
0.0
11.5
 21
1 212 034

New Zealand

 7.3
0.4
0.4
8.1
 22
 331 000

Ireland

 5.0
0.6
1.1
6.7
 23
 270 700

Czech Republic**

 3.0
1.4
2.0
6.4
 24
 650 000

Hungary

 4.1
2.1
0.1
6.3
 25
 639 505

Slovak Republic

 2.0
0.4
0.2
2.5
 26
 133 900

Poland

 1.6
0.7
0.1
2.4
 27
 897 659

Mexico

 1.5
0.6
0.0
2.2
 28
2 304 520

Turkey

 2.1
0.0
0.0
2.1
 29
1 530 000

Greece

 1.4
0.0
 0.0
1.4 
 30
 155 418

OECD

 8.4
4.2
1.0
13.6
 
 157 719 880

* who are the main players?

In each of the separate countries, the national telecom provider is the main player for broadband diffusion, especially for DSL connections. Nevertheless, with the increased penetration of other techniques such as cable, fiber optic, satellite and wireless, new players come into play, often offering broadband internet in a bundle of products (Satellite/ cable TV, telecoms, etc.)

* what are the main bottlenecks to broadband diffusion?

Regional disparities, Transition to ‘real’ broadband, Security, Energy Consumption (an internet firewall consumes more energy per household than a clothes dryer),

* How is the internal rivalry among the main players?

Broadband players have taken different strategies to gain and retain customers. While phone companies have developed a “pricing strategy” based on high discounts, cable companies have develop a “value service oriented” strategy. For many years phone companies have been challenging cable operators to cut down prices of the services affecting Cable operators revenues. On the other hand cable operators have responded increasing the services. The competition between these two types of companies increased even more when cable companies started to offer telephone service along with television and high-speed Internet service.