Current Issues in Broadband

* What are the current applications using broadband?

eMule is the biggest file sharing network on the Internet with millions of users, but is it legal?

The applications that will be affected by a speed increase are

• Downloading
• File Sharing
• Internet Radio and Internet TV
• Video on Demand
• Multiplayer Gaming
• Virtual Reality

* 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.

Sources

OECD Broadband Statistics, December 2005