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.

The growth of broadband penetration amongst OECD countries is supported by the different governments and enjoys exponential growth:

     2001  2002  2003  2004  2005

OECD 2.9 4.9 7.3 10.2 13.6

EU15 1.6 3.4 5.9 9.7 14.2

* 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.