The Broadband Future - Interactive, Networked, and Personalised

During the next few years, broadband penetration in Europe is unlikely to achieve the level reached by such countries as Canada and the Republic of Korea (South Korea), in which deployment has been more aggressively supported and subsidised by government. Market research services predict European broadband adoption could reach 30% of households by 2008, up from 8% at the end of 2002, with significant differences between the European countries. Higher broadband penetration in Canada and South Korea has been fuelled by lower prices-access fees that amount to 20-30 Euro per month - and by government policies and investments promoting broadband. Our analysis suggests that access charges in Europe must drop from current levels to as little as 30 Euro per month - for entry-level access - that Forrester has identified as the tipping point for mass broadband Internet adoption. This tipping point has already been undercut up to 50% in countries like Germany. Subscribers who initially purchase entry-level access are more likely to upgrade to higher-speed service when compelling content and applications at attractive price points become available.

Broadband penetration in Europe will be different from US and Korea. For example, Korea, with 80% broadband penetration, has a single telecom infrastructure, homogenous language and culture, dense population with ignificant government support. By contrast, America, with 25% broadband penetration, is also a single country, but with a complicated infrastructure, strong competition and limited government support. Europe will see rapid growth clustered in metropolitan areas, with fragmented and dispersed coverage on a Pan-European basis. Broadband infrastructure and brands will therefore need to be aligned to local circumstance - with the exception of communities of interest e.g. sport and music that transcend political and cultural boundaries. GovernmentGovernment will play a more important role than in the US. For example, to meet its European mandate, the UK government has set an aggressive target or increasing broadband availability by 28% in three years. Alles zu Government auf CIO.de

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