Permanent broadband, fixed-rate internet connections are becoming increasingly popular in the UK, with the such services showing an enormous 428% year on year growth during April, according to the latest data from the Office Of National Statistics (ONS).
Permanent connections, which include broadband and ADSL services, showed an impressive 428% year on year increase, with month on month growth standing at 16.3%. Overall internet access growth rose by 16.1% between April 2001 and April this year.
Strong broadband market in the UK The ONS says that dial-up connections continue to dominate the number of overall subscriptions, but the popularity of permanent connections is growing rapidly. Oftel estimates that the broadband market is now growing at a rate of 20,000 connections per week, with well over 600,000 connections already in place (see UK Now Has Half A Million Broadband Subscribers, Says Oftel).
Growth of this market is being boosted in the UK as a result of some of the cheapest access prices in Europe and the US, according to a separate Oftel report (see Cheap UK Broadband Internet Access Drives Uptake). It also has a more competitive market for DSL than either France or Germany, with cheaper wholesale prices than France and more competition from service providers, according to Oftel. In addition, there is more competition from cable operators in the UK than in France or Germany.
Broadband services takeup in France, Germany and the UK | |||
France | Germany | UK | |
Total DSL end users per 100 population | 0.93 | 2.89 | 0.28 |
Cable modem subscribers | 200,000 | 30,000 | 328,000 |
(end 2001) | (end 2001) | (beginning May 2002) | |
Cable modem subscribers per 100 population | 0.34 | 0.04 | 0.34 |
Total DSL+cable modem subscribers | 750,650 | 2,400,000 | 528,000 |
Total DSL+cable modem subscribers per 100 population | 1.27 | 2.92 | 0.89 |
Source: Oftel, June 2002 |
User forecasts Forecasts from eMarketer published last month predict that the UK will have 32.6 million internet users by 2004; this year there will be around 28.6 million. The UK is slightly behind Germany, which has the largest internet user base in Europe.
Internet Users Forecasts By Country | |||||
Number Of Users (million) | |||||
2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | |
Germany | 24.0 | 30.0 | 36.7 | 40.7 | 42.5 |
UK | 18.0 | 24.0 | 28.6 | 31.4 | 32.6 |
Italy | 13.2 | 16.0 | 19.2 | 21.1 | 21.9 |
France | 8.5 | 15.7 | 21.2 | 25.0 | 26.7 |
Source: eMarketer, May 2002 |