Broadband Heralds Growth In European Internet Use

The research firm confined its study to the period between April 2002 and April 2003, deducing that the number of European surfers using a broadband connection increased by 136%. Growth was particularly strong in the UK, with high-speed usage up by 235%, and advocates of broadband recently acclaimed the country’s two millionth household subscriber (see Broadband To Reach 40m Western European Homes By 2005).

Nonetheless, the UK still falls below the European average in terms of the proportion of internet users with broadband access. According to Nielsen//NetRatings, 28% of the continent’s surfers are now connected at high-speed, up from 14% in April 2002. Broadband take-up is highest in France, Spain and the Netherlands, all of which have overtaken the US, where penetration is 35%.

“What these figures show is that the countries with the highest broadband take-up are those that are also growing rapidly in terms of online use in general”, commented European Market Analyst Tom Ewing. “The countries where the internet penetration is greatest and has been longer established, like the UK and Germany, have become used to dial-up connections, and broadband is being sold as an upgrade. But in France and Spain users have leapfrogged the technology and first-time internet surfers are getting connected via broadband, by-passing the slower dial-up completely.”

Changes in online behaviour Previous studies have shown that broadband is radically altering the way users behave online (see Broadband Users More Active Online, Says comScore). Nielsen//NetRatings expounds on this theory, demonstrating that high-speed internet users spend more time online, use the web more often and visit more websites than their dial-up counterparts. In Germany, Europe’s leading internet market, broadband users spend an average of nearly twenty one hours online every month, practically three times as long as their narrowband couterparts.

File-sharing, music, film and adult sites now draw the majority of their audience from broadband surfers, who are in the best position to appreciate them. The adult entertainment sector has increased its reach year on year in all European markets except Italy, where broadband uptake remains low.

“The internet is all about access,” commented Ewing. “Initially it was about access to information and people, then it widened to provide access to goods and services, and now with broadband it’s able to expand further to provide easy access to entertainment.”

Assuming current growth rates are maintained, then by March 2004 over 50 million Europeans will have high speed connections and the US will have only three million more broadband surfers, claims the research. According to a separate study, Europe will have surpassed the US, in terms of broadband penetration, by 2007 (see European Broadband Penetration To Pass US In 2007).

“Broadband is finally taking off,” said Ewing. “And next year we might well be approaching the tipping point, after which high-speed access will be the norm not the exception, and the web will be designed with the high-speed user in mind. That’s when things will really get exciting.