Business digital subscriber line (DSL) subscriptions in Europe will be worth $7.9 billion by 2006 according to a new report Incumbents Will Control Booming Business DSL Market from the Yankee Group. This is compared with a forecast $7 billion derived from residential asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) services.
Although business subscribers will account for only 20% of the total customer base, average revenue per user for businesses will remain considerably higher than that for residential services as businesses opt for greater bandwidth and service packages.
The report also predicts that with leased-line prices remaining unacceptably high, the arrival of cheaper symmetrical DSL (SDSL) will ‘bridge the connectivity gap’ enabling smaller businesses to get online.
“The burgeoning market for DSL presents a significant opportunity for carriers entering the SME space,” says Jonathan Doran, senior analyst at the Yankee Group. However, he goes on to say that the lack of competition in Europe’s broadband markets means that traditional telcoms will dominate DSL access markets for businesses as well as for consumers.
