Point Topic Begins Major Digital Agenda Mapping Survey of EU Broadband Cover

Analyst firm Point Topic has today joined with the European Commission (EC) to launch “the most detailed broadband coverage mapping survey ever made across Europe,” which will be used to monitor any progress by telecoms operators towards the EU’s Digital Agenda goals.

Europe’s Digital Agenda project seeks to deliver “basic” and “competitively-priced” broadband internet access to all Europeans by 2013. But most importantly it aims for everybody within the EU to have access to superfast broadband speeds of 30Mbps+ by 2020 (with 50% or more households subscribing to an internet connection of 100Mbps+).

The survey itself, which will focus on superfast Next Generation Access (NGA) networks, aims to produce a “complete picture” of both what is available today (e.g VDSL [ FTTC ] , FTTP , WiMAX , LTE , Satellite etc.) and where action will be most needed in future. More than 300 European broadband operators and their national regulators are expected to get involved.

Neelie Kroes, Vice President of the EC, said:

“Accurate data is critical for delivering policy and regulation that enables broadband internet for all Europeans. I invite telecomm providers throughout Europe to participate in this survey, so we have more accurate data to assist our joint efforts to offer broadband to citizens and businesses Europe-wide.”

Tim Johnson, Chief Analyst at Point Topic, added:

“We’re very pleased and proud to have the opportunity to do such important and pioneering work. We have been tracking the coverage and offerings of broadband operators around the world since 1998 and mapping UK broadband in detail since 2005. We are delighted to be able to use this experience to advance the cause of making broadband into a major utility, with reliable and high quality service available to everyone.”

The SMART 2011/0027 Broadband Coverage in Europe on 2011 project will go district by district across all 27 EU countries, including Norway and Iceland. An interactive map of the key results will eventually be published online via the EU’s Digital Agenda Scoreboard. Twitter users should also keep an eye on the #broadbandcoverageeu hash tag for future updates.

Previous surveys haven’t covered nearly as many broadband-delivering technologies as this one, which will even map coverage at the local level. The new survey will compliment a separate EC commissioned study by SamKnows UK and TP-LINK, which aims to produce an accurate map of EU broadband ISP speeds and connectivity (full details).

So far some operators, such as BT, have been reluctant to reveal precisely which geographic locations are/will be covered by their services (e.g. FTTC / BT-Infinity ). If the new map succeeds in providing this data then it could prove to be hugely beneficial for both consumers and possibly even BT’s rivals, which would love to know where they should invest.

SMART 2011/0027 Broadband Coverage in Europe on 2011 Microsite
http://point-topic.com/Broadband_Coverage_in_Europe_in_2011