Posted: 15th Sep, 2006 By: MarkJ
The European Competitive Telecommunications Association (ECTA) has released its latest EU broadband penetration rates to the end of Q1-2006. Denmark takes first place, while the UK has nudged into 6th:
1. Denmark
2. Netherlands
3. Finland
4. Sweden
5. Belgium
6. UK
7. France
8. Luxembourg
9. Austria
10. Germany
11. Italy
12. Spain
13. Portugal
14. Ireland
15. Greece
That's according to the latest [ECTA] Broadband Scorecard, which reveals that broadband penetration across the EU grew 14.1% in the first quarter of 2006.
Overall, the number of lines rose by 5.5 million, an increase of 9 per cent on the preceding quarter. However, the report indicates that during the three-month period, Ireland's broadband growth rate fell from 28 per cent to 19 per cent.
The Register notes that ECTA blames the poor performance of some countries (Ireland) on a lack of competition and continued dominance by former state-owned incumbents.