As the UK broadband market continues to grow, with 66% of UK homes now with active broadband connections, let alone the fact that the service is available to substantially more who have not yet decided to use the service, the difference between the EU and the UK is becoming more obvious. A report by the European Union, referred to as the Digital Competitiveness Report, has confirmed that only 50% of the EU homes have access to broadband.
However, more worryingly for broadband service providers in Europe the report also suggests that one third of those questioned did not require broadband and one in four believe the service is overpriced which has so far stopped them from signing up. On a more positive note, the survey shows that 56% of Europeans use broadband on a regular basis, with the suspicion that many people have access to broadband in their workplace.
Thankfully for European broadband providers, the confirmation that 70% of Europeans under 24 years of age use Internet broadband services every day is potentially a positive sign for the future and would indicate a willingness for the younger generation to adapt to new technologies. However, while we often complain about the UK broadband market, it is leaps and bounds ahead of the EU market as a whole, and it looks as though potentially the UK could become one of the world leaders in broadband, assuming that the BT fibre-optic network is up and running on time.