BROADBAND TO REACH 18 MILLION BY 2003

A REPORT by two of Europe’s leading research companies predicts a broadband explosion with over 18 million subscribers by 2003.
International media analysts, Screen Digest, in partnership with Internet research company Van Dusseldorp and Partners have published the report ‘Broadband Landscape Europe: Market Assessment and Forecast 2003’ which examines the full potential of broadband Internet access and its influence on the European market.
The report shows current figures for cable modem and digital subscriber line (DSL) penetration of European households at 1.79 per cent – up three times on 1999’s figure of 0.48 per cent. The report projects that by 2003, penetration will stand at over 21 per cent with over 18 million subscribers, up more than 44 times on 1999.
The advent of broadband Internet access in Europe is expected to heighten the range of new services available. As download speeds have increased and bandwidth has become available, the potential for delivering screen-based content such as films, television programmes and music has improved.
By 2002, most alternative European telecom operators should have begun to launch DSL in competition with the incumbents following the expected unbundling of the local loop, which allows access to telephone exchanges by other companies. The report anticipates that this will see DSL overtaking cable in most of the markets under consideration, capturing an estimated 70 per cent of the 18.8 million cable and DSL subscribers by the year 2003.
Jonathan Watson, co-author of the report, said: “Broadband will change the Internet and will change the way we use the Internet. Much more different kinds of content will be available, and it will be available on devices other than PC such as television sets, mobile telephones, games consoles and personal digital assistants. This will lead to the Internet becoming much more a part of our daily lives and hasten the transition from the 300-channel universe to the 3 million-channel universe”. (CMcL)