Digital revolution spreading across Europe
By Nicole Kobie,
More and more Europeans are taking up mobile phones and broadband internet, according to a European Union survey.
The survey, of 27,000 households across the bloc, found that of the 42 per cent of homes now online, 28 per cent of homes connect to the internet via a broadband link, while another 54 per cent access the internet via ADSL.
Financial reasons are becoming a smaller hurdle to internet connectivity. Indeed, nearly half of households without a connection said they simply didn't want one.
Consumers are increasingly switching from fixed-line to mobile telephones, with 81 per cent of households saying they have at least one. The number of mobile-only households increased four per cent to 22 per cent, while the number of households with at least one fixed line fell five per cent to 72 per cent. And some 17 per cent now use the internet to make calls.
A fifth of Europeans are buying their telecoms in bundled packages, the survey found.
"Europe's digital economy is growing strongly as more and more households embrace convergence between fixed, mobile and Internet services," said Information Society and Media Commissioner Viviane Reding.
The study shows how deeply upcoming changes to EU telecom rules could affect average consumers and telecom companies alike, said Reding.
"The challenge of this year's reform of the EU's telecom rules will be to respond to this rapidly changing technological environment while enhancing at the same time effective competition," said Reding.
The EU is looking to change rules to boost competition between telecoms operators.
You may also like...
Sponsored Links
advertisement
You may also like...
Latest Networking Analysis & Insight
Welcome to the stay-at-home Olympics
Inside the Enterprise: The Government has warned of disruption, and the Civil Service is practising working from home. Could IT yet save businesses from chaos on an Olympian scale?
- Q&A: Cisco on servers, storage and strategy
- It's not about the browser, stupid!
- The Great British network squeeze
- New year: new suppliers
- Top 10 tech winners and losers of 2011
- 2011: The year in news
- UK rural broadband: too little, and too late
- HP PCs back on the menu with Dellish plans
- Top 10 social networking tips for enterprise - part one
Latest Networking Reviews
Swyx SwyxExpress X20 review
Rating: ![]()
- Ipswitch WhatsUp Gold Premium 15
- ForeScout Technologies CounterACT 6.3.4
- ThinPrint Printer Dashboard review: First Look
- TITUS Aware for Microsoft Outlook review
- Windows Phone 7 Mango review: First Look
- Dartware InterMapper review
- Kemp Technologies LoadMaster 3600 review
- Sangfor WANACC M5500 review
- Office 365 review: First look
advertisement
Most popular
- Google releases Chrome for Android beta
- Will someone rid me of these troublesome Macs?
- OneNote hits Google?s Android
- BlackBerry Bold 9790 review
- Google sends in Bouncer to sort out malicious apps
- Ubuntu vs. Windows 7 on the business desktop
- Who to trust after the VeriSign hack?
- Head to Head: Mac OS X 10.7 Lion vs Windows 7
- ACTA: the basics, the controversies, and the future
- BT considering Ofcom price cap appeal
Register for IT PRO
You'll get exclusive member benefits including free whitepapers, downloads, Webinars and weekly newsletters full of the latest IT PRO news, reviews, insight and expertise.





