High-speed fibre broadband on the rise in Europe

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The availability of 100Mbps broadband across Europe, and the number of people signing up, grew significantly in the second half of 2009, according to a new report.

Consulting and research firm IDATE has issued its latest report, commissioned by the Fibre-to the-Home (FTTH) Council Europe, showing the growth rate has increased from 19 per cent in June 2009 to 29 per cent by the end of December.

This equates to over almost 3.5 million subscribers of next-generation broadband and over 25 million homes or buildings having the ability to use it.

Unsurprisingly the Scandinavian countries topped the charts when it came to the percentage of homes with access, with Norway leading the way with 64.9 per cent penetration and Sweden in second with 41.4 per cent.

However, the UK didn’t get a look in on the charts. That said, its plans to rollout the faster technology by the likes of Virgin Media and BT are in much earlier stages than many of our European counterparts.

The report highlighted that although the connectivity access is growing successfully, “the main issue” remains in convincing consumers to sign up for high-speed connections.

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