There were an estimated 116.3 million broadband subscribers at the end of Q1 2010 in Western Europe. This translated into a 2.4% growth over the quarter. By the end of Q1 2010, broadband accounted for close to 100.0% of all Internet connections in the majority of the countries in the region, compared with around 60.0% in 2005. The number of broadband subscribers is forecasted to have grown by an average of 4.7% to 150 million by the end of 2014. At that time, broadband should account for the totality of Internet connections in all markets, according to research firm Hot Telecom.
Germany, France and the UK are by far the region’s three largest broadband markets, with an estimated 25 million, 20 million and 19 million broadband subscribers respectively at the end of Q1 2010. Together these three countries generate 54.2% of the region’s broadband connections. On the other hand, Finland and Sweden enjoy by far the highest broadband penetration rates in Western Europe with 48.9% and 46.3% broadband penetration respectively at the end of Q1 2010.
Greece, Ireland and Cyprus have enjoyed the highest levels of broadband subscriber growth in 2009, with growth rates as high as 27.3%, 20.3% and 19.7% respectively. Nevertheless, this report, which includes 31 detailed exhibits and tables on Western Europe’s fixed, mobile and Internet telecom markets, confirms that Greece and Ireland will see their broadband subscriber growth decrease significantly in 2010. “The economic recession has hit hard in some of the region’s countries translating into a decrease in broadband subscriber growth” HOT TELECOM’s president Isabelle Paradis said.
Find out more on the region’s fixed, mobile, Internet and broadband statistics and forecasts in HOT TELECOM’s new 31-page “Western Europe telecom statistics and forecast 2005-20143” report, which can be purchased online at:
http://www.hottelecom.com/western-europe-stats.html.
* For the purpose of this article, the Western Europe market consists of the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom
Find out more in HOT TELECOM’s Western Europe Stats and Forecast report: http://www.hottelecom.com/western-europe-stats.html
