HIGH SPEED BROADBAND ON THE UP
There has been a dramatic rise in European 4G Coverage and high-speed European Commission. 2015 has also seen a 14% lift for broadband in a third market forecast report, by Ovum, writes Matthew Peach. High-speed broadband, sales all on the up, say
which saw an increase in coverage from 12% to 91.9% and from no coverage to 67%, respectively.” The observed data confirms Europe’s preference for upgrading existing copper networks. Moreover growth in overall NGA coverage can be primarily attributed to an increase in very-high-bit-rate digital subscriber line (VDSL) coverage, which grew by over 7% in the year, reaching 37.6% of EU households by the end of 2014. The fact that VDSL continues to be the fastest-growing NGA technology further solidifies the shift observed in 2013, HIS continued, with companies in many target countries refocusing their broadband deployment strategies towards upgrading existing copper networks rather than investing in the typically more costly deployment of fibre optic all the way to consumers’ homes. Fellenbaum added, “VDSL coverage grew significantly in a number of markets. Most significant increases were recorded in Denmark, Austria, and Iceland, which all reported increases in VDSL coverage exceeding 30 percentage points.” Fiber-to-the-premises coverage – providing super- fast broadband connections – also increased, with services
technologies, the report concluded. broadband coverage also stayed at its 2013 level, but availability of NGA technologies in rural areas increased from 18.1% in 2013 to 25.1% of rural homes passed by high- speed networks in 2014. Alzbeta Fellenbaum, senior analyst at IHS Technology, commented, “Denmark, Netherlands and Sweden are leading the EU’s deployment of high-speed broadband, with 99% of households now covered by LTE. Other countries with outstanding performance in LTE coverage also include the Czech Republic and Malta, • At 89.6%, rural fixed
The report’s key findings included: • At the end of 2014, 4G LTE mobile broadband was available to nearly 8 in 10 (79.4%) of EU households, a 20% increase over 2013. • Next Generation Access homes, making high-speed (at least 30Mbps) broadband services available to 15.5m households more than in 2013. • Fixed broadband coverage remained the same as in 2013 at 97%, pointing to a “slowing trajectory” as EU member states focus instead on NGA and mobile broadband coverage reached 68.1% of EU
Matthew Peach R esearch conducted by technology and business market analyst IHS Inc. and Italian consultancy Valdani, Vicari & Associati on the availability of broadband services across all European Union member states was published by the European Commission at the end of June. The EC’s “Digital Agenda Scoreboard” shows a dramatic improvement in 4G LTE coverage and high-speed broadband availability.
100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% EL IT FR PL HR SK CZ EU ROBG IE ES FI SE NO SI HU CY DE EE AT UK PT LV IS DK LU LT NL BE MT
28
2013
Growth in 2014
2014 NGA coverage, by country. © 2015 IHS
14
ISSUE 5 | Q3 2015
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker