Europe shines in latest broadband league tables

Denmark and the Netherlands now have the highest broadband penetration rates, while Ireland, Germany and Sweden had the highest growth in broadband subscribers over the past year, according to
new figures from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Over the past year, the number of broadband subscribers in the OECD, which counts 30 countries, has increased by 24% to 221 million (June 2007). This means that 18.8 inhabitants in every 100
now have a broadband subscription, up from 15.1 in June 2006.

Denmark leads the way, with 34.3 broadband subscribers per 100 inhabitants. Close behind is the Netherlands with 33.5. Next come Switzerland, Korea, Norway and Iceland, with Finland the next EU
Member State in seventh position (28.8 subscribers).

Many EU Member States did well in terms of increasing their subscriber rates. The strongest per capital subscriber growth rates were seen in Ireland, Germany, Sweden, Australia, Norway, Denmark
and Luxembourg. Each of these countries added more than five subscribers per 100 inhabitants over the course of the year.

The technology continues to change in some countries, with several upgrading their subscriber lines to fibre. Fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) and fibre-to-the-building (FTTB) subscriptions together
now comprise 8% of all broadband connections in the OECD, up from 7% a year ago. Fibre connections are most popular in Japan and Korea, where they account for 36% and 31% of all subscriptions
respectively.

The average price of a broadband subscription is USD 49 (?33.73) per month, with FTTH/FTTB being the most expensive (USD 51) and wireless the cheapest (USD 33).

The average advertised download speed in the OECD is 13.7 megabits per second (Mbit/s). The fastest download speeds are available in Japan (93 Mbits/s), France (44 Mbits/s), Korea (43 Mbits/s)
and Sweden (21 Mbits/s).