Internet sector booms in Europe

Internet sector is booming in the European continent as connectivity continues to increase, reports, telecomtv.com.

According to the new figures recently published by the European Information Technology Observatory (EITO), which sounds as though its headquarters should be atop a Swiss Alp - will grow by some 10.8 per cent over the course of this year and that the sector will be worth €33.7 billion.

EITO’s chairman, Bruno Lamborgini, analysing the factors driving the continued expansion of Internet access across Europe comments, “Innovative additional services and falling prices are helping the connections business to achieve vigorous growth.

Fast Internet connections are being offered today in combination with low-priced telephone flat rates or on-line on-demand services for movies and music.”

Growth is also being driven by reduced tariffs for data transfer. The report says that by the end of the year there will be an estimated 114 million broadband Internet connections in Western Europe and high-speed access will be available 26 per cent of the entire population.

It turns out that Germany is far and away the biggest single Internet market in Europe, with estimated revenues of €8.4 billion over 2008.

This equates to a rate of growth of 8.5 per cent over 2007 and Germany now has a 25 per cent share of the Internet market in Europe.

Elsewhere, France has seen the strongest uptake of Internet services this year and is the fastest-growing market. Revenues from domestic French Internet connections have grown by 22.5 per cent to a value of €4.6 billion.

Uptake in the UK is steady if not particularly spectacular. The sector, like that in France, will be worth €4.6 billion this year, equal to a growth of 7.2 per cent. The UK and France also have identical market shares 13.6 per cent each.

Down in the Iberian peninsula, Internet growth in Spain is 7.6 per cent and the sector will be worth €3.2 billion this year. Spain has an EU market share of share of 9.5 per cent.

The observatory forecasts that Internet access and revenues from it will continue to rise over the course of 2009 at an overall EU rate of 9 per cent. This means that next year the Internet connectivity and services market in Europe will be worth some €36.9 billion.


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