The latest Bandwidth Report by Website Optimization shows that 64 million people now have broadband access across the 25 countries of the European Union (EU) - but the gap between the best and worst performers is widening. Denmark, the Netherlands, and Finland lead the European Union in broadband penetration while Greece, Slovakia, and Poland trail according to a recent broadband survey by the European Competitive Telecommunications Association (ECTA).
Denmark tops the list at 29.3%, followed by the Netherlands at 26.8%, Finland at 24%, Sweden at 22.9%, Belgium at 19.1%, and the UK at 18.9%. At its current growth rate, the UK is poised to pass Belgium in broadband penetration to become fifth among European countries surveyed. Greece at 2% broadband penetration, Slovakia at 2.9%, and Poland at 3.3% trail all countries in the EU. Overall, the average broadband penetration rate of the EU is 14.1%, up 5.5 million lines over the 12.9% penetration rate of the previous quarter.
Home connectivity in the US
In August 2006, broadband penetration in US homes grew 1.01 percentage points to 74.87% up from 73.86% in July. This increase of 1.01 points is below the average increase in broadband of 1.2 points per month over the last six months At current growth rates US broadband penetration should break 80% among active Internet users by December 2006.
September 2006 Bandwidth Report
