Figures published by analyst group Point Topic on Wednesday show that the UK comes twentieth in terms of broadband lines per head of population, even though it has the eighth largest market for broadband services.
According to Point Topic, at the end of 2003 there were 5.39 broadband connections in Britain for every 100 people. This is only just behind Germany, which has 5.53 broadband lines per 100 people, but compares unfavourably with other major economies such as the USA with 8.71 lines per 100 people and Japan with 10.7 lines per 100 people.
South Korea has roared ahead, with 23.48 lines per 100 people. The South Korean government invested heavily in a ground-breaking policy to promote high-speed networks in the 1990s, and the country is still reaping the benefits.
The UK has been gripped by a broadband boom for almost the last two years. This has helped it to recover some credibility in comparisons against other countries, most of which are also enjoying buoyant growth. According to Point Topic, the European broadband market grew by nearly 35 percent in the second half of 2003. France, Italy and the UK all saw growth of more than 40 percent, while Germany lagged behind with just 16 percent.
"We believe this is due to the low level of competition in the Germany broadband market, including the lack of cable modem availability," said Tim Johnson, Point Topic principal analyst.
Point Topic found that DSL is now pulling ahead of rival services in terms of global reach. By 31 December, 2003, there were 64 million DSL lines installed worldwide, compared to 37 million connections via other broadband technologies.
As of 31 December, 2003, the US had the highest broadband market with over 25 million lines, followed by Japan, China, South Korea, Canada, Germany, France, the UK, Taiwan and Italy. This shows that broadband take-up is now closely linked to a country's overall GDP.
"The time when the market was led by relatively small early adopter countries is passing," said Johnson.
Talkback
Living in a small village in Snowdonia, we are unlikely to ever get broadband. Having to upload large image files to websites via a 56K modem, that rarely gets to a speed of 40 in real terms, makes life difficult and internet experiences are very time consuming and frustrating. I now send my images via postal services to Switzerland on a CD for a friend to upload for me. Very helpful but hardly state of the art and the time factor is totally unsatisfactory. In this so-called technological age, I find this laughable. It's like our postal service - pretty CR*PPY. Deliveries often around midday and collection around 16:30 leaves little time for responding quickly to anyone. To us, broadband Britain is a total sham.