Incumbent telcos losing grip on EU broadband

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Jo Best silicon.com

Published: 02 Dec 2008 09:50 GMT

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As the EU gets ever more broadband-enabled, the incumbent telcos are losing their grip on Europe's fat pipes.

According to research from the European Commission, the incumbents' control over European broadband is continuing to drop as fewer lines are provided by dominant telcos such as Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom.

In July 2003, the Commission found, incumbents controlled 77.9 percent of Europe's DSL broadband lines. By July 2008, that figure had fallen to 55.9 percent.

Over broadband as a whole, the drop was slightly less marked but still significant: July 2003 saw the incumbents control 58.7 percent of Europe's broadband lines. In July 2008, they held just 45.6 percent.

Of the rest of Europe's broadband lines, an average of 48.2 percent are provided by new entrants and 6.3 percent by resale of incumbents' lines.

The UK, however, is more at the mercy of incumbents than other European counterparts: 25.6 percent of UK lines are sold directly by BT. However, its market share rises to 44.6 percent once resold lines are added in.

The Commission's report said: "The UK (with 19.0 percentage points difference between the market share of the incumbent excluding and including resale lines of alternative operators), Germany (with 15.0 percentage points) and Luxembourg (with 10.3 percentage points) are good examples of the incumbents' inflated market power."

According to the research, just over 15 percent of all Europe's DSL lines are found in the UK. Over the last 12 months to July 2008, the UK added 1.8 million new broadband lines.

Credit: Broadband: Incumbents' grasp slipping in Europe from silicon.com

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