The growth in broadband connections in Europe is slowing as a result of competition problems, according to the industry group ECTA's latest industry scorecard. The association of alternative telecom operators called for stronger powers for regulators to implement competition rules, and expecially enforce local loop bundling on existing and future networks in order to ensure further broadband growth. Its quarterly survey shows that while one in five people in Europe now subscribe to a broadband connection, the growth rate slowed to 10 percent in the six months to end-September 2007. That compares to growth of 16 percent in the previous six-month period. There were in total 92 million broadband lines at the end of the third quarter, up from 84 million in Q1. However, incumbent operators still have nearly 50 percent of all retail lines - a situation that will worsen if regulators do not ensure that alternative operators also get access to new fibre networks, the ECTA warned. The survey shows that countries with the highest broadband take-up including leaders Denmark and the Netherlands, as well as Sweden, Finland and the UK, have all benefited from competition through effective unbundling of the local loop. The worse performing countries include Italy and Poland, where the incumbent operator enjoys 64 percent and 59 percent of the retail market respectively. Denmark and the Netherlands reached broadband penetration rates of 34.5 percent and 33.9 percent in Q3 2007; followed by Finland, Sweden and the UK with rates of 29.9 percent, 29.5 percent and 24.9 percent respectively. A total of 82 percent of broadband lines in Europe rely on incumbent copper local loops, with the remaining 17 percent supplied through cable (14%), fibre (1.2%), fixed wireless (0.9%) and other technology such as satellite.
