Europe is suffering on the fast broadband front,...
Europe is suffering on the fast broadband front, the European Commission said Wednesday. Its latest digital agenda scoreboard (http://bit.ly/17GPcwy) said Europeans have basic digital networks and services, but they're missing out on current and future benefits of the digital revolution…
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because of problems in the telecom and wider digital markets. Basic broadband is virtually everywhere in Europe, with satellite coverage bringing services to the 4.5 percent of the population not covered by basic fixed broadband, it said. Broadband at speeds of 30 Mbps or higher reaches 54 percent of the population, and Internet access is increasingly going mobile, it said. But only 2 percent of homes have ultrafast (above 100 Mbps) broadband subscriptions, far from the EU target of 50 percent by 2020, the report said. Moreover, half of EU citizens have few or no computer skills, it said. Twenty-two percent of Europeans have never tried the Internet at all, a number that’s declining slowly, but 70 percent now go online regularly, it said. E-commerce is growing steadily, but not cross-border, it said. Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes warned that the EU “can’t get stuck playing yesterday’s game.” The report said the chief problem is lack of investment in very fast networks and a continued lack of a real telecommunications single market. The EC plans to unveil proposals later this year to create a single telecom market, it said.