European policymakers must guarantee an open Internet in...
European policymakers must guarantee an open Internet in the upcoming single telecom market package, said the Computer and Communications Industry Association on Thursday. It published a survey (http://xrl.us/bpr5x5) showing that takeup of new high-speed broadband services is being driven by…
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consumers’ need to be able to use their favorite online services effectively, and not just the “strength of the pipe providing the service.” Findings included: (1) For those who upgraded in the last year, the desire for better overall speed that enables a certain level and quality of Internet experience was a key factor in the decisionmaking process. (2) Consumers who like to watch movies or live TV online, use video VoIP and upload are more likely to upgrade their connections. (3) Many users said they would upgrade to keep the experience they wanted rather than experience a poorer service or lose the service altogether. (4) Brands involved in online gaming and VoIP are also highly important in driving broadband adoption -- it’s not just about video streaming. (5) New services and apps driving the upgrades also help ISPs retain customers and attract new ones. (6) About a third of those surveyed said they'd be willing to pay more for a faster connection. CCIA also released a study of consumer behavior toward switching broadband providers (http://xrl.us/bpr5y8). It found that Europeans face barriers to switching, such as costs, that result in 62 percent of EU27 consumers never having considered changing. Switching levels for broadband and DTV are “appreciably lower than many other consumer services, and have fallen appreciably over the last five years,” the report said. In France, Germany and the U.K., consumers now tend to stay with their ISPs for 10 years or more, it said, even though users face variable quality, different from what’s advertised, and many technical problems for which they “display striking tolerance.” National regulators have taken several steps to reduce broadband switching barriers, but the decline in churn and the stabilization of market share have taken place despite those regulatory measures, the report said. Authorities should quantify switching barriers to see if they are improving or worsening, it said. “Given that switching barriers are certainly substantial, it seems dangerous to rely on consumer choice as the key mechanism to police abuse of ISPs’ inbound monopolies.” The commercial market alone won’t preserve an open Internet and analysis shows that hundreds of millions of Europeans have their service blocked, CCIA said. The European Commission is expected to publish its proposals for a single telecom market Tuesday.