United Kingdom Broadband
Market Report 2006
An island nation in the north-west of Europe, the UK is mostly
rugged hills and low mountains with level to rolling plains in east
and south-east and a high proportion of coastline to area. The UK
is comprised of four nations: Wales, Scotland, England and Northern
Ireland. It has a population of 60 million people living in 25
million households and a population density of 244 inhabitants per
square kilometre.
Table 1 – Population and population densities of
UK nations, 2005
GDP per capita at $36,599 was the thirteenth highest in the
world in 2005 according to the International Monetary
Fund. This compares with Luxembourg at $75,130 which has
the world's highest GDP per capita[1]. GDP per capita in Wales
stands at 79% of the UK average which equates to around
$28,950[2].
The telecommunications sector became liberalised in 1982 and
is regulated by the Office of Communications (Ofcom), which
was established in December replacing five regulatory bodies: the
Independent Television Commission (ITC), the Broadcasting Standards
Commission (BSC), the Radio Authority, the Radio Communications
Authority (RCA) and the Office of Telecommunications (Oftel).
Ofcom has indicated that by the end of 2007/8, its "
aim is
to have encouraged the development of an environment in which there
is much more competition and innovation
in broadband networks and
services"
[3].
The government recognises that the internet has enormous
potential for education, entertainment and business and wants
everybody to be able to access it and to use it confidently[4]. The
government published its broadband policy, UK online: the broadband
future, in February 2001, settingout the main reasons why the
government believesbroadband is important: to encourage users to
connect tothe internet more often and for longer; and to enable
newconsumer and business services. It suggested that these changes
would play an important role in national competitiveness.The
official government target, as outlined in its policy, was "for the
UK to have the most extensive and competitive broadband market in
the G7 by 2005[5]". The Government has been less directly involved
in the roll-out of broadband than in some major broadband nations,
such as Japan and Korea, and has instead relied on market forces
and interventions by the regulator to achieve this target. It has
stated that a sound efficient strategy should rely primarily on
market dynamicsto increase uptake by households and firms. However,
it also recognises that there is clear rationale for government
involvement in tackling the digital divide and minimising social
exclusion where there is market failure[6].
In order to meet its target an independent advisory group, the
Broadband Stakeholder Group (BSG), was setup. The group acts as a
focal point for stakeholders to address both short and long-term
issues related to the roll-out and take-up of broadband services.
It is made up of the key players in the broadband value chain from
public and private sectors.
To address the challenges facing them, the government
announced the £30 million UK Broadband Fund in late 2001.
Established through the DTI(Department of Trade and Industry), its
purpose was to help develop innovative broadband related schemes to
meet local requirements, to ensure that as many people and
businesses as possible across the UK were provided with access to
affordable broadband services. The fund was disseminated to the 12
Regional Development Agencies (RDAs)/Devolved Administrations of
the UK[7].
Furthermore, in order to aggregate demand for broadband in the
public sector, on both regional and national levels, the Broadband
Aggregation Programme (BAP) was established. The BAP is a joint DTI
and RDA initiative. Demand aggregation offers a more attractive
market for infrastructure providers and facilitates better value
deals, benefiting the private as well as the public sector through
increased infrastructure build. BAP's stated objectives were
to:
- Increase broadband availability;
- Maximise value for money in public sector purchasing of
broadband connectivity by aggregating public sector broadband
requirements.
Wales
The Welsh Assembly Government was awarded a £2.67
million share of the UK Broadband Fund. The Assembly Government's
e-vision for Wales is set out in Cymru ArLein Online for a Better
Wales. Wales's broadband strategy has a twin focus: to stimulate
demand and to encourage supply. It has an economic and social
rationale, improving business on one hand and services to the
customer, consumer and citizen on the other.
The five-year, multi-million pound, flagship
Broadband
Wales Programme was launched by the Welsh Assembly Government
in July 2002.The aim of the programme is to underpin a positive
economic outlook for Wales through addressing 'market failure' - as
identified in the
'Ubiquitous Broadband Infrastructure for
Wales' report commissioned by the
Welsh Development
Agency in 2001. The Assembly Government has developed a
series of targeted interventions aimed at tackling market failure
and increasing the roll-out of broadband. It is supported in its
work by the Broadband Wales Stakeholders Group and its activities
are monitored by the
Broadband Wales Observatory. One of the original aims of the
programme was to achieve 95% coverage of broadband services in
Wales by July 2007. However, this target has already been surpassed
and as such, focus has now moved towards achieving 100%
coverage.
The Broadband Wales Programme includes projects which focus on
both demand and supply, as they are both inextricably linked:
Demand stimulation/marketing - A three year
all Wales campaign targeted at business, consumers and opinion
formers. Its over-riding aim is to achieve a 'step change' in Wales
with regards to the perceptions and attitudes towards broadband and
subsequently to increase the uptake of broadband and encourage more
effective use of the technology in the home and in businesses. The
campaign includes: direct marketing, advertising in the local and
national press as well as on the radio, and market research
including surveys to better understand the characteristics of the
Welsh marketplace and the specific needs and attitudes of citizens
and communities towards broadband.
The SME Satellite Broadband Subsidy Scheme -
This scheme, launched in September 2002, initially focused on
giving SMEs a subsidy of up to £1,500 to take up broadband
via satellite subject to a certain set of conditions.
This scheme became technology neutral in February 2004 and was
extended to also include the voluntary and charity sectors.
Try Before You Buy – A network of 24 ICT
Support Centres across Wales were enabled with satellite, and where
available terrestrial DSL broadband services to offer
broadband try before you buy facilities to businesses.
Regional Innovative Broadband Support (RIBS)
- The RIBS project is an Objective 1, European-funded
project designed to bring affordable broadband access to the 35
exchanges in Wales that have yet to be enabled. Additionally
it will address the issue of not-spots across Wales and look to
resolve cost efficiently and effectively broadband access to these
areas. The overall project is technology neutral and will
make broadband more widely available. The project is designed
specifically to provide access to
'first-generation'
broadband services, at a cost that is comparable with urban
areas of Wales. A broadband brokerage website (
www.bbwo.org.uk/broadband-3161)
was created allowing companies, public sectororganisations and
individuals to register their interest in using broadband in order
to locate the not-spots in Wales.
Public Sector Broadband Aggregation Project –
This project is attempting to establish the most effective way of
procuring broadband connectivity to the public sector throughout
Wales. It will consider strategic, operational and economic
benefits, with a particular focus on interoperability and
collaborative working. A number of working groups have been set up
with local government, health, the higher and further education
sectors and others, to assist in developing the business case and
identifying the most appropriate solution regarding broadband
aggregation.
Lifelong Learning Network - The Lifelong
Learning Network is a Wales wide high-bandwidth network
designed to address the aggregated broadband connectivity
requirements of public sector organisations. The project is
designed to deliver broadband connectivity to schools, libraries
and learning centres throughout Wales. Its purpose was to achieve
best 'value for money' through a rational and focused investment in
infrastructure, improving the availability of broadband for Wales;
drive economic development; increase competitiveness and address
the digital divide.This project has the ultimate ambition of
connecting all primary schools and learning centres at a minimum of
2Mbps and all secondary schools and libraries at 8Mbps. Local
Authorities can also use the Lifelong Learning Network to support
their own electronic traffic.
FibreSpeed –
The FibreSpeed initiative aims to provide
high-speed broadband to 14 business parks across North Wales. The
future network, which will be capable of supporting a minimum of
10Mbps symmetrical connectivity and be scalable to gigabit speeds,
is expected to be more price competitive than current commercial
broadband offerings.
Second Generation Broadband
Development (SGBD) – This project addresses two,
specific aims of the Broadband Wales programme: firstly, to ensure
the availability of 'second generation' broadband
infrastructure to at least 50% of businesses in Wales and,
secondly, to implement an agreed strategy in relation to the
provision of a direct internet connection from Wales to the global
core network. 'Second generation' broadband is deemed to be between
2Mbps and 10Mbps. The broadband brokerage scheme has been designed
to capture the demand for 'second generation' broadband services in
Wales and the intelligence gathered via the scheme will be made
available to the private sector, to encourage the provision of
'second generation' broadband services across Wales. The response
of the marketplace to these findings will be monitored closely and
the possible benefits of a direct connection from Wales to the core
internet will be assessed.
ActNow Cornwall – A regional project using
European Objective 1 funds to provide broadband to an area of
dispersed and low density population. The £12.5 million project has
benefited from £5.25 million of European Objective One structural
funds. The project is run by the South West Regional Development
Agency, Cornwall County Council, Cornwall Enterprise, Business
Links, Cornwall College and BT
[8]. The aims of the project were to
bring broadband to 12 Cornish communities and to sign up 3,300
businesses to broadband by April 2005. The aims have been far
exceeded as all 101 exchanges in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly
now have broadband access, covering 99% of businesses. Furthermore,
8,000 businesses now have broadband connections; more than double
the original target. It is estimated that nearly 3,300 jobs have
been created as a result of the project and that Cornwall's GDP has
benefited by more than £77 million
[9].
Hampshire Broadband Project – A project led
by the County Council and Winchester City Council which launched a
grant scheme to help local businesses towards the cost of
broadband. The three year programme involved the marketing of use
of broadband to increase take-up in businesses and the home. As
well as the provision of grants for businesses connecting for the
first time to broadband, the programme of activity free includes
advice sessions, a cash-back offer for home users, events, a free
helpline and learning opportunities
[10]
Business Link Humber – The Business Support
Scheme was funded by Yorkshire Forward and the European Regional
Development Fund. The aim of the initiative was to encourage local
businesses to sign up to broadband. The initiative allowed
businesses to claim back up to 50 per cent of the cost of broadband
service for the first year up to a maximum of £3,000. Funding for
the scheme has now ended
[11].
RABBIT - TheUKBroadband Fund supported the
Remote Area Broadband Inclusion Trial(RABBIT).This project was set
up to promote the use of broadband to small businessesand
organisations in remote areas, to trial alternative methods of
providing broadband internet to small businesses in remote areas
and to evaluate the effectiveness of the available solutions. In
order to assist small businesses to get connected financial
assistance of £300 to £800was provided for the first year of a
broadband subscription. The RABBIT project was shared as a joint
project between several RDAs and Devolved Administrations
[12].
East of England Development Agency 'Demand Broadband'
project -The purpose of this project was to educate
residents and owners ofbusinesses of the importance of broadband,
and thus persuade telecommunications providers toconsider supplying
markets where demand can be demonstrated. A
broadbandbrokeragewebsite (
www.enterprise-link.co.uk/bbb-register)
was created giving information about broadband, and allowing
companies, public sectororganisations, communities and individuals
to register their interest in using broadband
[13].
Broadband4Devon - A £12.5 million private and
public sector partnership project, launched in November 2003, aimed
at helping 5,500 Devon firms benefit fully from the e-business
revolution. It also aimed to use high speed broadband technology to
create or safeguard more than 1,600 jobs in Devon. The three year
project offers businesses, in the Objective 2 area, a choice of
subsidised packages ranging from a connection only to integrated
business solutions through to complete networked solutions.
To date, more than 6,000 businesses have benefited from the
project and an independent evaluation of Broadband4Devon in May
2005 estimated that the impact on the net contribution to Devon
including sales, relocated businesses, cost savings and
productivity was more than £7 million
[14].
Scotland
The key aim of the Scottish Executive's broadband strategy,
"Connecting Scotland: our broadband future", is to
"make
affordable and pervasive broadband connections available to
citizens and businesses across Scotland". The strategy,
launched in August 2001, also aims to promote economic development
and to prevent a digital divide opening up between urban and rural
areas. Key issues highlighted in Scotland are access, cost and
demand as well as the need to raise awareness and increase
uptake
[15].
The Scottish Executive is responsible for the implementation
of the various programmes to encourage broadband provision and
uptake. They provide funding support from Scotland's £4.4m portion
of the UK Broadband Fund and the £24m funding allocated for the
Executive's new broadband initiative. The activities are undertaken
together with the Executive's enterprise agencies, Scottish
Enterpriseand Highlands and Islands Enterprise
[16].
Project ATLAS – A project run by Scottish
Enterprise which focuses on the cost of broadband services along
with customer choice and availability.
The first phase of Project ATLAS was to set up a virtual
Telecoms Trading Exchange (TTE) in Scotland supported by a backhaul
link to London. The TTE is a virtual marketplace for wholesale
broadband connectivity. It opened in January 2003 and is providing
businesses with high capacity bandwidth at competitive rates. The
TTE is a website where worldwide telecoms operators can post their
prices for services available in Scotland and is open to any
telecoms operator or ISP. Users of the TTE will be able to benefit
from increased transparency and quality of service in their
purchase of bandwidth, as well as the likelihood of lower prices
through a competitive marketplace.
The second phase of the project will spread the benefits of
ATLAS more widely, through building remote hubs in six of Scottish
Enterprise's business parks, with
backhaul links to
the main ATLAS hub in Edinburgh. ATLAS will provide the passive
fibre infrastructure needed to deliver advanced broadband and
telecoms services to the business parks. This infrastructure will
be owned by Scottish Enterprise and operated on its behalf by a
managing company. Access will then be leased to service providers
on an open and non-discriminatory basis. Scottish Enterprise will
not provide any retail services to end users itself. The network
will be based on next generation technology in order to ensure
future proofing. Deployment of these networks in the business parks
is due to be completed early in 2006
[17].
Broadband Pathfinder Projects - two projects
launched in December 2004 in the Highlands and Islands and the
South of Scotland to aggregate public sector demand for broadband
infrastructure. The £70m project to wire up schools, libraries and
other council buildings with high-speed broadband services will
deliver services to more than 800 sites. The sites will be
connected using a mix of
fibre,
wireless and
copper-based infrastructure. In June 2006 a procurement team chose
Scottish telecoms operator Thus's bid for the project ahead of
BT
[18].
Demand stimulation projects:
Neutral Broadband Website – A website
(
www.scottish-enterprise.com/broadband)
launched to raise awarenessof the benefits of broadband and to
provide independent advice and information on broadband for
businesses. The website contains online seminars, an operator
search facility and a self-assessment tool to show how businesses
can gain from broadband
[19].
Local demonstration centre network – A
network of broadband demonstration centres focused on the business
benefits of broadband, and the widespread availability of service
through satellite. Broadband workshops promoted interactive and
functional hands-on demonstrations to help businesses to appreciate
the broadband 'art of the possible' with actual business benefit
examples. There was also a mobile Broadband Learning Unit in the
form of a satellite-enabled coach that delivered mobile broadband
awareness and learning to the wider community using the programme
and learning materials developed for the fixed centres
[20].
Supply stimulation initiatives and technology trials:
Business Broadband Incentive Scheme – The aim
of this scheme was to encourage businesses to take up a broadband
connection by offering grants that were available throughout
Scotland until March 2004. Grants of £300 were available to
businesses to install broadband services such as telephone line,
cable or fixed wireless. For businesses in areas where these
services were not likely to be made available in the near future,
grants of £1,200 were made available to help with the cost of
installing and running a satellite broadband connection, or a
bespoke solution.The originalscheme provided over 3,000 Scottish
businesses with £2.2 million in order to install broadband. As a
result of this success the scheme was extended for another year
after a further £1 million was made available
[21].
Powerline Trials - Two technical trials of
broadband powerline technology were undertaken in Crieff and
Campbeltown in partnership with Scottish Southern Electric (SSE).
SSE launched commercial services in Stonehaven as a result to test
the case for further deployment of powerline broadband. However,
SSE has since stopped signing up new powerline customers and the
technology seems unlikely to feature in the mass market due to
issues regarding radio interference
[22].
Community Network Demonstration project – The
Highlands & Islands Enterprise set up the project to provide
broadband in communities that were not already covered by broadband
technologies. Wireless networks were set-up in 6 communities to
demonstrate wireless broadband technologies and test the process of
rolling out to the most remote communitiesthroughout the Highlands
and Islands. As well as getting end-usersconnected to broadband,
the project provides real life experience on how to overcome
logistical, technical, organisational and legal challenges posed by
this model
[23].
Scottish Borders Rural Broadband Service – A
pilot project designed to trial innovative approaches to the
delivery of broadband services in underserved areas. The Scottish
Borders area was chosen as the location of this pilot, as it was
the area with the lowest availability of broadband in Scotland at
the time. A key objective for the project was that it would
continue to provide broadband services to end-users on a
self-sustaining basis, beyond the pilot phase. Wireless technology
was used to deliver services as it can provide access to broadband
services where other technologies are not commercially or
technically viable. Scottish Enterprise Borders does not provide
broadband service directly to the public, but has set up a
subsidiary company, SBRB Ltd, to act as a wholesale provider of
services to ISPs. After an extensive and rigorous selection process
carried out under European Union OJEC tendering procedures,
Scottish operator THUS was chosen to deliver the contract on behalf
of SBRB Ltd
[24].
Northern Ireland
The Minister of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and
Investment (DETI) launched a new vision for telecommunications in
N. Ireland in October 2003 entitled "Broadband Northern Ireland
– Fully Connected". This vision is to have a fully connected
Northern Ireland with equitable access to cost effective broadband
services for all. The government set the following targets for N.
Ireland:
- To be the leading broadband region in the UK;
- To be the first region in the UK to have 100% coverage of
broadband services;
- 100% broadband access with a minimum of 512kbps for all
households and businesses by end of 2005;
- 12% of households and 20% of business take-up of broadband by
the end of 2005;
- 100% broadband at 2Mbps at cost competitive prices by end of
2006[25].
Northern Ireland secured £1.46m as its share of the £30m UK
Broadband. Broadband initiatives include:
The Broadband SME Programme – This programme
encouraged SMEs to get a broadband connection in order to help them
gain the benefits offered by broadband connectivity. Financial help
of up to 40% of the cost, up to a maximum of £5,000, was made
available to eligible businesses.
Electronic Libraries for Northern Ireland (ELFNI)
- A £36.5m private finance initiative projectintended to
bring electronic information services to almost all public
libraries inNorthern Ireland. Rollout across the 126 public
libraries and the schools library system was achieved within 15
months with fully operational status being achieved by the target
date of August 2003. The aim of this project was to
"
deliversocially inclusive, cost effective, efficient
and modern public library services tothe Northern Ireland
community[26]".
C2k (Classroom 2000) - A £200million project
to provide educational servicesthrough information and
communicationstechnology infrastructure for schools. The project
provided email and messaging systems, onlineconferencing services,
web publishing andhosting facilities for all 350,000 pupils
andteachers in Northern Ireland's grant aided schools.Every teacher
and student will be connectedfrom their school to the Internet and
each child from his or her first day at primary school will have
his or her own secure emailaddress. As part of the project all
1,200 Northern Ireland primary,secondary and special needs schools
will havebroadband connections by the end of 2006
[27].
Other projects supported under the UK Broadband Fund in
Northern Ireland include:
- Broadband wireless services trial in the South Antrim
area;
- Development of a virtual trade fair and business broadcasting
channel in Belfast;
- Radio mesh broadband wireless trial in Dundrum;
- Feasibility study into an optical fibre network in the
waterways of Ireland;
- Rural ATM access hub trial in Fermanagh;
- I-Burst pioneer trial at the NI Science Park;
- Feasibility studies into the provision, use and demand for
broadband in 19 council areas[28].
With regards to privatisation of the telecommunications
market, the incumbent operator, BT, became a public limited company
in 1984. BT was fully privatised in 1993, when the UK government
sold its remaining share of the company.
As regards international bandwidth, the UK had the fourth
highest level per inhabitant in the world in 2004, according to
theInternational Telecommunications Union (ITU), with over 13Mbps
per person. Denmark had the most at around 35Mbps per person,
leading The Netherlands at 20Mbps and Sweden at 17Mbps
[29].
Wales currently has no International Tier 1 broadband
connectivity. However, a project within the Welsh Assembly
Government's eWales unit will evaluate whether an International
broadband connection is required to ensure economic prosperity for
Wales and meet future broadband development
requirements.
There has been considerable investment in backbone
infrastructure over the last decade resulting in a number of
international backbone operators, including Thus, Cable &
Wireless and Telindus, having extensive networks. Cable operators
NTL and Telewest also have a significant backbone network. Despite
this BT remains the dominant network operator with a network that
reaches all major towns and cities in the UK[30].
Local access infrastructure is dominated by BT which had 33.9
million of the 41.7 million local access lines at the end of 2005.
The main competitors are NTL and Telewest. In the city of Hull the
incumbent operator is Kingston Communications. The increasing
deployment of local loop unbundling will provide increased local
access infrastructure competition in the near future[31].
Following the second stage of Ofcom's Telecoms Strategic
Review, BT launched a new division named Openreach in January 2006.
The purpose of Openreach is to ensure that the entire
telecommunications industry has fair and equal access to the local
access and backhaul networks.
BT announced its network upgrade project, named the
twenty-first century network (21CN), during 2003. The £10 billion
project will see BT deploy an advanced broadband network based on
intelligent systems, Internet Protocol (IP), Session Initiation
Protocol (SIP) and Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS). The first
areas to be migrated to the network will be Cardiff, Pontypridd and
Bridgend in South Wales, where 350,000 customers are to be
migrated, beginning in November 2006[32].
Cable & Wireless also announced plans in April 2005 for
its own NGN. The operator plans to spend £190 million pounds over
three years on building the new network[33].
Ofcom has launched an industry body that will focus on the
technical and commercial arrangements for NGN development. The new
body, NGN UK, will initially help companies develop an effective
technical and commercial framework for interconnection between
NGNs[34].
|
|
Wales
|
Scotland
|
England
|
Northern Ireland
|
UK
Total
|
|
Rural Population
|
22%
|
16%
|
13%
|
35%
|
12%
|
|
Older People
(aged 65 plus)
|
18%
|
16%
|
16%
|
14%
|
16%
|
|
Household Income
Under £11,500
|
43%
|
32%
|
26%
|
29%
|
27%
|
Table 2 – Profile of socio-economic
groups in UK nations, Office of National Statistics and Business
Geographic 'Urban Indicator', 2001
High levels of rural population, older inhabitants and low
income households all provide barriers to basic ICT and,
ultimately, broadband penetration levels. Wales, Scotland and
Northern Ireland all have higher rural populations than England,
with Wales and Northern Ireland having particularly high rural
populations at 22% and 35% of their respective populations.
Wales also has particularly high numbers of households with an
income of under £11,500 when compared to the other nations at 43%
of all households and high numbers of people aged over 65 compared
to the UK total. As such, Wales has the greatest socio-economic
barriers to overcome out of the four UK nations with regards to
broadband take-up.
In terms of ICT usage, the latest available figures show that
in 2005 65% of households had a PC[35]. Furthermore, 56% of all
households had access to the internet at the end of 2005. These
figures are in line with the OECD, for both PC and internet
penetration of households. Iceland has Europe's highest levels of
PC penetration, at 86% of households, and internet penetration, at
81% of households[36].
Figure 1 - Residential PC and
internet penetration, OECD Science, Technology and Industry:
Scoreboard 2005
In an effort to increase the number of PC households the
government introduced the Home Computing Initiative in 1999. The
scheme enabled employers to provide laptops or PCs with a value up
to £2,500 to employees free of income tax and National Insurance.
The employer effectively loans the employee a computer for a
36-month period, with payments being taken from the employee's pay
packet every month. However, the government announced in March 2006
that it was to end the tax exemption for the purchase of PCs
[37].
According to the government, cost is not the only barrier to
ICT take-up. Some individuals do not have the skills to use
computers, even though they may want to get online and others do
not see the relevance of the internet to their needs. However,
trials aimed at closing the digital divide in disadvantaged areas
suggest that these perceptions change when ICT technology is
introduced into lives. As such, the government is committed to
making it easier for all people to get access, whether individually
or through community facilities, and through a number of devices
(Computer, Digital TV, telephone, mobile devices, etc.)
[38].
Figure 2 - PC and internet take-up
by nation, Ofcom Communications Tracking Study, Q2/Q3
2005
On a regional level, according to Ofcom figures, PC and
internet penetration are higher in England than in the other UK
nations. The lower take-up of PCs and internet in Wales, Scotland
and Northern Ireland may provide barriers for broadband growth in
these areas
[39].
At the end of December 2005, broadband lines were calculated
to be around 9.5 million. This represents growth of around 3.3
million connections, or 52.5% during 2005[40]. Broadband
connections accounted for 65.1% of all internet connections at the
end of 2005[41].
Figure 3 - Total broadband subscriptions by
country, OECD, December 2005
The market growth compares favourably with the 33% growth
reported across the OECD[42] and the 37% growth worldwide[43] for
the same period; indicating that the market is still some distance
from reaching saturation.
Figure 4 - Broadband growth over
2005 and broadband penetration by population, OECD Broadband
Statistics, December 2005
Analysys Research forecast that there will be around 12.3
million broadband connections by the end of 2006. This would equate
to a population penetration rate of around 20.5 connections per 100
inhabitants.
Until recently, broadband adoption rates have lagged behind
other countries for the following reasons:
- Low availability of broadband technologies;
- High broadband access prices compared with narrowband dial-up
packages;
- High penetration of dial-up narrowband access prior to
broadband availability;
- Strong competition from established alternative media, such as
digital TV;
- Lack of awareness of the benefits from using broadband;
- Lack of broadband specific content and applications[44].
However, many of these issues have been dealt with and as a
result the market has seen strong growth, allowing the UK to move
into a healthier position in terms of broadband adoption compared
to other countries in the OECD.
Figure 5 - Broadband penetration by population,
OECD Broadband Statistics, December 2005
Figures from the OECD place the UK in thirteenth position in
the OECD in terms of broadband penetration per head of population;
with a take-up of 15.9% in December 2005. This figure places the UK
ahead of the OECD as a whole, which had an average penetration of
13.6% of the population. Iceland, with a broadband penetration of
26.7% of the population, had the world's highest penetration,
leading Korea (25.4%) and The Netherlands (25.3%). The lowest
broadband penetration within the OECD was in Greece at 1.4
broadband connections per 100 inhabitants
[45].
Figure 6 - Broadband penetration by
households (top ten countries), World Broadband Statistics Q4 2005,
Point Topic, December 2005
As regards broadband penetration per household, around 38% of
households had a broadband connection in December 2005; this places
the UK outside the top ten countries in the world. This is far
lower than the household penetration in Korea, the highest in the
world, which stood at around 78.5% of households at that time. The
highest household penetration levels in Europe were in Monaco at
69% of all households, while The Netherlands and Denmark also score
highly with 58% and 54% respectively[46].
In terms of the business market, there are around 4 million
businesses in the UK; with small and medium sized enterprises
(SMEs) accounting for over 99% of them. Latest figures in 2004 show
that 87% of all enterprises with 10 or more full time employees had
internet access. The figures also show that 44% of all enterprises
with 10 or more full time employees used a broadband connection.
Both figures are slightly below the OECD average
[47].
Figure 7 - Internet and broadband penetration of
businesses, OECD Science, Technology and Industry: Scoreboard
2005
Broadband operator Bulldog has launched a new suite of
products aimed at Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The SME
packages are targeted at business with up to fifty staff. Research
carried out by Bulldog showed that 45% of businesses felt they
could grow faster if they had access to the right information and
communications technology at the right price and with the right
support
[48].
As regards broadband infrastructure, BT figures indicate that
99.9% of UK households and businesses are now served by exchanges
that have been ADSL enabled and that more than 99.8% of all
end-users connected to an enabled exchange can receive ADSL
broadband services. As such, it is estimated that 99.7% of all UK
households and businesses can receive ADSL broadband services.
According to NTL Incorporated its network pass more than 12 million
UK households and businesses (NTL networks pass around 7.7 million
and Telewest pass around 4.7 million). Nearly all of these networks
have now been upgraded for broadband services and as such, cable
services are available to around 50% of UK households and 85% of UK
businesses.
Figure 8 - Estimated broadband coverage, Analysys
Research, September 2005
On a regional level, broadband coverage in Wales, Scotland and
Northern Ireland has caught up with coverage for the UK as a whole.
All nations can now boast broadband coverage of over 99% of
households and the government of Northern Ireland announced in
January 2006 that it had become the first UK nation to reach 100%
broadband coverage[49].
However, while total broadband coverage in all the UK nations
and regions has reached levels comparable to the UK as a whole, the
coverage of technologies other than DSL varies significantly.
Coverage of cable infrastructure is particularly low in Wales (25%)
and Northern Ireland (33%) when compared to some regions in
England, such as the West Midlands (63%) and London (55%).
Table 3 - Proportion of households
covered by broadband technologies by geographical region, Q3 2005,
Ovum UK Broadband Status Report, January 2006
In terms of broadband services, in December 2005, the dominant
technology was DSL; accounting for 61% of total broadband
connections. Cable accounts for almost the entire remaining share
with a 27% share of total broadband connections
[50].
Figure 9 - Western European
broadband market by technology type, Analysys Research, December
2005
The first ADSL services were introduced in July 2000, around a
year later than the first cable broadband service. Despite this
late start, DSL has become the dominant technology in the market
after the number of DSL connections in the market overtook cable
during 2003.
ADSL connections in the UK have typically provided maximum
downstream speeds of 2Mbps. However, BT began commercial trials of
8Mbps ADSL connections in November 2005 with the intention of
upgrading all of its ADSL connections to 8Mbps with a new 'ADSL
Max' service during spring 2006. However, only customers close to
the exchange will be able to receive the maximum 8Mbps speed
offered by the new ADSL Max service; 42% of BT lines are estimated
to support 6Mbps speeds while 78% of lines are capable of offering
4Mbps connections[51].
In terms of SDSL, BT suspended its roll-out in August 2005,
admitting that a large number of its SDSL enabled exchanges do not
have any SDSL subscribers. BT has enabled 750 exchanges for SDSL
but had intended to make 800 of its exchanges capable of SDSL
delivery. Of the 750 SDSL enabled exchanges, 19 are in Wales, 36 in
Scotland and 24 are in Northern Ireland
[52].
Local loop unbundling was made available in January 2001 in an
attempt to introduce greater infrastructure competition into the
market. However, LLU has had a very slow start compared to other
Western European markets. Price reductions in late 2004 and
mid-2005 have provided a boost to LLU which has resulted in
numerous operators announcing extensive LLU roll-out plans. A
further boost has come from a commitment from BT to stabilise the
pricing of its bitstream products until there are 1.5 million
unbundled lines to ensure that margins are preserved for
unbundlers[53].
With regards to regulation, Ofcom revealed the new post of
Independent Telecoms Adjudicator in July 2004. The post has been
established to facilitate swift implementation of the necessary
processes that enable competitors to gain access to the incumbent's
local loop, and to find a prompt mediated resolution to
working-level implementation disputes
[54].
Figure 10 - Unbundled DSL lines as
a percentage of total DSL lines, ECTA, December
2005
Figures from
ECTA
show that 192,000 local loops were unbundled by the end of December
2005. This represents 2.7% of the DSLmarket; one of the lowest LLU
shares of the DSL market in Western Europe
[55].
While increasing competition and product differentiation in
the areas where it is deployed, there is evidence to suggest that
LLU is creating a new 'digital divide' in broadband markets where
it is widely used. In France, which has the highest LLU share of
the DSL market in Europe, LLU coverage has now reached around 50%
of the population but further growth of coverage has slowed as
operators have concentrated on the more lucrative urban areas.
According to the French regulator, ARCEP, the majority of sites
unbundled recently were for public networks launched by local
governments. As such, it will be important to monitor the progress
of LLU in the UK in order to ensure that a new 'digital divide'
does not arise
[56].
Declining LLU prices has led to numerous operators beginning
or announcing plans to unbundle some of BT's exchanges.
Bulldog have unbundled more than 400 exchanges throughout the
UK and expect to increase this to almost 600 by the end of August
2006. After undergoing trials, Bulldog will launch ADSL2+ services
over its network during 2006. The services are expected to offer
download speeds of up to 16Mbps.
Pay-TV operator BSkyB is emerging as a major player in the
broadband market. Its purchase of broadband operator Easynet in
October 2005 will allow it to potentially offer triple-play
services. UKOnline (the ISP of Easynet) claim to have a network
that reaches 4.4 million households across the UK and began
offering 22Mbps services to these households using ADSL2+
technology in November 2005. Sky has announced that a Sky branded
broadband service will be launched in the second half of 2006 and
plans to have around 379 BT exchanges unbundled by the end of June
2006. This would mean that some 7.5m (30 per cent) of UK homes
would be connected to a Sky-unbundled exchange. The operator is
looking to increase coverage so that 70 per cent of UK homes can
access its broadband service by the end of 2007.
Swedish ISP Be has started unbundling exchanges in the UK and
plans to install its kit in more than 450 of BT's exchanges. Be
offers 24Mbps services over its network using ADSL2+
technology.
AOL announced in January 2006 that it would invest £50 million
in unbundling 300 exchanges in the UK, giving it access to around
20% of the population. If this first stage proves a success, AOL
then intends to invest a further £70m to unbundle 1,000 more
exchanges.
The Carphone Warehouse has announced plans to unbundle 1,018
exchanges throughout the UK by the end of July 2006. In April 2006
it announced that it would offer 'free' 8Mbps broadband to
end-users living within its exchange areas. To take up the offer
customers must subscribe to Carphone's TalkTalk fixed line phone
service for £9.99 a month. A monthly line rental charge of £11.00
will also apply making a total cost of line rental, calls and
broadband of £20.99 a month.
Furthermore, Wanadoo (now rebranded as Orange) has already
unbundled 200 of BT's exchanges and 500 are planned by the end of
the year, Tiscali had unbundled 241 exchanges by mid-March 2006 and
Pipex has announced plans to unbundle 100 exchanges by the end of
the year.
Other LLU operators with more limited coverage include
Homechoice, Edge Telecom, Zen Internet and Node4
.
The cable sector is dominated by NTL and Telewest who have
been the sole providers of cable modem services. The first services
were launched in April 1999, giving cable an early advantage over
DSL. However, the absence of a competitive alternative from other
technologies meant that prices for these services were
unattractive.
The cable sector has recently undergone consolidation after it
was confirmed in October 2005 that the two operators were to merge,
creating the second largest player in the UK telecommunications
market. The merged entity has begun to focus on providing
higher-bandwidth services. NTL announced in August 2005 that its
standard speed would become 10Mbps within 18 months. Furthermore, a
planned trial of VDSL2 would enable the operator to offer services
with download speeds of up to 50Mbps and upload speeds of up to
25Mbps
[57].
Despite having fairly extensive infrastructure, the cable
sector is not subject to LLU regulations. NTL does however have
wholesaling partnerships with AOL, Tesco.net and Wanadoo.
Fixed Wireless Access services are offered by a small number
of operators, mainly to business customers. Analysys Research
estimate that there were around 4,000 FWA connections at the end of
2005 which accounts for less than 0.1% of total broadband
connections.
The emergence of WiMAX may see this increase. However, due to
the maturity of the wireline market it is unlikely to have a
significant impact. The only commercial WiMAX service in the market
at the end of 2005 was from Telabria. The service, available only
in Kent, offers symmetric connections of up to 10Mbps.
Another WiMAX player, Pipex, has announced plans to have
several major cities covered by 2008.The new venture, Pipex
Wireless, will be majority owned by Pipex but backed by Intel with
a $25 million investment. The other Wimax licence is held by PCWW
who have yet to announce plans for a service roll-out.
In terms of public wireless hotspots, the UK is one of the
world's leaders. Analysys Research estimate that there were around
9,000 public access hotspots at the end of 2005. BBWO estimate that
more than 500 of these are situated within Wales.
There are currently no initiatives for the provision of
residential fibre connections. However, a number of operators
provide fibre connections to businesses. Analysys Research
estimates that there were around 44,000 connections at the end of
2005.
Analysys Research estimates that there were around 3,000
satellite broadband connections at the end of 2005.
In terms of operators, the UK telecommunications market is
currently dominated by two major players: BT (DSL) and the merged
NTL/Telewest group (Cable). BT is dominant in the DSL market due to
there being little competition thus far from LLU operators; BT
lines accounted for 96.5% of all wholesale DSL lines in December
2005. This equates to 71% of all wholesale broadband connections.
NTL connections accounted for 16.6% of all wholesale lines and
Telewest connections accounted for 10.2% of all wholesale lines at
the end of 2005
[58]. This gives the combined group a 27% share of
the wholesale market.
Figure 11 - Wholesale and retail
shares of Western European incumbent operators, Analysys Research,
December 2005
As LLU operators increase their coverage it is expected that
BT's share of the wholesale DSL market will erode somewhat over the
near future.
There are more than 300 retail ISPs in the UK which is very
high in comparison to other Western European markets. This high
level of retail competition has resulted in BT having the lowest
incumbent share of the DSL retail market in Western Europe; in
December 2005, BT subscriptions accounted for just 32% of the DSL
retail market. This equates to 24% of the total broadband retail
market
[59].
A wholesale line rental product was introduced to the market
in July 2002 after Oftel proposed such a service in order to
introduce continued competition in the fixed telephony market. BT
lowered its WLR charges following a ruling from Ofcom in November
2005. BT's residential WLR product was reduced to £8.39 from £8.74
and its business WLR product was reduced to £9.17 from £9.95.
According to Analysys Research there were 2.3 million WLR
connections at the end of 2005.
In order to combat the threat of fixed-mobile substitution, BT
launched a new handset that can operate as a fixed-line and a
mobile device. The new service, BT Fusion, was launched in mid-2005
and uses a short-range wireless network to connect to the
fixed-line network via a base station in the home or business. BT
announced in February 2006 that it had 13,000 customers signed up
to the service.
There are no retail NDSL services in the market as yet.
However, with mobile-only households accounting for 8% of all
households, such services may be required to stimulate take-up of
broadband in this sector[60]. With a greater number of mobile-only
households in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland than in England,
this issue is of greater importance to the smaller nations than for
the UK as a whole.
The UK has very little cross-ownership between major
fixed-line and mobile operators, in fact BT is the only incumbent
in Western Europe without a mobile licence. This allows mobile
operators to price aggressively without the fear of cannibalising
fixed-line revenues. The cost advantages of 3G may yet create a
price war among mobile operators which could lead to an increased
rate of fixed–mobile substitution. However, BT is counting on BT
Fusion to fight back against the threat of fixed-mobile
substitution by diverting mobile calls back onto the fixed
network[61].
As price competition intensifies in the broadband market
operators are becoming increasingly aware of the need to
differentiate their services to attract new customers and to drive
ARPU (average revenue per user). The higher bandwidths achievable
by using ADSL2+ has allowed operators to offer differentiation
through higher speed services, however, focus is moving towards
differentiation through content delivery, particularly via IPTV and
VOD.
BT signed a content deal with the children's
programmer Cartoon Network as part of its preparation for
launching BT Vision, an Internet Protocol TV
(IPTV) service, in the second half of 2006. Other content
agreements that BT already has in place include BBC Worldwide,
Paramount, Warner Music Group, Endemol and National
Geographic.
Homechoice has built a customer base of 45,000 in the London
area for its IPTV service. The operator is looking to expand its
footprint through LLU and hopes to reach 10 million households by
the end of 2006.
While other operators are launching IPTV services, Kingston
Communications has announced that it will be cancelling its IPTV
service, launched in 2000, in early April 2006 due to poor levels
of adoption. Subscriber numbers have fallen from a high of around
10,000 to just 4,000 towards the end of 2005.
BT launched a residential VoIP service towards the end of 2003
labelled BT Broadband Talk. The service is inclusive with a BT
broadband connection and packages are available from £2.99 with
other providers. A VoIP service for SMEs was launched in January
2006 named BT Business Broadband Voice and packages are available
from £5 per month. BT claimed to have 300,000 retail VoIP customers
in February 2006
[62].
Furthermore, Wanadoo launched a VoIP service for £4 per month
in March 2005 and Tesco launched a VoIP service in January
2006.
NTL and Telewest have both launched VOD services. NTL's
service is expected to be available to all of its digital TV
subscribers by the end of September 2006. Telewest's VOD roll-out
is complete with all digital subscribers receiving the "Teleport"
service[63].
The pay-TV broadcaster BSkyB rolled-out Sky by
broadband, a VoD service. The service has an
initial library of 200 titles, which BSkyB plans
to expand to over 1000, while users can also download
highlights of sports matches. Sky by broadband is available
free to Sky Digital subscribers. Sky reported later in
February that 52 000 customers had registered for the
service in the first three weeks while 70 000 movies were
downloaded in the same period.
AOL launched a video on demand (VoD) service for PCs. The AOL
Film Downloads service allows registered users to download full
length films to their PC with prices beginning at £2.99 per film.
Films can be kept for up to seven days although once viewing has
begun this period is reduced to 24 hours.
The triple-play market has developed late compared to much of
Europe. The leading triple-play operator is NTL. According to NTL
figures, triple-play penetration of on-net customers had reached
29% at the end of 2005. Furthermore, Telewest had a triple-play
penetration of 37% of its customers. The new merged group therefore
had around 1.3 million triple-play subscribers at the end of
2005.
Competition in the area is emerging from BT, Orange/Wanadoo
and BSkyB, who are all expected to launch their own packages
towards the end of 2006. BSkyB's purchase of broadband ISP Easynet
will allow it to offer broadband and telephony services to its
pay-TV subscribers. With around 7.8 million TV subscribers, a
strong content portfolio and a strong brand it is in a position
where it may become a major triple-play player very quickly.
France Telecom, the parent company of Orange and Wanadoo,
seems set to enter the triple-play market after the introduction of
a package in France. Its converged services will be launched under
the Orange brand.
BT has been looking at ways of differentiating itself in the
UK broadband market rather than remaining just an
internet access provider. The operator created a new division
called BT Entertainment within its retail arm, in November 2004, to
focus on driving value-added broadband services. An agreement
with Microsoft, in June 2005, to use the company's IPTV
software platform to deliver broadcast services has brought BT a
step closer to becoming a triple-play provider.
In a bid to retain its position as a leading player, NTL is
looking towards extending its bundled offering. It had a bid for
MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) Virgin Mobile rejected in
December 2005. However it is expected that a deal will go through
during 2006 which would allow the cable operator to extend its
triple-play offering to a quad-play package including a mobile
service.
Oftel and Ofcom published a joint decision on the wholesale
broadband access market in December 2003. Its findings were that
the national wholesale broadband market was distinct from the
dial-up internet access market and that BT had SMP (Significant
Market Power). As a result the regulators proposed regulatory
obligations upon BT, including a requirement for the provision of
network access on reasonable request. The regulators also proposed
that BT be required to offer Datastream wholesale access products
to retail ISPs on a retail-minus basis (i.e. access prices are set
on the basis of the end-user or retail prices of the corresponding
final services. The discount off retail prices is usually set as a
fixed percentage of the retail price)
[64]. Ofcom proposed that the
wholesale migration charge from BT's IPStream wholesale products be
cut from £50 to £11 per user in April 2004. This change was
implemented voluntarily by BT.
Furthermore, Ofcom published its LLU prices in December 2004.
It instructed that prices for shared access connection and annual
rental be set at £34.86 and £15.60, respectively. These represent
decreases of around 70% compared to BT's prices prior to the
review. Ofcom also recommended that the cost of a fully unbundled
transferred connection and new connection should be set at £34.86
and £168.38, respectively, representing cuts of 60% and 30% on the
precious price levels. The price reductions came into force at the
start of 2005. Ofcom set a price ceiling of £81.69 per year for the
rental of a fully unbundled local loop in November 2005
[65].
In terms of pricing, the cost of basic 'first generation'
broadband packages has decreased significantly since the launch of
services in 2001, falling from a high of around EUR67 per month for
a 0.5Mbps service in 2001, to around EUR20 per month for a 0.5Mbps
service. While prices have decreased steadily since the
launch of the first services, the recent trend in the market has
been for prices to remain static while the bandwidths of the
services have increased. As such, a 2Mbps service cost around EUR27
per month for in 2005. As a result, prices for 2005 are similar to
other Western European markets; in The Netherlands and France
similar services cost around EUR25-30 per month.
Residential 'second generation' broadband services
[1] were not
widely available in the market at the end of 2005. However, BT had
begun commercial trials of its 8Mbps ADSL 'Max' service which was
due to be launched in early 2006. In December 2005, 8-10Mbps
services were available in some parts of the country, through LLU
and cable networks, costing around EUR30-55 per month. These prices
are similar to comparable services in France which cost around
EUR30-40. However, 'second generation' services are available for
as little as EUR15 per month in some unbundled exchange areas of
France
[66].
After a slow start the UK broadband market is becoming an
increasingly developed broadband market when compared to some of
Western Europe's major nations (such as France and Germany). This
has come about as a result of a number of barriers to broadband
growth being overcome;
- broadband coverage has increased and is now more
extensive than in any country in the G7 and in Western Europe, with
availability now only fractionally short of being ubiquitous;
- increased competition in the broadband market has
decreased the difference in price between broadband services and
dial-up;
- marketing initiatives have increased the awareness of
the benefits that can be achieved through the use of broadband;
and
- broadband specific content is increasing through the
launch of VoIP, VOD and IPTV services.
Broadband penetration levels are ahead of the OECD average at
15.9 connections per 100 inhabitants at the end of 2005. This
equates to around 38 connections per 100 households which is some
way short of reaching tele-density levels; Analysys Research
estimate that there were 90 fixed-lines per 100 households at the
end of 2005. This suggests that there is plenty of scope for
further broadband growth in the market.
Government intervention has helped drive the broadband market
through the support and stimulation of the virtuous circle of
supply and demand. This has been particularly evident in the
initiatives run by the Devolved Administrations and Regional
Development Agencies. However, much of the progress has been
achieved through market forces as the key players in the
telecommunications market have all made broadband central to their
strategies.
On a regional level Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland all
have greater barriers to overcome than England. Basic ICT
penetration is lower in these nations than in England and they also
have greater socio-economic barriers, such as lower GDP per capita
and greater rural populations.
The advent of BT's Next Generation Network and the increasing
use of LLU are likely to introduce greater differentiation of
products to the market as well as creating greater scope for
converged services and more advanced content delivery in the near
future. The changing focus towards higher bandwidths and content
delivery is evidenced by the increasing use of ADSL2+ by LLU
operators, the introduction of ADSL Max services and the launches
or planned launches of VOD and IPTV services.
BSkyB's purchase of LLU operator Easynet will accelerate
operators' triple-play deployments as they try to combat the threat
of this new competitor. Furthermore, the merger of the two cable
operators, NTL and Telewest, and NTL's potential purchase of Virgin
Mobile could see the emergence of a quadruple player, further
increasing the product differentiation in the market.
In 2005, with high broadband availability and mobile take-up,
and above average broadband penetration, the telecommunications
market in the UK is becoming increasingly advanced. There are a
number of operators, providing a range of services with an
increased focus on higher bandwidths and content delivery.
[1] International Monetary Fund,
World Economic
Outlook Database, April 2006
[2] Western Mail,
Building better future? Not
quite, 15
th June 2005
[3] Prime Minister's Strategy Unit,
Connecting the
UK: the Digital Strategy, March 2005
[4] BREAD,
Second report on the multi-technological
analysis of the 'broadband for all' concept, focus on the listing
of multitechnological key issues and practical roadmaps on how to
tackle these issues, August 2005
[5] Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology,
Broadband Internet Access, July 2002
[6] Prime Minister's Strategy Unit,
Connecting the
UK: the Digital Strategy, March 2005
[7] DTI,
Review of the UK Broadband Fund,
January 2005
[8] House of Commons Enviroment, Food and Rural Affairs
Committee,
Rural Broadband Eleventh Report of Session
2002–03, July 2003
[13] House of Commons Enviroment, Food and Rural
Affairs Committee,
Rural Broadband Eleventh Report of Session
2002–03, July 2003
[15] Connecting Scotland: our broadband future, August
2001.
[16] BSG,
Broadband in the Devolved
Administrations Appendix 8, November 2003
[18] The Register,
Thus pips BT to £70m Scottish
broadband project, 30
th June 2006
[25] Department of Enterprise, Trade and
Investment,
Broadband Northern Ireland – Fully Connected,
October 2003
[26] Northern Ireland Audit Office,
The Private
Finance Initiative: Electronic Libraries for Northern Ireland
(ELFNI), November 2005
[27] Department of Enterprise, Trade and
Investment,
Broadband Northern Ireland – Fully Connected,
October 2003
[28] Department of Enterprise, Trade and
Investment,
Broadband Northern Ireland – Fully Connected,
October 2003
[29] International Telecommunications Union,
World
Telecommunications Indicators, December 2005
[30] Analysys Research,
Country Report: UK,
April 2006
[31] Analysys Research,
Country Report: UK,
April 2006
[33] Light Reading,
C&W Plans Its Own
21CN, 20
th April 2005
[35] Content Village,
eContent in Belgium,
August 2004
[36] OECD,
ICT database and Eurostat, Community
Survey on ICT usage in households and by individuals,
May 2005
[37] Guardian Unlimited,
Thousands to miss out on
PC scheme, 26
th March 2006
[38] Prime Minister's Strategy Unit,
Connecting
the UK: the Digital Strategy, March 2005
[39] Ofcom,
The Communications Market: Nations and
Regions, April 2006
[41] ONS,
Internet Connectivity, March
2006
[42] OECD,
OECD Broadband Statistics, December
2005, April 2006
[43] Point Topic,
World Broadband Statistics:Q4
2005, March 2006
[44] Ovum and Beacon,
The BEACON Broadband
Knowledge Base Report, September 2005
[45] OECD,
OECD Broadband Statistics, December
2005, April 2006
[46] Point Topic,
World Broadband Statistics:Q4
2005, March 2006
[47] OECD, ICT database and Eurostat, Community Survey
on ICT usage in enterprises, May 2005
[48] Bulldog,
'Caught in a Trap' UK SMEs in
Communications Limbo, March 2006
[49] BBC,
Broadband coverage 'now NI wide',
16
th January 2006
[51] BT Press Release,
BT beefs up broadband
across the UK, 2
nd March 2006
[53] Analysys Research,
Country Report: UK,
April 2006
[55] ECTA,
Broadband Scorecard Q4 2005, May
2006
[56] BBWO,
Broadband Benchmark Update Q1
2006, June 2006
[57] Analysys Research,
Country Report: UK,
April 2006
[58] Analysys Research,
Market shares,
2006
[60] Ofcom,
The Communications Market: Nations and
Regions, April 2006
[61] Analysys Research,
Country Report: UK,
April 2006
[62] Analysys Research,
Country Report: UK,
April 2006
[63] NTL,
Year end 2005 Results, February
2006
[64] Analysys Research,
Country Report: UK,
April 2006
[65] Analysys Research,
Country Report: UK,
April 2006
[66] Analysys Research,
Broadband Pricing
Study, December 2005