European Homes 'converging', Says Report

摘要

Nearly one in five homes in the European Union take a bundled package of telecommunications services from one provider as the continents "digital revolution" accelerates, according to research by the European Commission. The study of 27,000 households across the European Union's 27 member states reported that at the end of 2006 almost 20 per cent of homes bought two or more services, most often telephony and internet access, from a single provider. Denmark was the country most accepting of the bundle proposition with 38 per cent of households choosing one supplier, up 13 percentage points on the previous year, compared to 24 per cent of UK homes, a fall of one percentage point. Broadband access is "rapidly becoming more popular" across the Union, the report added, with 28 per cent of homes using broadband, up six points on the previous year, compared to just 12 per cent using narrowband which dropped three points. More than half of all households (54 per cent) now access the internet via ADSL, with 34 per cent of broadband now wireless. The study, conducted by TNS Opinion & Social, also revealed that 63 per cent of Europeans do not take pay-television services and rely on free-to-air transmissions. Fewer households subscribe to pay-television in countries where they receive television through an aerial or a satellite, than in predominately cable-television countries, the survey concluded. Terrestrial broadcasts remain the most popular method of receiving television transmissions with 45 per cent of homes relying on the platform (see fig.). Satellite households averaged 21 per cent, with Austria the highest at 46 per cent followed by Denmark with 42 per cent. The digital-terrestrial platform is most popular in the UK and Sweden with 22 per cent of homes receiving such signals. In all other countries apart from Cyprus (11 per cent) and Finland (14 per cent), less than 10 per cent of homes receive digital-terrestrial television with the average seven per cent. IPTV is still very rare across the continent with an. average of just two per cent of homes receiving television over broadband.