The cost of bringing up broadband

摘要

The popularity of the Internet across Europe shows little sign of stalling in even the most advanced markets. However, an uneven playing field―and quibbles over the best pricing strategy―may yet stunt Internet growth before broadband is even a twinkle in the eye of many corporate and residential customers. Low price is central to the uptake of broad-and Internet services across Europe. One of the early barriers to the adoption of broad-band services was a general understanding―although in some cases it was a misunderstanding―that broadband access is extremely expensive. For BWA and broadband satellite, this certainly holds true: wireless broadband services appear set to remain a specialist and corporate market for the foreseeable future. However, both telecomms operators and cable operators have learnt valuable lessons from their experience in the narrowband, dial-up Internet sector and are trying to carry them across into the realm of broadband.