Cable helps Europe to half way on 2020 Digital Agenda goals

The EU is half way towards achieving its goal of ensuring that all citizens have access to super-fast broadband services by 2020, according to a study by Point Topic.

In a study produced for the EU’s DG Connect department responsible for the Digital Agenda, Point Topic said that 96% of EU homes can now get at least a 144Kbps internet service and over 50% can get super-fast broadband providing 30Mbps or above.

Three EU countries – the Netherlands, Belgium and Malta – have over 98% coverage of super-fast broadband, while at the other end of the scale, three – Italy, Greece and Cyprus – have coverage of less than 11%. The other countries have coverage of between 35%-75%. Rural areas, however, have only 12% super-fast broadband coverage as a whole.

Cable is the clear leader in providing super-fast broadband in the EU, with DOCSIS 3.0 now reaching 37% of homes, while fibre-to-the-premises covers only 12%. VDSL covered 21% of EU homes at the end of 2011. The coverage of the three technologies overlaps, meaning that about 50% of homes have access to one or more.