Telecommunications monopolies still dominate broadband market, shows survey
A survey by the European competitive telecommunications association (ECTA) has found that national telecommunications operators retain control of the broadband market, despite attempts by the EU to give European consumers a wider choice. EU laws dictate that former telecommunication monopolies share their phone lines with rivals, but the survey shows that only a tiny percentage of European broadband net connections are actually accessed via lines unbundled from incumbent telecommunications companies. More than a year after measures had to be put in place to make the unbundling process easier, only three per cent of Europe's 4.1 million digital subscriber lines are provided by new entrants. ECTA's managing director, Paul Evins, believes that the difficulty of co-location is one of the reasons for a lack of market penetration by new companies. 'The few new entrants left in the market are, in most countries, unable to co-locate and acquire lines on a timely or economic basis,' he said. The survey shows that only Germany and Denmark are making significant progress on unbundling telephone lines. In Denmark 40,000 lines have been handed over to rival companies, and in Germany, 623,000.