Korea loses broadband crown to Denmark, Australia now above OECD average

Stuart Corner
Saturday, 14 October 2006 11:02

IT Industry - Deals

According to the OECD's latest broadband statistics, Denmark now has the highest broadband penetration in the OECD, having ousted Korea from the top spot to reach a level of 23.9 services per 100 population and Australia has at last risen above the OECD average broadband penetration.
The past year has seen a huge rise in the number of broadband subscribers in the OECD, a 33 percent increase from June 2005 to 181 million in June 2006. This growth increased average broadband penetration rates in the OECD members 11.7 in June 2005 to 15.5 services per 100 inhabitants in June 2006. Australia ranked 17th with a penetration level of 17.4 per 100.

This was achieved by Australia having the second fastest growth rate after Denmark. "The strongest per-capita subscriber growth comes from Denmark, Australia, Norway, the Netherlands, Finland, Luxembourg, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Each country added more than  six  subscribers per 100 inhabitants during the past year," The OECD said.

The OECD observes that Northern European countries have continued their advance with high broadband penetration rates. In June 2006, six countries (Denmark, the Netherlands, Iceland, Korea, Switzerland and Finland) led the OECD in broadband penetration, each with at least 25 subscribers per 100 inhabitants.

It suggest the reason Northern Europe continues to lead in nearly all telecommunications rankings is that "Nordic countries have embraced alternative ways of bringing broadband to consumers. Public utilities and municipalities are putting in their own fibre infrastructure that is typically available to any company that wants to rent a portion of it."