Europe's broadband lag means 2020 Digital Agenda targets unlikely
Figures released by the EU show that despite increasing broadband connection speeds Europe still lags far behind Asian countries such as Japan in terms of speed.
The figures published by the European Commission show that many more EU residents have access to broadband connections of at least 10 megabits per second (Mbps), rising to 29 percent in July 2010 from 15 percent last year. However only five percent of lines in the EU have average speeds at or above 30 Mbps, while 0.5 percent have access to speeds over 100 Mbps, which pales in comparison to Japan and China where high speed broadband connections are becoming the norm.
The EU Commission Vice-President for the Digital Agenda spoke out with the release of the EU broadband connectivity figures, demanding that countries do more to ensure that they reach aims for fast and ultra-fast connections by 2020. According to the Digital Agenda 2020 targets, it is necessary to ensure that all households should have access to broadband speeds of at least 30 Mbps, with at least half accessing over 100 Mbps.
