Global broadband: Is it all about the cheapest? - Online news from MSO.net's Net.Matters - July 2007

25 July 2007

In a recent report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) it was stated that of the 30 member countries over 60% of their internet users now had access to broadband. Looking at the monthly cost for provision of broadband services, and Sweden comes out top as the cheapest country to subscribe in.

The table below lists the 10 cheapest countries as reported by the OECD (figures for October 2006):

	Cheapest entry level broadband per month (US Dollars)
Sweden	$10.79
Denmark	$11.11
Switzerland	$12.53
USA	$15.93
France	$16.36
Netherlands	$16.85
New Zealand	$16.86
Italy	$17.63
Ireland	$18.18
Finland	$19.49

(The most expensive entry-level broadband country was Mexico - costing $52.36 per month.)

Does every internet user have the right broadband suited to them? Do we understand why some cost more than others? Broadband is becoming cheaper and speed is increasing, but are users taking into account what they use the internet for? Variables such as speed, customer services, volume of data, traffic shaping and telephone bundles all need to be considered in addition to the price.

OECD's figures show that Sweden offers the cheapest broadband monthly rate - but do users also benefit from the highest speed and offers of greater data volume? In a nutshell - yes. OECD's research shows that countries that have switched to fibre networks are able to offer the cheapest connection as well as the fastest. Japan, Sweden, Korea and Finland all offer fibre networks (100Mbps net connections). Japan offers the lowest broadband per megabit per second at $0.22, USA offers $3.18 and the UK $3.62 - Turkey, on the other hand is priced at a staggering $81.13 broadband per megabit per second.

The general trend for broadband prices across all 30 countries researched in OECD's report is downwards - a 19% from October 2005 to 2006. Correspondingly, connectivity speeds have increased by 29%.