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Ultra-fast broadband still has premium
Wednesday 25th August 2010, by Daniel King
Prices for super-fast broadband in Europe have remained steady this year despite an overall eight per decline across the market, according to new data.
Analysys Mason has found in its study of more than 1000 broadband bundles across Europe and the USA that average prices have gone down in the former, while speed has increased by 20 per cent in the first half of the year.
Average prices for a fixed broadband service bundle have gone down by €5 (£4) between the end of last year and the second quarter of 2010.
Households can expect to pay around €40.7 per month, while benefiting from increased speeds.
The research reveals that almost two in ten tariffs delivered in the past three months have downstream bandwidths of 30Mbit/s or greater.
However, the uptake of such services remains limited, with Analysys Mason's senior analyst Martin Scott saying that "the proportion of subscribers that actually take these ultra-fast services is likely to be much lower than 20 per cent".
Other findings from the report showed that bundles with ultra-fast speeds have a 24 per cent premium on other deals with average deals.
In addition, competition from mobile broadband services has continued to exert pressure on fixed broadband tariffs.
The research found that the formerly high prices for mobile broadband had gone down and in some instances, light prepaid mobile broadband services undercut entry-level fixed broadband service offers.
There have also been new records for broadband services – the median speed of a DSL service in Europe is now 8Mbit/s.
Cable modem remains at 15Mbit/s, and residential FTTB and apartment LAN services are 50Mbit/s.
Categories: Broadband
