World Cup Sparks Digital Fervour

Britain bounced into number one spot as Europe's most digital market yesterday, largely due to digital TV spending ahead of the World Cup.

The latest research from Informa Telecoms & Media ranks the UK as the most digital state in Western Europe based on the research firm's quarterly Converging Media (CM) index. The final quarter score of 2005 for the UK was 30.5 points based on advanced-digital-content consumption through broadband, digital TV, and mobile phone platforms.

Ireland ranked seventh in a list of 10 western European countries with a CM score of 17.4 ahead of Switzerland, Denmark and Norway.

Informa analyst Steve Mullins told ENN that the Republic's small market in terms of number of households may skew the results favourably for Ireland. For example Informa's total broadband penetration figure for Ireland as of the end of 2005 -- derived from "large broadband providers in Ireland" -- is 18.4 percent: equivalent to 250,00 subscribers.

In comparison, the sixth-place Netherlands has 59 percent broadband penetration with 4 million subscribers, whilst Switzerland -- which ranked joint seventh alongside Ireland with a CM score of 17.4 -- has 55 percent broadband penetration with 1.7 million subscribers.

According to Informa, the total number of Irish digital TV subscriptions at the end of 2005 was 534,000 up from 515,000 the previous quarter, thus household penetration stands at 39.3 percent. Meanwhile in the UK, Informa believes the huge digital TV penetration is based on BskyB packages and BBC Freeserve, and that fact alone may have put the UK on top of the list.

"The UK is by far Western Europe's most digital market and its surprising number-one ranking is due to the huge take-up of digital TV. The sector now boasts a base of almost 17 million users." said Mullins. "On top of digital TV, the UK market also added 900,000 new customers to mobile-broadband services (3G) in the final quarter of last year, accounting for an impressive growth of 23 percent." The UK now has 4.8 million high-speed mobile subscribers.

Although ranking second in the CM Index, the Finns outdid the Brits in terms of growth adding 35,000 new 3G subscriptions in the final quarter -- a spike of 85 percent -- to give Finland close to 80,000 mobile 3G users.

Italy, although ranked third, has Western Europe's leading 3G sector, with close to 10 million subscribers. "The country's CM Index of 21.1 is largely based on its mobile performance rather than by fixed broadband and digital TV" said Mullins who added that having the latest mobile phone was a cultural expression in Italy.

Story source: theregister.co.uk.