Press Release: Digital Agenda: Broadband speeds increasing but Europe must do more

Broadband connections in Europe are much faster than one year ago according to statistics published on 25 November 2010 by the European Commission. In July 2010 29% of EU broadband lines had speeds of at least 10 megabits per second (Mbps) (up from 15% one year earlier). Broadband take up continues to grow in the EU with 25.6 subscriptions for every 100 citizens (23.9 one year earlier). Annual growth in mobile broadband is remarkable at 45%, with 6 mobile broadband dedicated access devices (usb-keys or dongles) per 100 citizens. But there is still a long way to go before EU reaches its target of giving every European access to basic broadband by 2013 and fast and ultra fast broadband by 2020 as outlined in the Digital Agenda for Europe. Measures to facilitate the roll out and take up of fast and ultra-fast broadband in the EU were presented by the Commission in September 2010.