How the internet is used in Europe differs from one country to the next. In part this reflects local market characteristics, notably of features like ASDL coverage and pricing. Many of these local characteristics are eroding as telecom operators and other service providers, standardise their offer. One can expect therefore, that variations between European countries will also start to wither. There are some signs of this already: those markets that are most advanced in terms of internet penetration are showing signs of slowdown in traditional internet uses but of acceleration in new uses and applications.
The first table below is useful in showing to what level internet use permeates everyday non-professional activity. The table shows the number of active internet users at home and the change over 6 months for several key European countries. Countries where internet penetration levels are relatively low, like France and Spain (under 30% of the population use internet at home) should continue to see strong growth, particularly as ASDL prices and coverage converge.
Active Internet users at Home
Country
May 2006
% of Population
December 2005
% change
France
18.41m
29.23%
17.03m
+8.10%
Germany
33.37m
40.6%
32.07m
+4.06%
Spain
12.48m
28.4%
11.43m
+9.15%
UK
24.23m
39.1%
23.81m
+1.78%
Total
109.64m
34.2%
87.17m
+4.94%
Source: Nielson/NetRatings
The second table details the types of site used by country. Here the most striking difference is that between Europe as a whole and the USA. Europeans use more diverse site categories and there is little notable difference between users of high internet penetration markets (Germany, UK) and the lower markets (France, Spain). The key difference between site use in Europe or the US falls on the use of operator portals. In the US, these are weak. In Europe, they are relatively strong although evidence suggests that they are losing market share to the large portals.
Site Category
UK
France
Germany
Italy
Spain
USA
Portal
31%
24%
29%
34%
28%
74%
Operator Portal
31%
26%
25%
18%
25%
5%
Specific Mobile site
0%
17%
17%
23%
4%
0%
Commercial Site
8%
2%
8%
7%
6%
4%
News Site
9%
10%
0%
11%
2%
2%
Other
21%
22%
21%
8%
35%
15%
Source: ComScore; sept 2006
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How the internet is used in Europe differs from one country to the next. In part this reflects local market characteristics, notably of features like ASDL coverage and pricing. Many of these local characteristics are eroding as telecom operators and other service providers, standardise their offer. One can expect therefore, that variations between European countries will also start to wither. There are some signs of this already: those markets that are most advanced in terms of internet penetration are showing signs of slowdown in traditional internet uses but of acceleration in new uses and applications.