The broadband market in Germany

The best measure of the strength of a technology – or market – is how “ordinary” it has become. If using a technology is taken for granted as an everyday activity, something that “everybody does,” that is also a clear indication of the strength of the market. Broadband Internet has indeed become an important part of our everyday lives, and a major component of our economy.

This makes it all the more important to take a close look at the status of this “ordinariness” and its prospects for the future. In “Deutschland Online” we ask some important questions about the development of this sector. Just how significant is broadband Internet to our economy? What sort of growth in the market can we expect? What changes will there be in the way we use this technology? By answering these and other questions, we hope that “Deutschland Online” will improve our knowledge base, and help to create a more sophisticated market in Germany that can successfully address the challenges of international competition among the various information societies.

Core statements

• ICT is already highly significant to the German economy, and will become much more so in coming years. By 2015 it will represent almost 12 percent of GDP, nearly double its current level.
• There will be strong growth in the number of broadband connections, with over 21 million connections by 2010 and more than 29 million in 2015. That means over 80 percent of all German homes will have a broadband connection by 2015.
• Rapid growth in bandwidth capacity will continue through 2015.
• Communication, entertainment and e-commerce will be the main uses for broadband Internet services.