Trends

Broadband Internet is going to become an increasingly widespread and important factor in German homes and businesses. This trend is clearly reflected in the growth in the number of broadband hookups in Germany – from 0.2 million in 2000 to almost 15 million in 2006. That figure is expected to double by 2015 (Fig. 2), with particularly rapid growth of 45% between now and 2010. These impressive figures represent a major success story.

Fig. 2:		Broadband connections through 2015 (Broadband economy experts)3

Bandwidth is crucial to the user appeal of broadband services, since ever more applications, for example Internet TV and video on demand, are dependent on ever-higher bandwidths. Experts see ever-higher bandwidths as an integral part of the future of broadband (Fig. 3). High bandwidths of over 16 mbps were the preserve of a very small number of German households in 2005, but over 30 percent of homes will have this sort of capacity by 2015. Conversely, the bandwidth category of less than 6 mbps that is widely available and very popular today will see its market share decline over the next few years.

Fig. 3:		Broadband bandwidths through 2015 (Broadband economy experts)4

Rather than being an end in themselves, faster speeds and higher bandwidth capacity provide the basis for the ability to use and enjoy all the exciting applications provided by the Internet. More capacity means a wider range of products and options. What services are most popular with today’s consumers? The results left little room for doubt on this point: over 70 percent of the consumers surveyed rated communication services as especially important.⁵ This compares with around 65 percent for information offerings, and around 45 percent for online shopping services. And almost 25 percent of users cited the recently-developed social networking functions as an important application of broadband technology (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4:		Use of broadband services (Consumers)

So consumers and experts appear to agree on which of the innovative broadband Internet services and applications are going to be critical for success in the broadband Internet market. But how about the situation for the specific broadband Internet products that currently available?