European broadband gets even faster and cheaper

With France in the lead, thanks to local loop unbundling, European broadband continues to blow past the US in terms of available speed and declining cost at an accelerating pace. While market penetration is low, most of those who have access have more than a single provider competing for their business.

Competition among European telecoms has led to significantly decreased consumer bandwidth cost. In the UK, headline speeds of 8 Mbps are available for less than $20 per month — or even for free if bundled — from some operators, compared with $80 in 2004. Over the past several years, service providers have maintained the same price level while providing much higher connection speed. (from Ecommerce Times)

With no accurate data on penetration, and low service levels at high cost, the US is far from being a leader in the connected world. The FCC is more fascinated with regulating competition in the dying broadcast media, subscription video and POTS services than they are in ensuring healthy competition in access. We’re in a new age where it’s not about access providers supplying services, it’s about access suppliers supplying access. You can’t get that without healthy competition in access. We need an FCC who gets it.