According to an EU survey, virtually all European schools have internet access and nearly two thirds are connected via broadband. “Europe is starting to reap the benefits of broadband at schools where the foundations are laid for a knowledge-based society,” Viviane Reding, the EU Information Society Commissioner said in a statement.

Europe is behind the US in terms of broadband access though. 95% of public schools in the US have broadband access.

Broadband access in schools is not consistent across European member states. 90% of schools in Scandinavia and the Netherlands have broadband access, the figure is less than 35% in Greece, Poland, Cyprus, and Lithuania.

An average of 10 students share a computer across Europe, compared with only 4 in the US. The UK leads Europe for the number of schools using computers in class for teaching, with 96% doing so.

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The newly merged ntl Telewest and Virgin Mobile has announced a bundled broadband, digital TV, home phone and mobile phone service. Industry insiders call this “quad-play”. Until now, the most any single provider has managed to offer is “triple play”, which is a bundle of 3 services, normally broadband, digital TV and home phone.

The new quad-play service offers great value for money. For £40 per month you will receive all four products. You will enjoy the following:

Broadband

• Up to 2Mb
• Firewall and anti-virus
• Installed by an engineer

Digital TV

• Over 30 channels, including Sky One, E4, UKTV Gold, Film 4, ITV2 and Living TV
• TV on demand
• Set top box. No need for a dish

Home Phone

• Unlimited weekend calls
• Line rental
• Standard features like 1471 and voicemail

Mobile

• Virgin Mobile SIM (mobile handset not included)
• 300 minutes and 300 texts any network, any time of the day
• Free voicemail
• Virgin Bites entertainment service

If you do not want all four services, you can order the Virgin Mobile service with any other ntl or Telewest service for an extra £10 per month (normally £20 per month).

To sign up to the £40 per month broadband, mobile, digital TV and home phone service, visit either the ntl or the Telewest website by clicking on one of the following links. This will take you to a 3 for £30 page (broabband, digital TV and home phone). You will be able to add the Virgin mobile service to the bundle during the ordering process, bringing the total price up to £40 per month.

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Orange has announched that it will offer a new service that combines a mobile phone with a VoIP service. A single mobile handset will act as a landline and a mobile. The handset will operate in the customers house using WiFi (Wireless Internet) to access a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol - making phone calls over a broadband connection) connection. Outside the customers house, the handset will work as a normal mobile phone.

The service is very similar to a BT service called BT Fusion. The Orange service will be available in November.

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The Carphone Warehouse is set to expand into the USA, according to some industry insiders. A deal with American firm Best Buy will allow Carphone Warehouse to sell mobile handsets through its retail stores. It will also allow Carphone Warhouse to use Best Buy’s broadband technical support, called the Geek Squad. This will help alleviate TalkTalk’s (part of Carphone Warehouse) problems with complaints about a lack of support for its broadband service.

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The broadband market has undergone nothing sort of a revolution in the past 3 years. From a service dedicated to only the most committed of internet users, to a mass market service that everyone home in the UK should really have. The rate of increase has been nothing short of phenomenal.

But this broadband growth has caused a deep flaw in the market. Broadband providers knew that it was going to be very difficult to attract customers once they have signed up with a rival provider. So providers have been at all out war with each other to attract broadband adaptors while they are up for grabs. The war is being fought on two fronts. A price front and a technological front.

The war being fought on the price front simply involved providers having to constantly under cut each other. From £25 per month, to £20 to £15. Then it was £9.99, which was an amazing price front. Now, the price that we all expect is free. Yes, providers are giving broadband away for free. Of course, this means that you have to sign up to a bundle with at least one other, non-free, product. But we all use those products anyway, so there is not any extra cost.

The technological front involved providers having to offer ever-increasing speeds to stay ahead of their competitors. When broadband first came out, it was at a speed of 512kb, which was ten times faster than we were used to on dialup. Now you can reach speeds of 24Mb, some 480 times faster than a dial up connection. This need for speed does not come for free. Providers have had to invest in their own network with the very latest in technological advances.

So to succeed in the broadband market, providers have had to spend millions in technology and drop the price down to zero. Broadband is now nothing more than a loss leader. A product that is used to attract customers to another product that that company offers. But those other products, mainly home phone and digital TV, are also highly competitive. The intense pressure on providers to survive has lead to consolidations with bigger providers swallowing up smaller ones.

But where is the future heading? Well, the simple answer is even more consolidation. But not only will the bigger providers swallow up the smaller ones. The bigger providers are the ones that face the most pressure, with high overheads and angry shareholders. Bigger providers will start to absorb each other. This trend has already begun with two of the broadband powerhouses, AOL and Tiscali, putting their UK’s operations up for sale. Only the strongest of the strong will survive. This will lead to less competition and therefore less choice in the long run. But then how much choice do we actually need. The market is likely to become more like the mobile market, which only has 6 main networks. Competition is still rife amongst those 6, so as consumers, we will still be able to demand the world from broadband providers.

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The UK arms of AOL and Tiscali are up for sale.

AOL is the UK’s third biggest broadband provider, with 2.2 million customers. The Carphone Warehouse and BSkyB are both rumoured to be trying to gain control of AOL UK.

Tiscali is the UK’s further biggest broadband provider with 1.2 million customers. BT is a possible buyer for Tiscali UK.

The consolidation of broadband providers in the UK market is largely due to the intense competition driving down prices. This is putting a lot of pressure on broadband providers who are struggling to turn a profit. We are likely to see more consolidation in the future.

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Vodafone has struck a deal with BT to offer broadband by the end of this year. The deal will allow Vodafone to “bundle” broadband and mobile products together. Vodafone is entering a very tough market, with three major players, Carphone Warehouse, Orange and Sky, offering free broadband. Although there is no doubt that Vodaone has the muscle to make it.

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Pipex has purchased two businesses, Toucan and Bulldog, increasing its customer base by 1.14 million.
Toucan has been bought from American firm IDT for £24 million. Toucan has 185,000 broadband, home phone and mobile customers.

Pipex has bought Bulldog from Cable and Wireless for £12 million. Bulldog has around 100,000 broadband customers.

This move will allow Pipex to offer “triple play” products. Triple play is the term used to refer to a provider that can offer broadband, mobile and home phone products (or broadband, digital TV and home phone products). Triple play is becoming an essential strategy for telecoms companies to survive in an ultra competitive market.

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China is on the verge of becoming the biggest broadband country in the world according to consulting firm Ovum. The current leader is the USA, with 51 million subscribers. Broadband connections in China are increasing at a massive 79% per year and are expected to reach 79 million by 2007.

“We believe that China’s broadband development will continue to benefit from a booming economy, growing incomes, expanding PC penetration and new applications such as VoIP and IPTV. The Olympics will provide another boost,” said Kevin Lee, senior analyst at Ovum’s Hong Kong office.

DSL (Digital Line Subscriber) will be main platform, unlike the US where most broadband connections are cable. This is similar to the UK, where all broadband providers apart from Telewest and NTL use a DSL line.

China’s continuing economic growth and relative prosperity are helping drive the population to broadband.

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Customers of Euro1Net have had their broadband connections cut off due to a dispute between BT Wholesale and Euro1Net. BT Wholesale is the whole division of BT Group and leases broadband services to internet providers. BT Wholesale has suspended the service to Euro1Net because Euro1Net has not paid its invoices.

Ofcom, the Governments regulator, is investigating the dispute. Euro1Net customers should be offered a refund and be able to switch to another provider, so soon as the existing broadband service is cleared from their line. In the mean time, Euro1Net customers are forced to use a dialup connection.

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