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European internet user numbers overtake the US

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  • 10-09-2002 4:31pm
    #1
    dahamsta
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 16,659 ✭✭✭✭


    MediaGuardian
    For the first time, Europe has more internet users than the US. According to Irish-based industry monitor Nua.com, Europe has almost 186 million users, while Canada and the US register 182 million. The difference may not seem substantial, but Europe is still a growing market.

    "Internet penetration rate in the US is now close to saturation," says Nua.com editor Charlie Taylor. "However, the number of Europeans going online is increasing at a fast rate - they now account for 32% of the global internet population."

    As the European market continues to increase, the battle to dominate the continent's internet service provision is becoming increasingly heated. There are three big players in Europe's ISP market; Germany's T-Online, France's Wanadoo and Italian Tiscali. Between them, they control the market with a total of around 25m regular subscriptions.

    Much of the battle comes down to a scrap between Europe's largest telecomms companies. T-Online is a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom and Wanadoo - which also owns Britain's Freeserve - is controlled by France Telecom. Only Tiscali stands out from the top three for not having such major backing - but that doesn't necessarily mean it is further away from finding the secret of success.

    "None of these companies has ironed out the ISP business model yet," says Hellen Omwando, consumer markets analyst for Forrester. "Having a pan-European footprint is not good enough. These companies need to be competing for the top positions in each of their national markets."

    [...]
    I'll leave you guys to rant on this one.

    adam


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