Bundled packages and DTT penetration grow across EU

Forty-five per cent of EU households now purchase a bundle of telecom services, with triple-play penetration now standing at 16% and quad-play penetration standing at 3%, according to the latest E-Communications Household Survey from the EU. Twenty-five per cent of households take a double-play service. 

Luxembourg is the bundled service leader, with 68% of households taking at least two services from a provider, followed by the Netherlands with 66%, Slovenia with 63% and France with 63%. Survey respondents in Slovakia (21%), Finland (20%) and Italy (19%) were the least likely to take a bundle of services.

Bulgarian and Luxembourg saw the greatest growth in bundle purchases, up 13% each since December 2011, while Italy saw a fall in bundle purchases of 11 percentage points.

The survey, completed in March this year, also showed that digital-terrestrial TV is now the most common means of accessing TV services, with 35% of EU households receiving television signals this way, up seven percentage points since December 2011. Cable access has slipped two points over the same period to 31% with satellite growing two points to 23%. IPTV is received by 6% of households, the same proportion that now receive analogue terrestrial TV signals.

The survey found that 61% of EU citizens had access to broadband internet access, with 39% of households taking ADSL. The Netherlands, Sweden and Demmark were the broadband leaders, each with over 80% penetration, with Greece, Romania and Portugal trailing at the bottom of the table with under 50% of homes connected.

The survey found that 57% of respondents did not know their internet connection’s maximum download speed. Eleven per cent said their speed was 7-15Mbps, with 10% reporting 16-20Mbps and 8% reporting 30Mbps or above. The number of respondents reporting a maximum of 2-6Mbps fell from 9% to 7%.