45% of Spanish Homes Have High Speed Internet
January 8th, 2010
45% of Spanish households had internet access with broadband speeds at the end of 2008, a figure which is close to the average percentage in the EU of 48%. Within Spain, the Community of Madrid has the highest penetration of 58 %, this is according to more Eurostat figures provided today by the Institute of Economic Studies (IEE).
Based on this data, Spain continues to increase broadband access for households but is still far from the levels of the European countries that top the rankings: The Netherlands and Denmark lead with 74%, followed by Sweden’s 71%, Finland at 66%, the UK on 61% and Belgium with 60% broadband access.
Overall, the report notes that in the last two years of data available, from 2006 to 2008, the average percentage of European households connected to broadband Internet had risen from 30% to 48%.
At the bottom of the classification is Romania, where only 13% of households have a broadband connection, Bulgaria is next with 21%, followed by Italy on 31% and Cyprus at 33%.
With regard to Spain, the report notes that there are large regional differences. As stated, Madrid has the highest penetration rate of 58%, followed by Catalonia with 53% and the Balearic Islands with 50%. By contrast, the Autonomous Communities with the lowest broadband access are Castille & Leon and Extremadura, both with 35%, while Castilla-La Mancha and Murcia are close behind with just 36% of households having high speed internet access.
