Europe - EC has published Digital Agenda Scoreboard

The European Commission has published the Digital Agenda Scoreboard (see press release and memo). It found:

• Broadband is nearly ubiquitous in Europe. 95% of Europeans have access to a fixed broadband connection.
• Consumers and businesses are moving fast to mobile. Mobile Internet take-up grew by 62% to 217 million mobile broadband subscriptions.
• 15 million Europeans connected for the first time in 2011, with now 68% of
• Europeans online regularly and 170 million on social networks. For the first time a majority of economically disadvantaged Europeans have used the internet, but one in four Europeans have still never used the internet.
• Greece, Portugal and Ireland have turned to eGovernment to help maintain quality public services. Alongside the Czech Republic, the greatest increases in eGovernment provision and use have been in cash-strapped economies, underlining the valuable role of eGovernment in successful structural reform.

Up to 80% of the costs of rolling out high speed broadband networks are related to civil engineering, such as the digging up of roads to lay down fibre. The Commission believes this high percentage calls for harmonised measures to reduce these costs and is envisaging an EU initiative in the beginning of 2013.

See the Digital Agenda Scoreboard.