Unclassified DSTI/ICCP/TISP(2001)2/FINAL Organisation de Coopération et de Développement Economiques Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development 29-Oct-2001 ___________________________________________________________________________________________ English - Or. English DIRECTORATE FOR SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND INDUSTRY COMMITTEE FOR INFORMATION, COMPUTER AND COMMUNICATIONS POLICY Unclassified DSTI/ICCP/TISP(2001)2/FINAL Working Party on Telecommunication and Information Services Policies THE DEVELOPMENT OF BROADBAND ACCESS IN OECD COUNTRIES E nglish - Or. English JT00115500 Document complet disponible sur OLIS dans son format d'origine Complete document available on OLIS in its original format DSTI/ICCP/TISP(2001)2/FINAL FOREWORD In June 2001, this report was presented to the Working Party on Telecommunications and Information Services Policy (TISP) and was recommended to be made public by the Committee for Information, Computer and Communications Policy (ICCP) in October 2001. The report was prepared by Dr. Sam Paltridge of the OECD’s Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry. It is published on the responsibility of the Secretary-General of the OECD. Copyright OECD, 2001 Applications for permission to reproduce or translate all or part of this material should be made to: Head of Publications Service, OECD, 2, rue André-Pascal, 75775 Paris Cedex 16, France. 2 DSTI/ICCP/TISP(2001)2/FINAL TABLE OF CONTENTS Main points..................................................................................................................................................4 Developing broadband access .....................................................................................................................5 Unbundling and line sharing..................................................................................................................15 Cable ownership.....................................................................................................................................19 Broadband technologies.........................................................................................................................19 Broadband developments in OECD countries...........................................................................................21 Australia.................................................................................................................................................21 Austria....................................................................................................................................................23 Belgium..................................................................................................................................................23 Canada ...................................................................................................................................................24 Czech Republic ......................................................................................................................................25 Denmark.................................................................................................................................................25 Finland ...................................................................................................................................................26 France.....................................................................................................................................................26 Germany.................................................................................................................................................27 Greece ....................................................................................................................................................28 Hungary..................................................................................................................................................28 Iceland....................................................................................................................................................28 Ireland ....................................................................................................................................................29 Italy ........................................................................................................................................................29 Japan ......................................................................................................................................................30 Korea......................................................................................................................................................32 Luxembourg...........................................................................................................................................34 Mexico ...................................................................................................................................................34 Netherlands ............................................................................................................................................34 New Zealand ..........................................................................................................................................35 Norway...................................................................................................................................................36 Poland ....................................................................................................................................................36 Portugal..................................................................................................................................................37 Slovak Republic.....................................................................................................................................38 Spain ......................................................................................................................................................38 Sweden...................................................................................................................................................39 Switzerland ............................................................................................................................................40 Turkey....................................................................................................................................................41 United Kingdom.....................................................................................................................................42 United States ..........................................................................................................................................44 DSL pricing update....................................................................................................................................47 Initial service charges ............................................................................................................................47 Monthly service charges ........................................................................................................................47 Connection speed...................................................................................................................................49 Impact of competition on pricing...........................................................................................................49 Comparing DSL prices ..........................................................................................................................50 Comparing cable modem prices ................................................................................................................51 3 DSTI/ICCP/TISP(2001)2/FINAL Main points The development of broadband access to the Internet is gaining increasing prominence. This is occurring in fields that go well beyond communications policy. One reason for this is the role advanced communication capabilities may have played in generating higher growth in productivity rates, as well as new network- based economic activities, in some countries over recent years. If, as many believe, new communication tools such as the Internet and wireless networks boosted growth in the latter half of the 1990s, and softened the current cyclical downturn, then the next steps toward broadband access are of critical importance that go beyond the communications sector. The current bottleneck to growth in the communications sector, and beyond for areas such as electronic commerce, is the limitations of local access networks. These limitations are not just technological. The inheritance of many decades of monopoly provision of access networks is that there is usually only one, or at best two, networks passing most homes and businesses in OECD countries. In some cases the same company still owns both these networks. In liberalising their telecommunication markets OECD countries have taken a very necessary step in providing the competitive forces that will build choice for users. They have also unleashed a torrent of innovation in the communication industry that is, at last, beginning to rival that of information technology. New access technologies are being developed, existing networks being upgraded