In the year 2006 the percentage of German companies with internet broadband access amounted to just 73%. Only one year later, in 2007, this figure had already increased to 80%. Thus, Germany in this respect is above the EU average figure of 78%. Therefore, according to the German Association for Information Management, Telecommunications and New Media (BITKOM), broadband internet access has become indispensable to companies.
In the meantime, most small and medium-sized entities (SMEs) have broadband internet access as well. Among companies employing between ten and 249 people this percentage amounts to 79% with the EU average being at 77%. Even with regard to very small entities employing between ten and 49 people the percentage of companies with broadband internet access still amounts to 77% while the EU average is 75%.
The overall number of companies having broadband internet access is highest in Finland with 91%, followed by Spain (90%), Great Britain (78%) and Italy (76%). In many east European countries this figure just amounts to between 50% and 60%. Slovenia is the only country from that region which is above EU average in this respect.
In particular in rural areas it is currently not possible for net operators to install cost efficient broadband access to the internet. In order to do so, additional frequencies in the range of below 1 GHz are necessary. These were generally cleared by the World Broadcasting Conference at the end of last year. BITKOM therefore calls on German Federal authorities to make available these frequencies as soon as possible. 