HIGH-LEVEL PANEL DISCUSSION ON BUSINESS PERSPECTIVES OF BROADBAND AT EURESCOM SUMMIT
24 October 2002 - European Institute for Research and Strategic Studies in Telecommunications GmbH (EURESCOM)

For Scott Robinson, Director of Carrier Service Market Development at Alcatel, broadband is already a success, given the fact that there are already 6.4 million DSL lines installed in Europe. DSL access coverage has already reached a level of about 90 per cent in some European countries. However, broadband is only at the end of the early-adopter phase, according to Mr Robinson. To make broadband a success in the mass market several requirements have to be met, he explained: 'Compelling content drives end-user adoption'. Music and games are on top of the contents that will drive broadband in the consumer market, he said. In addition, he regards the right price level is crucial, which should not be higher than 30 per cent compared to narrow-band Internet access.

Andrew Houghton, who represented the General Directorate 'Information Society' of the European Commission, underlined that broadband access has become an important policy issue in the European Union. He added that the European Union in its efforts promote the information society via its research programmes would be strictly unbiased towards or against a certain access technology: 'We have to be technology-neutral.' The importance role of broadband for the whole economy was supported by Michael Bartholomew, director of ETNO, the European telecoms operators organisation. 'We believe that broadband will be an engine to promote the European economy.' As a pre-condition for the successful introduction of broadband services he demanded 'regulatory coherence across Europe'.

Joachim Claus, head of innovation management of Deutsche Telekom, made clear in the discussion that he rejects any kind of state intervention in the market for broadband services, including subsidies for building the broadband infrastructure. This view was not fully shared by Mr Houghton from the European Commission, who argued: 'Where markets don't work, subsidies to develop the infrastructure make sense.'

In the discussion, peer-to-peer services emerged to be among the potentially lucrative services of the future. In a family peer-to-peer network, for instance, grandparents could send images and videos to their grandchildren and vice versa. To do this in real-time would require a symmetrical network infrastructure. However, Joachim Claus argued that there is currently no mass-market demand for a symmetrical infrastructure to enable peer-to-peer distribution of videos. 'If there is a demand for symmetrical services,' he added, 'we can provide it via SDSL'.

All panel participants stressed the crucial importance of advanced but simple interfaces for the successful deployment of broadband services. 'We need easy communication. The ease-of-use is the key to success,' said Joachim Claus. He quoted the example of a recently introduced Internet radio that is as easy to use as an ordinary radio.

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