Why is broadband take up poor? It's too expensive...

NEWS Fifty per cent of urban households in the UK will have broadband internet connections by 2007 but the trigger for this won't be the speed of downloads or applications on offer - it'll be hitting a certain price. In Europe, as soon as a broadband offering hits the E39 (£25) mark demand rises rapidly. This is the main finding of a study of Europe's 11 million broadband users carried out by fdtm for Reed Electronics Research (RER). An fdtm analyst said the most important factor is the total cost, including line rental and call packages. The report, entitled 'Broadband in Europe - Completing the Infrastructure', also concluded DSL and cable modem are the only two technologies that can satisfy demand at the price point required and that "incumbent operators are unbeatable in the short term".