The economics of access and adoption, plus the need for Wi-Fi equipment upgrades, are barriers to achieving universal gigabit service
The European Union has laid out ambitious connectivity goals for member states, including universal access to 100 Mbps service by 2025 and gigabit-speed coverage of all EU households by 2030.
In new analysis of progress toward that goal, Ookla finds that there is a “wide” gap between advertised gigabit speeds and the actual speeds that most users experience. The 100-Mbps goal may be more widely achievable, but adoption of higher-speed internet service is not only a question of access but of economics.
“Broadband services might promise speeds in excess of 1 Gbps, but the reality is that users rarely experience that level of speed,” wrote Ookla’s Sylwia Kechiche, principal industry analyst for enterprise at Ookla.
Ookla compared Speedtest data to statistics on internet access and usage from the Digital Economy and Society Index, the data dashboard for the EU’s progress toward its digital goals. While DESI figures indicate that 13.76% of EU households have subscribed to gigabit-speed internet, Ookla’s crowd-sourced Speedtest data rarely registers median download speeds that reach the 1 Gbps mark. “The proportion of Speedtest users registering median download speeds of at least 1 Gbps in many countries is quite low,” wrote Kechiche, pointing out France, which had the highest DESI percentage of gigabit subscribers, at nearly 40%, only saw 1.42% of Speedtest users actually achieve a gigabit median download speed.
On the upside, however, 100 Mbps speeds are much more common. DESI figures indicate that around 55% of EU households were already subscribed to fixed broadband services of at least 100 Mbps. But there’s a gap between advertised and achieved speeds there as well.
In Spain, for example, Ookla found that while nearly 88% of household subscribed to at least 100 Mbps speeds, only about 60% actually achieved a median 100 Mbps download speed. There were similar gaps across most countries—with a few intriguing outliers, including Germany, France and the Netherlands, where users saw median experienced speeds that were faster than the advertised 100 Mbps.
Still, “There is a significant amount of work to be done before countries can deliver on their strategies to achieve the 100 Mbps target,” Kechiche wrote—and economic incentives may have to play a part if the EU is serious about driving adoption. Ookla’s blog post cited a survey in rural France which found that more than 40% of respondents thought their current internet service was good enough; 37% indicated that they might be interested in upgrading if they were offered incentives.
And finally, network speed is one thing, but access technology also matters—in the home, that means older Wi-Fi equipment can be a bottleneck. “The persistent use of legacy and underperforming Wi-Fi standards in home networks can hamper efforts to provide the best network experience to customers despite progress in terms of fiber rollout and adoption,” Kechiche wrote, also adding that Ookla research has found that “in markets where legacy broadband technology (such as DSL or coax cable) is being replaced by advanced cable and fiber connections, Wi-Fi performance can lag behind ethernet.”
