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Wednesday
- August 2, 2000
Dot Com Ad Picture Brightens
According to ABC News "Maybe the Internet advertising
picture isn't so bleak after all. Funding among the once-lush
Internet content companies has dried up, thanks to months
of stock-market swooning and the recent failure of some
high-profile online companies.
And the current earnings season
has sparked worries that companies depending on Internet
advertising could suffer earnings shortfalls that would
drive another Net stock rout.
But big players such as Yahoo!
and DoubleClick have posted rock-solid numbers, and even
second-tier names such as About.com are spreading good
cheer with their results. So perhaps the tide is turning
for some of these beaten-down names..."
Click
here for the full story. [Link no longer active]
27 Million Europeans Will Have Broadband Internet
Access By 2005
Only 0.2% of European households had broadband Internet
access in 1999, but as the barriers drop one by one,
this number will grow to 18%, or 27 million broadband
subscribers by 2005. A new Report by Forrester Research
B.V. (Nasdaq: FORR) outlines how the shift to broadband
will require scale, scope, and brand strength that independent
ISPs and broadband startups can't handle, driving a shakeout
that favors telcos and cablecos.
"To date, broadband has
been unavailable, unaffordable, and uninteresting to Europe's
masses -- but change will come fast," explained Lars
Godell, analyst for Forrester Research B.V. "Competition
will radically expand coverage as cablecos and telcos battle
it out. Forrester expects access prices to sink below 30
per month in 10 of 17 European countries by year-end 2002."
Content will be the main driver
for mass-market broadband penetration starting in 2003.
Today's broadband users seek a better Web experience despite
the stiff price. Although price cuts will help double the
number of subscribers, compelling new content will be the
key to attracting the average person to broadband.
"Broadband will force a
Net-access shakeout because the investment requirements
will be enormous," stressed Godell. "The new
economics focused around scale, scope, and brand strength
will change Europe's Internet access landscape: Established
telcos and their ISP affiliates will crush cablecos like
chello, independent ISPs like Freeserve, and broadband
pure plays like B2."
With the highest online penetration
this side of the Atlantic giving the region a head start,
Forrester believes Scandinavia will match the US in 2005
with broadband penetration levels between 36% and 40% of
households. Deutsche Telekom's forceful response to an
unbundling threat will drive Germany's broadband penetration
to 25% by 2005. UK broadband will draw 20% of households,
while penetration in France will be limited to 11%. Netherlands
will closely follow Scandinavia with broadband penetration
hitting 28%, partly due to stiff competition between cable
and ADSL. Forrester expects cable modems and copper technologies
like ADSL to share 80% of the total European residential
broadband market by 2005, with ADSL in the lead with 53%
of all broadband connections.
For the Report "European
Broadband Takes Off," Forrester spoke with executives
from 59 companies in 17 countries. They include members
of Europe's leading telcos, cablecos, ISPs, content providers,
and hardware and software vendors.
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