DIGITAL AGENDA : SCOREBOARD SHOWS SLOW BUT STEADY PROGRESS.

Basic broadband is now available nearly everywhere in the EU, but there is still progress to be made. Data show that the main problems this year were caused by the lack of investment in very fast networks and the absence of a single telecoms market. So said Commissioner Neelie Kroes, in charge of the Digital Agenda. Her conclusions stemmed from the European Commission's annual Digital Agenda scoreboard', published on 12 June. Kroes announced that she will present concrete measures in the months to come to solve the problems noted on the telecoms markets. The scoreboard findings include:

- Basic broadband is now available virtually everywhere in Europe - satellite performance has improved, helping to cover the 4.5% of population not covered by fixed basic broadband

- Fast broadband now reaches half the population - 54% of EU citizens have broadband available at speeds greater than 30 Mbps

- Internet access is increasingly going mobile - 36% of EU citizens access the internet via a portable computer or other mobile device. Fourth-generation mobile (LTE) coverage tripled to 26% in one year.

Problem areas:

- Only 2% of homes have ultrafast broadband subscriptions (above 100 Mbps), far from the EU's 2020 target of 50%

- 50% EU citizens have no or low computer skills

- 40% of companies recruiting or trying to recruit IT specialists have difficulties in doing so and the current number of vacancies for ICT specialists has been projected to grow to 900,000 by 2015.

The scoreboard also shows that the proportion of EU citizens having never used the internet is continuing its steady decline (down two percentage points to 22%). However, around 100 million EU citizens have still never used the internet, citing too high costs, lack of interest or...