Greece lagging in broadband connections
While broadband access in Greece is increasing, the country still lags in the critical sectors of mobile and fiber-optic broadband. As far as the former is concerned, the country ranks 35th among the 37 OECD member countries, while in terms of the latter, it remains stable, coming last in 37th place.
The latest OECD data on broadband growth is a cause for optimism. The use of broadband connections, albeit through traditional copper wire telephone lines, is growing, while fiber-to-the-home (FTTHs), where optical fibers reach the outside the subscriber’s building, have finally begun to take off.
As regards fixed broadband connections, Greece experienced second-highest speed in increasing penetration in the OECD. Specifically, broadband penetration expanded by 183 basis points, rising to 35.4 percent from 33.57 percent a year earlier. Only Portugal (+200 basis points) and Italy (+174 basis points) witnessed faster growth. This puts Greece 16th in the OECD fixed broadband penetration index, well above the 30.35 percent average.
OECD data also found that “fiber to the x” connections (FTTH, FTTB, FTTP) in Greece now account for 0.2% of all fixed broadband connections, translating into a few thousand fiber-optic connections. Indeed, this particular type of high-speed connection grew by 9.5 percent last year.
Despite this substantial growth, however, Greece remains bottom of the OECD tables for fiber-optic broadband connections. The picture is similar for mobile broadband coverage, where a penetration rate of 66 percent puts the country third from the bottom. The OECD average for mobile connections is 102 percent, which means that every mobile phone connection also has access to the internet.
