Mobile broadband in Europe will be a hit

Link: Mobile broadband popularity rockets – ZDNet UK

Europe will have five million mobile broadband connections by the end of this year, a Swedish analyst firm has predicted.

According to Berg Insight, the countries where people are signing up most quickly to HSDPA (high-speed 3G) services are Austria and Sweden. Overall, the firm predicts, the continent’s mobile broadband connections will have shot up to 30 million by 2011.

The availability of HSDPA — a technology which can deliver a download speed of up to 7Mbps — has coincided with falling prices for mobile internet access, boosting the popularity of the connection method, according to Berg Insight. “Mobile operators like 3, A1 Mobilkom and Telenor are getting this right,” said senior analyst Tobias Ryberg last week. “Ordinary people have already replaced their old bulky desktop PC with a new, slim, widescreen notebook. Now, thanks to [HSDPA], they can also connect to the internet anywhere for just €20 (£13.50) per month.”