Dataquest Sees Huge European
PC, Net Growth
(08/11/98; 5:01 p.m. ET)
By Staff, Semiconductor Business News
EGHAM, England -- Although Europe has been slow
to embrace the Internet, that is beginning to change,
according to Dataquest, a research company in San
Jose, Calif. As a result, the potential for sales of PCs on
the continent is considerable.
The market researcher sees the European Internet
market growing from 13.3 million computers connected
to the Internet last year to 69 million computers in
2002. It said it projects the market will grow 60
percent in 1998, with 21.2 million Internet seats.
The consumer segment led the market, with more than
7 million computers connected to the Internet in 1997,
followed by the business sector with 6.2 million. This
trend will change by the year 2000, however, when the
business market is estimated to have 22.8 million
Internet seats, passing the consumer market's 21.8
million Internet seats.
"As telecommunications deregulation begins to show its
impact in Europe, prices for higher-speed access such
as leased lines will decrease, and some medium-sized
companies that today can't afford leased-line access will
switch over," said Petra Gartzen, senior industry analyst
for Dataquest's Internet and Enterprise Strategies
Europe program here in Britain. "Once a company has
leased-line access, a much larger number of employees
can be given Internet access."
Germany led all countries in the region with 4.7 million
Internet seats in 1997, followed by the United Kingdom
and France with 2 million and 1 million Internet seats,
respectively. These three countries will continue to
account for more than half of all Internet seats in Europe
through 2002.
But France is projected to post the strongest growth
among the top three countries, reaching 10.1 million
Internet seats by 2002.
"France was slow to start in Internet adoption because
France Telecom was slow to enter the Internet market
and because Minitel, France Telecom's proprietary
online service, was so popular," said Gartzen. "France
Telecom is now a driving force in the French Internet
market, and recent growth figures show a big increase
in interest in the Internet in both the business and
consumer sectors." |
