Participation in the broadband society in Denmark

The purpose of the paper is to provide an empirical overview of broadband developments in Denmark. The overview includes sections on coverage and penetration, connection speeds, retail prices, competition, interconnection prices, and residential access to Internet. The documentation shows that Denmark is doing well in most international comparisons, but retail prices are still relatively high and connection speeds are lower than the best performing countries. In terms of households, approximately three quarters have broadband access.

Denmark - and a number of other countries as well - has thus passed the threshold set by the EU with respect to the relevance of initiating a discussion on the implementation of a universal service obligation on broadband. As documented in the paper, there are groups among primarily the elderly and the unemployed who do not have Internet access. Their own explanation is not that they cannot afford it but that they don't need it. Still, there is an issue with respect to the participation in the broadband society, when an increasing part of communications in society is based on the Internet.