EU Broadband investment falling behind

[Commentary] Broadband investment in the US has increased by 7% between 2011 and 2012 while it declined in the EU27 by a whopping 21%. American carriers spend almost 2.5 times more per capita than European. EU27 carriers are spending only 40 cents for every dollar invested in the US. To be clear, it is not that European carriers don’t want to invest, but the open access policies that require incumbents to lease their facilities at low regulated rates create a strong disincentive to investment. Furthermore, the 27 individual European markets each have their own regulatory authority and tax regimes, making the realization of economies of scale near impossible. In the big picture, global broadband investment is some $300 billion annually. Americans comprise just 4% of the world’s population but they enjoy 25% of the world’s broadband infrastructure investment. I would describe that as a country with an outsized investment in broadband.