The European Commission ordered a study to analyse broadband prices in 2017 in 28 EU Member States, also in Iceland, Norway, Japan, South Korea, Canada and the USA. The public data of the five largest Internet Service Providers in each country were analysed.
The survey covered four bundles of services offered by Internet Service Providers: Single Play (standalone internet), Double Play with internet and fixed telephony, Double Play with television services, and Triple Play – internet with fixed telephony and television. The volume limits, discounts, different contract durations and varying telephony time limits were taken into account. Besides, offers for each of four bundles were assigned to several download speed baskets ranging from 0.144 Mbps to more than 1Gbps.
According to the study results, Romania, Latvia, Hungary and Lithuania have the most attractive prices for broadband internet in the EU. France, Slovakia and Poland follow. The most expensive internet services are in Spain, Malta and Portugal.
More information on this study is available in the report published by the European Commission in December 2018.
According to the data of the Ministry of Transport and Communications, in 2017 Lithuania was the 3rd in Europe and the 13th in the word with regard to broadband permeability (number of subscribers for 100 residents). The broadband permeability in the country at that time reached 42.6 percent and it was 46.3 percent in the end of the 3rd quarter of 2018 already.
At present Lithuania is continuing to develop broadband internet facilities and attempts to provide internet access of next generation in the entire country that would guarantee speed of data transfer of 30 Mbps and more. Now almost 9 percent of all the domestic household in various regions and remote residential localities are not able to use fast internet connection. Such “white spots” will disappear from Lithuania when the Next Generation Internet Access Development Plan supported from the EU funds is completed.