E-Communications Household Survey

Since the full opening of EU electronic communications markets in 1998, the consumption of services by European households and individuals has considerably evolved. Driven by technological progress and competition, fixed and wireless broadband infrastructures have been rolled-out, allowing the delivery of services in new ways, to new places, through different payment schemes.

In that context, and because the EU regulatory framework for electronic communications networks and services sets the user at the core of its policy objectives by ensuring that he/she derives maximum benefit in terms of choice, price and quality, the European Commission regularly conducts residential surveys1 in order to understand how European households and individuals behave in the face of a permanently evolving offer of communication services.

This Eurobarometer survey differs from previous surveys because the 2002 EU regulatory framework has been implemented in all Member States, the EU has enlarged to 25 Member States and the process of convergence has accelerated as demonstrated by the increase of bundled offers combining voice telephony, fast internet access and television broadcast services.

This report covers the 25 EU Member States, together with Accession and Candidate
countries and the Turkish Cypriot Community.

The report covers the following themes:

* General overview of penetration rates
* Fixed and mobile telephony
* Computers and Internet
* Television
* Bundled offers
* European emergency number

The interviews were carried out between 7 December 2005 and 11 January 2006