Germany has 0.38, France 0.31 and the U.K. lags with just 0.08 lines per 100 citizens. OECD analyst Sam Paltridge believes one of the reasons the U.K. is behind is that BT started to roll out services late. Like a lot of incumbents it was interested in getting a return on its ISDN business. There was not a lot of competition to drive BT to offer services any earlier. The self-install method is easy for consumers, he claimed.
Users receive a modem, two discs and a telephone adapter.
BT Ignite says it is currently testing self-install modems and hopes to have a commercial release later in the year. It claims it has been waiting for an international standard to be agreed. The other biggest factor in boosting U.K. broadband takeup will be price. Paltridge is confident BT will drop its 49.99 monthly price tag soon. On whether the government's figures for the U.K. to have the greatest penetration of broadband services by 2005, Paltridge is more reticent.