Most European businesses 'bond with broadband'

Eight out of ten businesses in Europe now have access to a broadband connection, Eurostat has said.

Finland, Spain, Malta, and France are the countries with the largest proportion of enterprises with access to broadband, according to the statistical office of the European Union.

All four countries came in at 90 per cent, while the UK was joint eighth, with 85 per cent of its businesses with ten or more employees enjoying broadband access.

Among other uses, broadband access allows enterprises to adopt VoIP solutions and IP telephony solutions and buy and sell products electronically.

Eurostat's figures, part of a survey conducted on information and communication technologies (ICT) in enterprises in the EU, showed that 12 per cent of businesses' turnover came from ecommerce in 2008.

The UK generated the joint-third largest share of enterprise turnover via the internet in 2008, the data shows, with 83 per cent of that generated internally.

Mobile broadband growth will rocket across Europe, analyst house CCS Insight recently predicted.

Its report showed that the UK has the cheapest mobile broadband in Europe's top five markets, which could potentially drive take-up of mobile VoIP phones.