Broadband use to rocket in Western Europe

A half of all households in Western Europe will have a broadband Internet connection by 2010, according to new research. As the British IT portal The Register http://www.theregister.co.uk reports, a total of 72 million people will be using broadband in five years time, with the Netherlands and Scandinavia the leaders, due to their large proportion of online consumers, competitive markets and relatively low broadband prices. The study, carried out by market research specialists Forrester Research http://www.forrester.com , also found that Portugal, Greece and Ireland will trail the other countries as a result of lower overall levels of Internet use and PC ownership.