More than half of Europe's Internet surfers now have a high-speed broadband connection at home, which has helped push the number of Web users in Europe past 100 million. By October of this year, 54.5 million Europeans surfed the Web via broadband, up 60 percent from 34.1 million 12 months earlier, market research group Nielsen/NetRatings reported.
The largest increases were in Italy--120 percent--and Britain, up nearly 100 percent. While millions of consumers upgraded to a faster digital subscriber line (DSL) or cable TV broadband connection, millions went online for the first time. The total number of Internet users in Europe increased by 12 percent to 100 million in the 12 months to October, Nielsen said. The growth in faster connections means Web sites will need to offer more video and music to keep attracting consumers, the research group said.
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