Latest figures from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) show how the emergence of free internet service provider services in Europe has significantly narrowed the internet connectivity gap between some OECD members. For consumers and small businesses using the internet for less than 20 hours a month at off-peak times eight members, including Korea (the cheapest) Finland, Denmark, Italy, Sweden, Canada, Switzerland and the UK are cheaper than the US, and significantly cheaper than the OECD average. Of these, Denmark, Italy, Switzerland and the UK have all benefited from the emergence of free ISP services.
The OECD now monitors the cost of internet connection for consumers and SMEs as a key economic indicator. It notes that increased competition has also helped drive down PSTN charges among many members, but also shows that in some countries, lack of competition is still seeing overall connection costs climb as ISPs raise their service prices. And while the US and Canada, where consumers have traditionally not had to pay PSTN charges for local calls, have been overtaken as the cheapest internet environments for casual or infrequent users, for always open connections, they are still the cheapest places to be. Indeed for a cost basket encompassing PSTN connection and usage fees, plus ISP charges for users staying online for 40 hours or more a month, Canada and the US are still the cheapest markets at peak times.
