International Communications Market Report 2012

This is the seventh year that Ofcom has published comparative international data on the communications sector. The aim of the report is to benchmark the UK communications sector against a range of comparator countries in order to assess how the UK is performing in an international context. The report compares the availability, take-up and use of services in the UK and 16 comparator countries – France, Germany, Italy, the US, Canada, Japan, Australia, Spain, the Netherlands, Sweden, Ireland, Poland, Brazil, Russia, India and China, although we focus on a smaller subset of comparator countries for some of our analysis. We are publishing this report as part of our commitment to continuously research markets and to remain at the forefront of consumer, industry and technological understanding, as we outlined in our 2012/13 Annual Plan1 . This report complements other research published by Ofcom and forms part of the Communications Market Report series, which includes the UK Communications Market Report and specific reports for Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales (all published in July 2012).2 This report is intended to be used in a number of ways: to benchmark the UK’s communications sector, to learn from market and regulatory developments in other countries, and to provide the context for Ofcom’s regulatory initiatives. It also contributes to the richness of the information we draw upon, better enabling us to understand how our actions and priorities can influence outcomes for citizens and consumers, and for communications markets generally. The information set out in this report does not represent any proposal or conclusion by Ofcom in respect of the current or future definition of markets and/or the assessment of licence applications or significant market power or dominant market position for the purposes of the Communications Act 2003, the Competition Act 1998 or other relevant legislation.