xDSL sales to increase

Shipments of customer-located xDSL equipment is set to rocket by more than 1100 percent over the next four years, from one million in 2000 to 12.4 million in 2004, according to the latest research from IDC.

Germany is set to remain the largest xDSL market in Europe followed by Britain and France.

Growth will be generated by local loop unbundling (LLU) and competition among players.

However, according to IDC research analyst, Romolo Pusceddu: "Fully unbundling the local loop, however, will not happen in the near future.

"Unbundling access to the local loop will increase competition and could speed up the introduction of faster Internet access services, such as asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) and symmetric digital subscriber line (SDSL)," he said.

And he added that unbundling access to the local loop would increase the efficiency of the telecoms market and accelerate development of Internet services.

Well, well, well, is that so? Give that man a slap on the back and tell him to take the rest of the afternoon off. ®