Analysys Mason highlights communications differences between cities across four continents

LONDON, UK: A new report from Analysys Mason, prepared on behalf of Ofcom, examines the availability of communications services in six cities across four continents: Chicago, Hamburg, Lagos, Milan, Seoul and Warsaw. It is being published alongside Ofcom's International Communications Market Report 2013.

Analysys Mason's report, Communications infrastructure and services in international cities: six case studies, analyses the availability of standard and next-generation access (NGA) broadband, mobile communications and Wi-Fi hotspots, as well as assessing service pricing and competition across the six cities.

"We have found that there are very marked differences between the cities," states Matt Yardley, Partner at Analysys Mason and Director of the team which developed the report. For example, the study indicated that:

* Next-generation access (NGA) broadband services capable of providing download speeds greater than 30Mbit/s are available to over half of the population in all cities, except Lagos.

* Superfast broadband services cost more in Chicago than in the other cities, and residents in Seoul and Warsaw pay the least.

* Cable infrastructure plays an important role in the availability of high-speed broadband infrastructure, with the exception of Lagos and Milan (which have no cable network deployments).