Three-quarters of German households wired for the internet

With 75 percent of the country wired for the internet, Germany lands on fifth place in the Europe behind the Netherlands (86 percent), Sweden (84 percent), Denmark (82 percent) and Luxemburg (80 percent).

“The internet the most important infrastructure project of the 21st century,” Bitkom President August-Wilhelm Scheer said on Thursday in Berlin.

While in 2002 barely half of all households were actually online, by 2007 that figure had risen to seven out of ten – an increase by more than 54 percent in five years.

“In spite of the substantial progress in internet access, we still need to invest more in the telecommunication network – especially in the expansion of high-capacity fibre optic cables,” Scheer said, adding that it could help revive the country’s economy.

Providing faster broadband for the entire country would also make Germany a more attractive place to do business, according to Scheer.

“Broadband expansion is the right step at the right time,” he said.