The US brokers, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter is predicting an Internet boom in Europe signalling substantial potential gains for investors who pick the right stocks. In a recent report it says the number of Internet users in Europe should triple over the next four years to more than 100 million, unleashing a flurry of economic activity and opening up dramatic investment opportunities.

Computer, telecommunications and media groups will seek to provide Internet access and content and retailers, carmakers, airlines, banks and other companies will invest to use the Internet to reach the increasing audience of online consumers. At the same time Europe will see more pure Internet companies which could follow the performance of US stars like Yahoo, Amazon.com and EBay, it states. Morgan Stanley identifies a number of companies it believes are well placed to benefit from the upsurge in Internet use. These include, Colt Telecom, KPN, NTL, Telewest Communications, Alcatel, Nokia and Dutch cable group UPC.