Demand for competitive local telephone services in the EU is expected to remain high by 2004, adding up to 90 million local access telephone lines[1]:
"Incumbent" operators in Europe will retain 73% of the projected 292 million access lines in the region, followed by "wireline" competitors (16%), cable telephony operators (8%) and wireless local loop operators (3%)
Over 500,000 telephone calls from across the EU are expected in the first five minutes next Wednesday at 7 a.m. (Irish time) when the final 100,000 tickets for France '98 World Cup go on sale. Other concert ticket sales that crashed phone systems[2]:
1. U2's 1992 US tour - Pacific Bell recorded 45 million calls to hotlines offering 500,000 tickets. Boston telephone system collapsed for several minutes.
2. Oasis, 1997 Dublin gigs - 500,000 calls taken by 67 operators in three hours. One of the three exchanges which crashed in Dublin took five days to repair.
Internet traffic is doubling every 100 days[3]:
electronic commerce is predicted to grow to $300 billion a year by 2002
Sources: 1 Strategis Group; 2 London Guardian; 3 US Commerce Department.
