"The UK is by far Western Europe's most digital market and its surprising number one ranking is due to the huge take-up of digital TV, the sector now boasts a base of almost 17 million users." comments Steve Mullins, editor of Informa Telecoms & Media's research service Converging Media. "On top of digital TV, the UK market also added 900,000 new customers to mobile-broadband services in the final quarter of last year, accounting for an impressive growth of 23%." The UK now has 4.8 million mobile high-speed subscribers.

Although ranking second in the CM Index, the Finns outdid the Brits with their on-the-go appetites as the market's cellcos added 35,000 new broadband subs in the final quarter - a spike of 85% - to give Finland close to 80,000 mobile fat-pipe users.

Italy, although ranked third, has Western Europe's leading mobile-broadband sector, with close to 10 million subscribers. "The country's CM Index of 21.1 is largely based on its mobile performance rather than by fixed broadband and digital TV" comments Mullins.

About the CM Index

The CM Index measures advanced-digital-content consumption using broadband, digital TV and mobile data. The exclusive figures are published quarterly in Converging Media and cover major markets in Europe, the Americas and Asia Pacific.

About Converging Media

Converging Media is the leading source of essential news, data and authoritative analysis for anyone working within the digital-content sector. Converging Media provides up-to-the-minute news and analysis, published fortnightly.