BERLIN, March 5 (Xinhua) -- In 2019, 59 percent of German companies with a fixed broadband connection had fast internet access, 8 percentage points higher compared to the previous year, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) announced on Thursday.
"The goal must be to expand the digital infrastructure, also with government support, to enable every company to connect to the internet at the necessary speed," Christian Rusche, economist at the German Economic Institute (IW) told Xinhua on Thursday.
Most companies in Germany were not concentrated in large cities, but were located in rural areas where "the digital infrastructure usually needs to be expanded", added Rusche.
According to Destatis, the average share of companies with fast internet access in the European Union was around 5 percentage points below than in Germany and amounted to 54 percent in 2019.
At the top of the list of European countries with fast internet access was Denmark with 87 percent, followed by Sweden and the Netherlands, according to Destatis.
Fast internet access as defined by Destatis as a fixed broadband connection with a contractually agreed data transmission rate of at least 30 megabits per second (Mbit/s), was least common among companies in France with 33 percent, followed by Croatia and Italy with 41 percent each.
Rusche stressed that "digital networking with other companies and with other economies is becoming increasingly important for the German economy" in order to reduce costs, increase productivity and develop new business models.
