Note: this is the final version of the paper Turk, T., Jerman-Blažič, B., & Trkman, P. (2008). Factors and sustainable strategies fostering the adoption of broadband communications in an enlarged European Union. Technological Forecasting & Social Change, 75(7), 933-951. The paper is provided for non-commercial use. The final published version as it appears in the journal (PDF and HTML) is available on an Elsevier site . Factors and sustainable strategies fostering the adoption of broadband communications in an enlarged European Union Tomaž Turk a , Borka Jerman Blažič b , Peter Trkman a* a University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Economics, Kardeljeva ploscad 17, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia b Jozef Stefan Institute, Jamova 39, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia Abstract : The paper presents the results of a study that attempts to identify the main components that influence the development of broadband communications and access services, along with the analysis of sustainable strategies for fostering its further development. The paper briefly provides the appropriate combination of the relevant factors, methods and technologies for faster adoption of broadband communication technologies, contributing to adoption and enabling more rapid social cohesion and the regional inclusion of the new member states. Three identified factors, based on the data from 2004, can be interpreted as a group of enablers and means, indicators of e- service usage and the information and communication technology sector environment. An appropriate combination of the proposed actions could be a valuable guide in planning and developing broadband adoption strategies in different European regions or countries. Key words: Broadband adoption, service usage, strategic planning, factor analysis, European Union 1 Introduction Broadband (BB) communications play a major role in modernizing economies and societies by stimulating the use of the Internet and enabling the use of feature-rich applications and services. As a technology, BB is at the core of the diffusion of the information society and the development of information and communication technologies (ICTs), as well as promoting the development of new services and improving the delivery of those services that already exist. The benefits of BB communications are already widely recognized [1]; they spill over into the areas of e-business, e-learning, e-health and e-government, improving the functionality and performance of those services and further extending the use of the Internet and empowering both consumers and businesses [2]. These activities are now critically dependent on the ability to communicate information quickly and independently. For this reason the high-speed Internet is becoming a critical component in a country’s communications infrastructure [3]. Current research and studies are evaluating the penetration of BB access in the same way that Internet penetration was monitored in the late 1990s [4]. Today, it is believed that the growth in Internet * Tel.: +386 1 5892-512; fax: +386 1 5892-698, E-mail address: peter.trkman@ef.uni-lj.si