Rapid improvements in digital subscriber line (DSL) technology are allowing broadband operators to offer access speeds up to and over 2Mbps and reach new areas.

Analysys Research said the expansion of coverage and services will "significantly boost" operators' broadband revenues.

The impact of DSL technologies is likely to continue beyond 2008 and could be a more durable technology than originally thought, rather than a short-lived solution to be replaced by fibre, according to the organisation's report.

Analysys predicts that broadband revenues will grow from €12.5bn (£8.8bn) in 2003 to €24.7bn in 2008. By 2008 around 15 per cent - €3.74bn - of broadband revenue in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Sweden will come from DSL services offering more than 2Mbps downstream.

"The most significant features of next-generation DSL technologies are that they extend the reach of broadband services and increase the speed of the technology due to modulation, framing, coding and signal processing improvements," said Ariel Dajes, lead author of the report.

The analyst said Reach Extended ADSL2 can improve the reach of ADSL to 5km at a maximum rate of 1.3Mpbs, compared to 0.93Mbps for current-generation ADSL.

For symmetric services, the newly standardised SHDSL offers reach of 4km at speeds of 2.3Mbps.

Such improvements, the analyst firm said, are complemented by the availability of smaller DSL access multiplexers which make it cheaper and easier to equip exchanges for xDSL.