UK the largest public sector ICT market in Europe

The UK is the largest public sector ICT market in Europe, with some 22 per cent of the total - no small amount, given public sector IT in Europe is worth €99 billion in 2007 and growing faster than the overall economy, according to research firm Kable.

By 2010, spending on information and communications technology is set to reach €118 billion, with Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria and the Baltic states averaging the highest growth at nine per cent, Kable said.

While those countries can expect high growth, they only account for 1.3 per cent of the entire European spend, the study said. Developed economies such as Ireland, Spain, Greece and the UK together make up over half of the total European ICT market.

Spending on ICT is worth some 1.8 per cent of government's budgets, the study said.