Global broadband hits 484mn subscriber mark

SINGAPORE: Broadband subscription growth took an upswing during the first quarter of 2010, supported in part by healthy DSL growth in every region, strong fiber rollouts in Asia and aggressive IPTV service offerings.

These statistics were revealed by the Broadband Forum at CommunicAsia conference, in conjunction with research by industry analysts Point Topic.

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The figures show that global broadband lines now top 484 million lines (484,788,597), representing a 3.12 percent growth in the quarter and 12.41 percent in the last 12 months to end of Q1 2010.

The first quarter growth rate increase shows a swelling of positive growth for worldwide broadband. At the same time the number of IPTV subscribers grew to 36.3 million. China and the USA are the top two countries for both broadband and IPTV.

Based on the research by Point Topic GBS database, Asia was responsible for more than 53 percent of the broadband lines added, with mainland China alone accounting for 45 percent of the total lines added worldwide in Q1 2010.

China continues to be at the top of the table in terms of broadband with continued healthy growth at 5.67 percent in the quarter and 20.96 percent in the twelve month period, taking it to 112,594,000 subscribers.

This made China the fastest growing country in both percentage and in absolute terms in the first three months of 2010.

Six of the top ten countries improved their performance in Q1 2010 compared to Q4 2009;  China, the USA, Germany, the UK, South Korea and Brazil all grew more quickly in the first quarter of 2010 against Q4 2009.

"With all the recent technology advancements and service provider pushes, it is great to see how strong broadband continues to grow on a global basis and now backed by some major national Government initiatives- we expect this to accelerate even more in the coming years," said Robin Mersh, COO, Broadband Forum.

IPTV is certainly a big part of today's connected lifestyle.  The 12 months from Q109 to Q110 saw global growth of 46 percent in IPTV subscriber terms. This equates to 11.4 million new IPTV subscribers, the most rapid growth in any 12 month period yet recorded.

In the first quarter of 2010 the world-wide IPTV market has grown by just under eight percent (7.8 percent) and there are now 36.3 million IPTV subscribers as at March 31st 2010.

IPTV penetration is therefore running at around 7.7 percent of total broadband lines. This is significant penetration, given the established position of cable, DTT and satellite alternatives in many mature markets.

Europe and especially France continues to lead the IPTV subscriber market in total subscribers and continues to grow quickly. Regionally Asia is beginning to challenge that global dominance by adding approximately 2.9 million customers over the last year, and 1.2 million in the last quarter alone. 

This has resulted in Asia increasing its regional share of the market to 32.4 percent - almost one-third of the global market.

China was the top IPTV growth market with over five million lines, with South Korea, Japan and Hong Kong also among the top ten countries.

The Americas grew to 18.17 percent market share, representing the only other region to increase its share in the quarter, while the Middle East and Africa is beginning to show serious growth for the first time as numbers from the UAE and Egypt contributed to a record quarter.

DSL continues to be the most popular access technology for broadband. Fiber continues to grow quickly, and the figures for Q1 2010 show that Asia now has over 50 million fibre subscribers. 

The growth in fibre is expected to be the dominant theme over the next few years although DSL still has its place particularly in the second wave broadband countries like Indonesia and the Philippines, as does wireless particularly where the geography of a country makes fixed connections more difficult.