Broadband Subscriber Rates Grow 13% in the Last 12 Months

WASHINGTON, June 21, 2010 –  Late last week at the CommunicAsia conference in Singapore, Broadband Forum in conjunction with data from Point Topic GBS released a report on the state of global broadband. According to the report there are currently 484 broadband lines globally. It is important to note that the firm does not specific what speeds it considers broadband but it does include all current forms of internet connectivity both wired and wireless including satellite.

Broadband Forum is a global consortium of approximately 190 leading companies covering the telecommunications,

equipment, computing, networking and service provider sectors.  Point Topic is a United Kingdom based firm which specializes in broadband data analysis. Their Global Broadband Statistics division provides broadband subscriber figures for over 300 operators in some 90 countries throughout the world by access technologies and various delivery channels like local loop unbundling, retail and wholesale purchase.

The report found an overall growth of 3.12% in the first quarter of this year and growth rate of 12.41% over the past 12 months. 53% of the total growth can be attributed to Asia;

with China being responsible for 45% of the total lines added globally in the quarter.

DSL still is the dominant method of connection globally with fiber gaining ground, most actively in Asia.

In addition to broadband the report also looked at the current state of IPTV. They project 36.6 million IPTV subscribers globally, with represents a growth of nearly 8% over the past quarter. The service is the most popular in France which has nearly 9 million subscribers, in contrast the United States which has the second highest subscriber rate only has 6 million subscribers; however Asia is gaining in     subscribers.