September 30, 2008

Report: Broadband Sub Numbers Top 380 Million

Europe is leading the way in terms of broadband subscriber growth for the second year running, according to the latest statistics announced by the Broadband Forum at this year's Broadband World Forum Europe in Brussels. The report, prepared by Point Topic, indicates that Europe now has nearly 120 million subscribers, 32 percent of the global broadband market.

The statistics also indicate that worldwide broadband subscribers have now surpassed 380 million, an increase of 17 percent in the past 12 months. The top 10 countries by broadband subscribers, is once again led by the United States, which has nearly 77 million broadband subscribers. China, whose broadband deployment has grown by over 6.5 percent in the last year and now has just over 76 million subscribers, is a close second and should shortly overtake the United States in that top spot. However, Europe countries dominate the chart, with Germany, the UK, France, Italy and Spain all in the top 10.

Cable companies have had a solid year with a cable market share of 21.5 percent, whereas telcos have enjoyed strong growth with their fiber deployments up by more than 25 percent and DSL remaining the most popular access technology with 64 percent of the market share.