Broadband Connections Worldwide Reach 484 Million

The latest numbers from the Broadband Forums worldwide broadband survey are in, which are based on global broadband and internet TV statistics, sourced from Point Topic data. The survey shows that in the first quarter of 2010, broadband connections grew by about 14 million – a 3.12% overall growth in the quarter and a 12.41% growth over the year. This time last year the figure was even higher, topping 16 million new connections.

Most of the new lines added have, unsurprisingly, been found in developing countries and Asia. In fact, nearly half of all the new lines have come from mainland China as the country brings more of its massive population online.  China alone now has 112 million subscribers, but that’s still a relative small section of the Chinese population. The figures show a 20% 12 month growth in the country.

The top countries for total subscribers – not growth – are generally unsurprising, considering the population of each country. China, America and Japan site on the top 3, with the UK at 6^th. This places us just underneath France and with about 2 million more subscribers than South Korea.  This position has been maintained from last year.

The Chief Operating Office of the Broadband Forum commented:

“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.”

As for the technology used to power these subscriptions, DSL is currently far in the lead for broadband, with around 64% of all global connections using the technology. Cable is being used by 20% while only about 13% of broadband subscribers have access to a fibre network, although this number is expected to grow significantly in the next five years – especially in the UK and Asia. DSL is likely to remain very widely used in developing countries, and wireless still has its place in countries where normal internet connections are difficult or impossible to maintain.

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