Broadband Usage
Tom's Hardware Guide: Tom's Hard News. Some good hard data on broadband.
Broadband continues its rapid growth: 26.5 million new lines were installed in the second have of 2004 alone, bringing the total number to 150.5 million. By the end of this year, there will be more than 215 million active broadband accounts, market researchers said.
Point-Topic, a British market research firm that tracks the worldwide development of broadband connections, reported high-speed Internet connections to gain popularity at an increasing speed. For 2004, more than 50 million new lines were installed on a worldwide basis, breaking the 150-million mark by the end of last year. Between July and December, 26.5 million new accounts were activated, representing the biggest half-year worldwide increase to date, according to Point-Topic.
The United States remain the world's largest broadband country with 33.9 million lines. China and Japan however are closing. China added more than 6.6 million new lines in the second half of 2004, bringing the total to 25.8 million. Japan reported 18.1 million lines and South Korea 11.9 million. Germany leads total broadband installations in Europe with 6.9 million lines, but showed slower growth than France and the UK, which now have 6.8 million and 6.1 million lines, respectively.
DSL has a majority 62 percent of world broadband market share compared to a 38 percent share made up of cable modem and other technologies. DSL outpaced cable also in US with 20.1 percent compared to 13.8 percent growth in installations in the second half of 2004. However, cable modems are still the dominant broadband type in the US with 20.2 million lines (DSL: 13.7 million).
In terms of market penetration, the US did not make it into the top-10 broadband nations. South Korea leads the ranking with 24.8 broadband lines per 100 people, followed by Hong Kong with 21.9 and the Netherlands with 19.
Point-Topic analysts said they expect growth of broadband to decline in percentage terms, but increase in the absolute number of lines added for the foreseeable time. By the end of this year, total broadband installations will have reached 215 million (140 million DSL lines), according to Point-Topic.