Worldwide Broadband Lines Grow 24% In First Half

The growth was driven mainly by the 30% increase in the number of DSL lines, which numbered 48 million as of 30 June 2003. Cable modem growth was much slower at 16.5%, to reach 30 million lines. The full growth figures for the top 30 countries with the highest number of broadband lines are shown by region below.

Recent figures from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) show that the number of worldwide broadband subscribers (as opposed to available lines) rose by 72% in 2002 to reach 63 million (see One In Ten Global Internet Users Has Broadband, Says Study).

The USA is by far the largest broadband market with over 20 million broadband lines. South Korea and Japan are far behind, with 11 million and 10 million respectively. Then there are further proportionately large drops, notes the Point Topic report.

Of all the top ten broadband countries, only the USA and Canada have significantly more cable modems than DSL lines; the numbers are about equal in the UK. Only in North America is cable broadband growing faster than DSL, at 18.2% rather than 15.5% for DSL these figures.

“Cable has wider coverage in the USA and Canada than in most other countries, and cable operators compete more aggressively with the telcos, often offering low-speed, low-cost entry level services to attract residential customers,” says Point Topic.