A record 50 million world broadband lines were added in 2004, bringing the total at the end of the year to 150.5 million, exceeding previous predictions from the broadband analysis company, Point Topic.
A massive 26.5 million lines were added in the second half of 2004 alone, representing the biggest half year worldwide increase to date. Earlier estimates from Point Topic predicted total broadband lines for 2004 to reach 96.9 million (see
Global Broadband Lines Close In On 100 Million In 2004).
The USA remains the world’s largest broadband country with 33.9 million lines, with China continuing to gain ground, adding over 6.6 million lines in the second half of last year.
Cable modems and other broadband services grew slightly faster than digital subscriber lines (DSL) in the Asia-Pacific region as a whole, largely due to the growth in ‘FTTx’, usually fibre-to-the-building, particularly in China and Japan.
Canada was revealed as one of the few places outside the Asia-Pacific region where cable modems showed a higher growth rate than DSL during 2004, with a rise of 9.5% against 8.5%. Meanwhile, in the USA, the DSL base grew by 20.1% to add 2.3 million lines. Cable added a few more lines, at 2.5 million but this was only a 13.3% increase at the installed base.
According to Point Topic, DSL has a majority 62% of world broadband market share compared to a 36% share made up of cable modem and other technologies.
In other parts of the world, Turkey achieved an impressive 155% growth, followed by Poland, showing growth of 122%.
The rapid take-up of broadband in Europe has carried some countries to amongst the highest penetration levels worldwide. The Netherlands, Denmark, Switzerland and Belgium all have over 16 broadband lines for every 100 people. Other Scandinavian countries, Iceland, Sweden, Norway and Finland are all over the 12 per 100 mark.
France, Germany, Italy and the UK are all in the 8 to 12 lines per 100 range, along with a number of others. The EU’s new accession countries to the East are now starting to move up the take-up scale, but one or two are still below the 1 line per 100 level, as are all the other countries of the former Soviet Union.
Point Topic’s findings confirm those of eMarketer, who in its European Broadband report show that broadband households in Western Europe have increased by nearly 65% over 2004, with the highest growth in France (see Europe Enjoys Impressive Growth In Broadband Up-Take).
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