South Korea is coming to the end of its broadband reign, with new figures from Point Topic showing that Denmark and the Netherlands are very close to catching up in terms of broadband lines per 100 population.
Despite showing negligible broadband growth in 2005, South Korea still has over 25% penetration of broadband by population. Denmark and the Netherlands are only a fraction of a percent behind, with Hong Kong and Finland following closely with a 23% penetration level.
According to Point Topic, the European, Middle East and African region is increasingly leading the roll-out of broadband around the world.
Western Europe has almost caught up with North America as the region in terms of penetration, with Point Topic revealing the region enjoyed growth of 47% in 2005, as opposed to North America at 27%.
Unless broadband growth in Western Europe suffers a very sharp slowdown, Point Topic estimates that it will soon be well ahead of North American in take-up.
According to WPP’s recent OgilvyOne Report, however, Europe has overtaken North America as the second largest broadband market in the world (see Europe Pushes Broadband Uptake Forward).
The report states that by the end of 2006 the top three countries in terms of broadband penetration will be the Netherlands at 56%, Switzerland with 51% and Denmark at 49%.
Total online household penetration in Western Europe is forecast to reach 63% by 2010, with 93% of online households expected to use broadband to access the internet.
Broadband connections in the UK continue to rise. The latest figures from the Office of National Statistics reveal that broadband has increased its market share, making up 64.2% of all connections in December 2005, up from 62.3% in November 2005 (see Internet Subscribtions Facing A Lull).
This trend is mirrored in the US, with recent data from Ipsos Public Affairs showing that 37% of online households used dial-up by December 2005, compared to 61% using broadband (see Consumers Still Use Dial-Up).
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