There were 298 million broadband subscribers worldwide at the end of March 2007, according to the most recent data from Point Topic’s Global Broadband Statistics service.
Katja Mueller, research director at Point Topic, said: “Given the prevailing growth rates it is safe to assume that the number has now passed 300 million.”
The regional data shows that Eastern Europe is continuing to grow strongly, and was the only region to record more than 10% growth in this quarter.
Here Romania passed the one million subscriber mark helping Eastern European countries to post 3 of the 10 fastest growing countries worldwide (excludes countries with less than 100,000 lines in December 2006).
Greece was the top grower in percentage terms expanding by 26.8% during the quarter.
The USA remains the largest broadband country in the world and passed its own milestone, exceeding 60 million subscribers (growing to 60.4 million) in the quarter with 2.9 million new broadband additions.
China continues to push hard for the top spot however and has cut the gap to the US from 5.8 million at the end of 2006 to 4.1 million at end of March 2007.
The major mover, in the top 10 countries by number of subscribers, is France. It achieved the highest percentage growth rate, 9.36%, in this quarter, compared to other countries and leapfrogged South Korea to 5th place in the top ten chart for total broadband subscribers.
| Top 10 countries by number of subscribers |
| Country |
Broadband subs – end 2006 |
Broadband subs – end Q1 2007 |
| USA |
57,488,226 |
60,362,830 |
| China |
51,723,000 |
56,258,499 |
| Japan |
25,882,100 |
26,533,000 |
| Germany |
14,894,100 |
16,142,750 |
| France |
13,994,400 |
15,304,900 |
| South Korea |
14,042,698 |
14,102,888 |
| UK |
13,111,600 |
13,953,000 |
| Italy |
8,826,803 |
9,348,250 |
| Canada |
7,735,621 |
8,010,139 |
| Spain |
6,726,756 |
7,185,932 |
| Source: Point Topic |
A recent report from IAB Europe revealed that online advertising spend in Europe doubled last year to £4.5 billion (see European Internet Adspend Doubled In 2006).
Meanwhile, In-Stat forecast that by 2011, total worldwide broadband subscribers will number 567 million, almost double the current 285 million subscriber base (see Worldwide Broadband Subscribers To Reach 567 Million).
Related Links
