Last year was a tough twelve months for broadband, according to new Point Topic figures, with the first half of 2008 in particular seeing low growth and low net additions almost across the board.
The exceptions were China and Brazil which, in common with their BRIC partners, saw much slower growth later in 2008 than earlier, said Point Topic.
| Top Ten Countries |
| Country |
2008Q1 |
2008Q4 |
2009Q1 |
Quarter growth |
Year growth |
| Total |
Total |
Total |
| China |
71,034,820 |
83,366,000 |
88,088,000 |
5.66% |
24.01% |
| USA |
72,581,920 |
80,631,523 |
83,968,547 |
4.14% |
15.69% |
| Japan |
28,836,100 |
30,325,900 |
30,631,900 |
1.01% |
6.23% |
| Germany |
21,077,450 |
23,198,150 |
24,144,350 |
4.08% |
14.55% |
| France |
16,186,996 |
17,493,518 |
18,009,500 |
2.95% |
11.26% |
| UK |
16,318,300 |
17,392,800 |
17,661,100 |
1.54% |
8.23% |
| South Korea |
14,970,775 |
15,474,931 |
15,709,771 |
1.52% |
4.94% |
| Italy |
11,300,077 |
12,170,080 |
12,447,533 |
2.28% |
10.15% |
| Brazil |
7,949,000 |
9,512,769 |
10,065,200 |
5.81% |
26.62% |
| Canada |
8,859,868 |
9,386,846 |
9,533,500 |
1.56% |
7.60% |
| Source: Point Topic |
Generally, early adopter countries and regions are struggling to return to the growth levels of previous years and there are signs that there is still bad news in the pipeline for many of these countries, although there are some notable exceptions, said Point Topic.
Both the US and Canada show signs of emerging from a period of slow broadband growth, while Latin America and South and East Asia are also looking healthy.
Western and Eastern Europe, Middle East & Africa and Asia Pacific show less clarity in their results in terms of identifiable trends. All these regions had countries that fared reasonably well and others that have suffered. Point Topic said that Q1 is traditionally a tougher quarter than Q4 so it is not surprising to see lower percentage growth.
| Regional View |
| Region |
2008Q4 |
2009Q1 |
| Total |
Growth |
Total |
Growth |
| Western Europe |
105,304,090 |
3.05% |
108,074,172 |
2.63% |
| South and East Asia |
93,397,395 |
3.55% |
99,027,699 |
6.03% |
| North America |
90,018,369 |
4.05% |
93,502,047 |
3.87% |
| Asia-Pacific |
63,237,665 |
2.09% |
64,388,702 |
1.82% |
| Latin America |
26,228,985 |
7.81% |
27,952,833 |
6.57% |
| Eastern Europe |
22,328,286 |
7.90% |
23,613,159 |
5.75% |
| Middle East and Africa |
12,076,810 |
5.71% |
12,608,289 |
4.40% |
| Source: Point Topic |
Recent research from Ofcom revealed that one in five UK adults who do not have the internet at home are likely to sign up in the next six months (see 1 in 5 adults without internet access likely to sign up in next six months).
Those intending to get the internet in the next six months are more likely to be younger, use the internet already outside of the home, are working and have children, the research found.
In April, comScore released data showing that the UK had the second largest online audience in Europe, with 36.8 million unique visitors during the month (see UK online audience hits 36.8m unique users in April).
