A fifth of US households now have a high-speed broadband connection to the internet, according to new figures from Jupiter Research.
The group reports that by the close of 2003, there were 21.5 million broadband households in the US and this is expected to rise to around 46 million by 2008 – 40% of all households and half of online households.
Jupiter says that the US broadband landscape is starting to become more competitive, following a history by telcos and cable operators of competing ‘half-heartedly’ for customers.
“[Last year] was the first year we saw coherent competitive messages in the market: DSL’s story was about low cost, while cable modem services were about faster connection speeds,” says senior analyst Joe Laszlo.
Jupiter Research believes that the continued growth of online video, music and game offerings in 2004 will increase broadband’s appeal, but warns that providers must focus on reducing prices to really spur demand.
“The dotcom boom saw many failed efforts to deliver video and other rich media content, well before a substantial audience with broadband at home even existed. With the emergence of such an audience, Jupiter Research expects the renaissance of broadband content efforts will accelerate in 2004,” says the report.
A separate study from Forrester Research found that price, rather than speed, is becoming the primary factor in the battle to win broadband customers (see Price Takes Over From Speed In Battle For Broadband Customers).
