Britain adds 445,000 net new broadband lines in H1 2009
Britain added 445,000 net new broadband lines in the first half of 2009 to reach over 17.8 million in total, according to new figures from Point Topic.
This is about 100,000 more than Point Topic forecast at the beginning of the year. The number of net additions forecast for 2009 is now 900,000, up 240,000 (36%) on Point Topic’s earlier forecast.
Looking further ahead, it now projects over 23 million broadband lines in the UK by the end of 2013, nearly 1.2 million more than in its last forecast.
Point Topic figures released in June show that last year was a tough twelve months for broadband, with the first half of 2008 in particular seeing low growth and low net additions
The exceptions were China and Brazil which, in common with their BRIC partners, saw much slower growth later in 2008 than earlier.
Earlier this month, Leichtman Research Group revealed that net US broadband additions in the second quarter were the fewest of any quarter in the eight years it has been tracking the industry.
Overall, US broadband additions in 2Q 2009 amounted to 71% of those in 2Q 2008 – with telcos having 178% as many additions as a year ago, and cable 37% as many adds as a year ago.