Broadband Subscribers Increase 33%
The number of broadband subscribers in the 30 countries tracked by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) reached 181 million in June, a 33% increase over the previous year.
DSL (63%) leads over cable modems (29%) and other technologies (8%), like satellite, fiber, and fixed wireless, in 28 of the 30 countries. Users in the US and Canada tend to opt for cable modems over DSL.
The US has the largest total number of broadband subscribers at 57 million, and the country accounts for 36% of all broadband connections for the 30 OECD countries.
Excluding the US, Northern European countries are among the highest rank in terms of broadband penetration. Denmark, the Netherlands, Iceland, Korea, Switzerland, and Finland each have at least 25 broadband subscribers per 100 residents.
In the first half of the year the strongest growth in broadband was seen in Denmark, Australia, Norway, the Netherlands, Finland, Luxembourg, Sweden and the U.K. where over six subscribers per 100 people were added in each country.
Point Topic recently released some research which said that the proportion of UK households with broadband will almost double, from 34% at the end of 2005, to 64% three years later (see 64% Of UK Households On Broadband By 2008).
However, another report from Point Topic noted that broadband’s quarterly growth rate in Q2 2006 has been the lowest ever, just 7.1% worldwide, a large drop from the 8.5% at the end of 2005 (see Lowest Quarterly Growth Rate In Broadband History).
| Broadband Subscribers Per 100 Inhabitants by Technology, June 2006 | ||||||
| Rank | Country | DSL | Cable | Other | Total | Total Subscribers |
| 1 | Denmark | 17.4 | 9 | 2.8 | 29.3 | 1,590,539 |
| 2 | Netherlands | 17.2 | 11.1 | 0.5 | 28.8 | 4,705,829 |
| 3 | Iceland | 26.5 | 0 | 0.7 | 27.3 | 80,672 |
| 4 | Korea | 13.2 | 8.8 | 4.5 | 26.4 | 12,770,911 |
| 5 | Switzerland | 16.9 | 9 | 0.4 | 26.2 | 1,945,358 |
| 6 | Finland | 21.7 | 3.1 | 0.2 | 25 | 1,309,800 |
| 7 | Norway | 20.4 | 3.8 | 0.4 | 24.6 | 1,137,697 |
| 8 | Sweden | 14.4 | 4.3 | 4 | 22.7 | 2,046,222 |
| 9 | Canada | 10.8 | 11.5 | 0.1 | 22.4 | 7,161,872 |
| 10 | United Kingdom | 14.6 | 4.9 | 0 | 19.4 | 11,622,929 |
| 11 | Belgium | 11.9 | 7.4 | 0 | 19.3 | 2,025,112 |
| 12 | United States | 8 | 9.8 | 1.4 | 19.2 | 56,502,351 |
| 13 | Japan | 11.3 | 2.7 | 4.9 | 19 | 24,217,012 |
| 14 | Luxembourg | 16 | 1.9 | 0 | 17.9 | 81,303 |
| 15 | Austria | 11.2 | 6.3 | 0.2 | 17.7 | 1,460,000 |
| 16 | France | 16.7 | 1 | 0 | 17.7 | 11,105,000 |
| 17 | Australia | 13.9 | 2.9 | 0.6 | 17.4 | 3,518,100 |
| 18 | Germany | 14.7 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 15.1 | 12,444,600 |
| 19 | Spain | 10.5 | 3.1 | 0.1 | 13.6 | 5,917,082 |
| 20 | Italy | 12.6 | 0 | 0.6 | 13.2 | 7,697,249 |
| 21 | Portugal | 7.9 | 5 | 0 | 12.9 | 1,355,602 |
| 22 | New Zealand | 10.7 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 11.7 | 479,000 |
| 23 | Czech Republic | 3.9 | 2 | 3.5 | 9.4 | 962,000 |
| 24 | Ireland | 6.8 | 1 | 1.4 | 9.2 | 372,300 |
| 25 | Hungary | 4.8 | 2.9 | 0.1 | 7.8 | 791,555 |
| 26 | Poland | 3.9 | 1.3 | 0.1 | 5.3 | 2,032,700 |
| 27 | Turkey | 2.9 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2,128,600 |
| 28 | Slovak Republic | 2.2 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 2.9 | 155,659 |
| 29 | Mexico | 2.1 | 0.7 | 0 | 2.8 | 2,950,988 |
| 30 | Greece | 2.7 | 0 | 0 | 2.7 | 298,222 |
| OECD | 9.7 | 4.6 | 1.2 | 15.5 | 180,866,265 | |
| Notes: | ||||||
| 1. Data for Mexico and Sweden are preliminary estimates. | ||||||
| 2. The OECD statistics for the “Other Broadband” category of the Czech Republic include a large number of fixed wireless broadband connections provided over mobile networks. | ||||||
| Source: OECD, 2006 | ||||||
| Broadband Subscribers Per 100 Inhabitants, 2001-2005 | |||||
| Country | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 |
| Australia | 0.9 | 1.8 | 3.5 | 7.7 | 13.8 |
| Austria | 3.6 | 5.6 | 7.6 | 10.1 | 14.1 |
| Belgium | 4.4 | 8.7 | 11.7 | 15.5 | 18.3 |
| Canada | 8.9 | 12.1 | 15.1 | 17.6 | 21 |
| Czech Republic | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 2.5 | 6.4 |
| Denmark | 4.4 | 8.2 | 13 | 19 | 25 |
| Finland | 1.3 | 5.5 | 9.5 | 14.9 | 22.5 |
| France | 1 | 2.8 | 5.9 | 10.5 | 15.2 |
| Germany | 2.3 | 4.1 | 5.6 | 8.4 | 13 |
| Greece | 0 | 0 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 1.4 |
| Hungary | 0.3 | 0.6 | 2 | 3.6 | 6.3 |
| Iceland | 3.7 | 8.4 | 14.3 | 18.2 | 26.7 |
| Ireland | 0 | 0.3 | 0.8 | 3.3 | 6.7 |
| Italy | 0.7 | 1.7 | 4.1 | 8.1 | 11.9 |
| Japan | 2.2 | 6.1 | 10.7 | 15 | 17.6 |
| Korea | 17.2 | 21.8 | 24.2 | 24.8 | 25.4 |
| Luxembourg | 0.3 | 1.5 | 3.5 | 9.8 | 14.9 |
| Mexico | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.9 | 2.2 |
| Netherlands | 3.8 | 7 | 11.8 | 19 | 25.3 |
| New Zealand | 0.7 | 1.6 | 2.6 | 4.7 | 8.1 |
| Norway | 1.9 | 4.2 | 8 | 14.8 | 21.9 |
| Poland | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.8 | 2.1 | 2.4 |
| Portugal | 1 | 2.5 | 4.8 | 8.2 | 11.5 |
| Slovak Republic | 0 | 0 | 0.3 | 1 | 2.5 |
| Spain | 1.2 | 3 | 5.4 | 8.1 | 11.7 |
| Sweden | 5.4 | 8.1 | 10.7 | 14.5 | 20.3 |
| Switzerland | 2 | 5.6 | 10.1 | 17.5 | 23.1 |
| Turkey | 0 | 0 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 2.1 |
| United Kingdom | 0.6 | 2.3 | 5.4 | 10.5 | 15.9 |
| United States | 4.5 | 6.9 | 9.7 | 12.9 | 16.8 |
| OECD | 2.9 | 4.9 | 7.3 | 10.2 | 13.6 |
| EU15 | 1.6 | 3.4 | 5.9 | 9.7 | 14.2 |
| Source: OECD, 2006 | |||||