UK Fastest Growing Broadband Market

Britain’s broadband uptake is continuing apace, with the nation now the fastest growing market for high-speed internet connections, according to the latest research by broadband analysis company, Point Topic.

Britain has increased its broadband connections by over 20% in the last quarter, reaching almost five million lines, according to new figures, while globally digital subscriber lines (DSL) have increased by 10.5% to 107.3 million in the first quarter of 2005, as over 37 million connections were added since March 2004. The uptake signals a 54% increase year on year by for the 12 months to March 2005.

The new data reveals that, worldwide, just over 10.1 million lines were added in Q1 2005 alone, demonstrating a continued momentum for DSL penetration into 2005, following the 10.4 million lines added in the fourth quarter of 2004.

Traditional broadband adoption patterns are also shown to be changing, with growth in high penetration countries such as South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan slowing, compared to strong growth of 24% or more in emerging markets such as Turkey, Thailand and Poland.

The strong uptake in broadband has placed Britain ahead of rival European countries, with UK companies regularly seeing the largest growth across the continent (see UK Leaders In European Broadband Growth).

The nation is set for further growth, however, with the unbundling of BT’s local loop network allowing rival internet service providers to offer faster speeds and cheaper monthly subscriptions (see Tiscali Unbundling To Provide Next Gen Net Services).

Point Topic: 020 7551 9260 www.point-topic.com/