US Broadband Reaches 30m, But Growth Looks Set To Slow

A decline in the proportion of dial-up users wanting to upgrade to broadband, coupled with limited availability of high-speed services, are seen by Pew as two key factors that could moderate the growth of the sector. Despite these trends, 13% of dial-up users are still set to migrate to broadband, according to the report.

At the end of March 2003, 31% of US homes had a high-speed connection. This is up from 24% in October 2002 and 21% in March last year. There are now approximately 30 million individual users connecting to the web via broadband from home; this is a penetration of around 16% of the American population and represents a five-fold increase in under three years.

Platforms Cable is by far the leading platform for broadband services, with a 67% share of the market as of March this year. DSL picks up the majority if the remainder, with a 28% share currently.