The latest update from Point Topic and the Broadband Forum on world broadband statistics reveals there were 523 million broadband subscribers at the end of 2010, a 12% increase from the end of the previous year. This works out at a 9% penetration in to the worlds population. Although the number of broadband subscribers is continuing to grow, the net additions were slightly lower than previously showing a small slowdown in growth; net additions for 2010 (55.96 million) were 4.5% lower than 2009 (58.62 million).
DSL continues to remain the most popular way for users to connect (63%), followed by cable modem at 20% and fibre based connections at 14%. Fibre had the strongest growth with 3.47% and is likely to continue in this vain, as with new fibre networks being built, existing broadband users will migrate over to these new fibre products.
| Country | Q4 2010 | % of total |
|---|---|---|
| China (all territories) | 136.5 million | 26.1% |
| USA | 87.2 million | 16.7% |
| Japan | 34.5 million | 6.6% |
| Germany | 26.7 million | 5.1% |
| France | 19.9 million | 3.8% |
| UK | 19.6 million | 3.7% |
| South Korea | 17.2 million | 3.3% |
| Italy | 14.3 million | 2.7% |
| Brazil | 12.7 million | 2.4% |
| Russia | 11.6 million | 2.2% |
| 72.6% |
In terms of global broadband numbers China holds the reins, now quite a step ahead of the USA from which it took over in Q2 2008. It continues to grow at a higher rate so looks set to be the global leader in broadband subscribers for some time to come.
China is also set to pip France as the leader in IPTV penetration within the next quarter, being just 250,000 users shy of France who have 10.25 million. Europe is the regional leader in IPTV but Asia grew its market by 51% in 2010 (compared with Europe's 25% growth) and will likely make it to the top spot within the next year.
A much fairer and more illuminating measurement would be % per 100,000 adults, or 10,000 households or something like that. Of course China will have the most. It's the country with the largest population. Doesn't mean much except that most Chinese probably don't have broadband in their homes.