|
[December 17, 2003]
25 Million New Global DSL Subscribers Added In 12 Months
Broadband DSL has attracted an additional 25 million subscribers globally in the past 12 months, reaching 55 million at the end of September 2003. According to the latest global numbers prepared for the international DSL Forum by telecommunications analyst firm Point Topic, growth to date has exceeded projections by three million subscribers. This means by the year's end, more than 62 million homes and businesses around the world are expected to select DSL rather than other broadband technologies, extending DSL's global lead over cable modems.
"These figures demonstrate the sustained growth in global DSL uptake all over the world as various countries move towards a mass market status of 20% of phone lines delivering the benefits of DSL broadband to homes and businesses worldwide," said Tom Starr, president of the DSL Forum.
Japan continues to lead the world with 9.2 million, followed by the USA at 8.2 million and China at 7.8 million. Eleven countries had more than a million subscribers at the end of September 2003, five of them in Europe. The highest European country by number of subscribers to DSL broadband is Germany with 4.2 million.
Top 20 DSL countries by total number of subscribers-30 September 2003
Country Total DSL Subscribers('000) Country Total DSL Subscribers('000)
1-Japan 9,228.6 11 UK 1,414.7
2-USA 8,243.5 12 Brazil 837.7
3-China 7,817.0 13 Belgium 706.0
4-South Korea 7,069.4 14 Hong Kong 660.0
5-Germany 4,252.0 15 Netherlands 642.6
6-France 2,429.5 16 Sweden 508.0
7-Taiwan 2,374.0 17 Denmark 416.5
8-Canada 2,027.7 18 Switzerland 383.0
9-Italy 1,672.0 19 Israel 358.0
10-Spain 1,433.4 20 Australia 333.0
China has led subscriber growth in 2003, increasing from 2.2 million a year ago - a growth rate of 354%. "On this basis, during 2004, we expect China to overtake Japan as the country with the most DSL subscribers," said Tim Johnson, senior analyst and founder of Point Topic. China added more than two million subscribers in the third quarter of 2003 alone. Ten countries added more than 100,000 subscribers in the period.
Top 10 countries by number of DSL subscribers added 3Q03
(all of these countries adding more than 100,000 subscribers in Q3 2003)
Country DSL Subscribers added('000)
1 China 2,217.0
2 Japan 971.4
3 USA 667.7
4 France 390.5
5 Germany 387.5
6 United Kingdom 343.2
7 South Korea 258.4
8 Italy 237.0
9 Taiwan 232.4
10 Canada 159.7
The fastest percentage growth countries for DSL broadband in the quarter showed an equally wide regional spread. European and Latin American countries showed strong growth, along with China and Australia.
Top ten DSL countries by percentage growth 3Q03 (of countries with at least 50,000 DSL subscribers end 2Q03)
Country % DSL Growth 3Q03
1 Portugal 61.2
2 China 39.6
3 United Kingdom 32.0
4 Australia 28.6
5 Hungary 24.3
6 Mexico 23.8
7 Brazil 22.2
8 Switzerland 20.8
9 France 19.2
10 Argentina 18.5
In terms of market penetration, South Korea remains the leading country in the world with more than 30% of the country's telephone lines now proving the benefits of broadband DSL. More than 20% of South Korea's subscribers have now upgraded to VDSL services, demonstrating demand for even greater bandwidth services as the market matures. Taiwan, Iceland and Hong Kong, all relatively small markets, are each likely to achieve 20% phone line penetration by the end of 2003.
Top 10 DSL countries by penetration of phone lines -30 September 2003 Country Total DSL Subscribers ('000),Total Phone Lines ('000), DSL/100 Phone Lines (%)
1-South Korea 7,069.4 23,257 30.40
2-Taiwan 2,374.0 13,099 18.12
3-Iceland 32.5 181 17.99
4-Hong Kong 660.0 3,843 17.17
5-Belgium 706.0 5,132 13.76
6-Japan 9,228.6 71,149 12.97
7-Israel 358.0 3,100 11.55
8-Singapore 219.0 1,927 11.36
9-Denmark 416.5 3,739 11.14
10-Canada 2,027.7 19,962 10.16
According to President Tom Starr, "The DSL industry is well on the way to achieving the DSL Forum's benchmark challenge target of 200 million global DSL subscribers - 20% of all phone lines - by the end of 2005. The work of DSL Forum's technical and marketing teams - developing guidelines and best practices to facilitate effective and efficient mass market deployment , in parallel with our end user education campaign- has had an undeniable impact on today's promising DSL growth."
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
|
