Communications and Technology Industry Research

A new study says, in the past year, about 80 million broadband subscribers signed up for high-speed access to the Internet.

 

The study, “Worldwide Broadband Subscriber Forecast,” conducted by the research company In-Stat (News - Alert), also states that the United States is adding about 1 million broadband subscribers each month.

 

“The increasing popularity of online applications such as downloading music files, watching TV programming, and playing online video games, are driving demand for ‘fatter pipes’ that provide ever-increasing amounts of bandwidth,” says Mike Paxton, In-Stat analyst. “Being able to use these applications, combined with the basic consumer desire to surf the net, is fueling global demand for broadband services.”

 

The report says broadband services continue to be in high demand, attracting millions of new subscribers worldwide each month and, in the past 12 months, about 80 million subscribers have signed up. Digital subscriber line (DSL) technologies continue to serve the greatest number of broadband subscribers worldwide, accounting for 55 percent of total broadband connections.

 

Broadband Internet access is high-speed Internet access – typically contrasted with dial-up access over a modem. Dial-up modems require the full use of a telephone line – whereas broadband technologies supply at least double this speed and generally without disrupting telephone use.

 

In-Stat conducts research to support business, product and technology decisions. The report, covering the market for worldwide broadband services, examines leading market drivers for broadband services and discusses the most widely-available broadband access technologies. It provides historical subscriber data for broadband services and forecasts worldwide broadband subscribers through 2012.

 

It also provides regional subscriber forecasts for cable modem service, DSL service, mobile wireless broadband service, fixed wireless broadband service, and fiber-to-the-home households, as well as worldwide subscriber forecasts for satellite broadband service, broadband over powerline service, and other access technologies.

 

As of last month, In-Stat reports that there are 452 million broadband subscribers in the world and 100 million of them were in the United States. By 2012, it forecasts that the total number will reach 876 million, which is almost twice the current amount.

 

At the beginning of 2008, DSL, mobile wireless, and cable modem service were the leading broadband access technologies, providing 93 percent of all worldwide broadband connections.

 

For more information on this research or to purchase it online, please visit: http://www.instat.com/catalog/mmcatalogue.asp?id=288