Fibre broadband still trumps wireless subs: ABI

The number of fixed broadband subscribers worldwide will rise to 501 million at the end of 2014, according to new market data released by ABI Research. Of those, about 106 million will subscribe to services delivered via fibre. Fibre broadband subscribers totalled 44 million at the end of 2009, compared to 422 million fixed broadband connections.

Among the three broadband technologies, 65% of worldwide fixed broadband consumers subscribe to DSL, 25% to cable and 11% to fibre broadband services. The number of fibre broadband subscribers is increasing fastest, showing a compound annual growth rate of 20% from 2008 to 2014, the company declared.

“File sharing, music downloads, IPTV, online gaming and video conferencing are all acting to increase user demand for high speed Internet. The number of fibre broadband subscribers is increasing with growing popularity of these services,” commented research associate Khin Sandi Lynn.

ABI Research found the Asia-Pacific region had the highest fibre broadband penetration, followed by North America. Asia-Pacific represents nearly 84% of worldwide fibre broadband subscribers. South Korea and Japan have the highest fibre broadband penetration. NTT is the largest fibre broadband operator with approximately 12 million subscribers.

In 2009, Western Europe had only about two million fibre broadband subscribers — a very low penetration compared to North America and Asia Pacific, although Western European countries are planning to accelerate fibre broadband penetration.

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