Regardless of the current economic environment, broadband services are still in high demand -- attracting millions of new subscribers worldwide each month, according to the latest market study by In-Stat.
Over the past 12 months, approximately 80 million new broadband subscribers signed up for high-speed access to the Internet, the high-tech market research firm says.
In terms of broadband access technologies, digital subscriber line (DSL) technologies continue to serve the greatest number of broadband subscribers worldwide, accounting for 55 percent of total broadband connections.
"The increasing popularity of online applications such as downloading music files, watching TV programming, and playing online video games, are driving demand for services 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.
Their research 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.
In addition, it provides regional subscriber forecasts for cable modem service, DSL service, mobile wireless broadband service, fixed wireless broadband service, and fiber-to-the-home households. It also provides worldwide subscriber forecasts for satellite broadband service, broadband over powerline service, and other access technologies.
In-Stat's market study found the following:
- As of September 2008, there are 452 million broadband subscribers worldwide.
- By 2012, In-Stat forecasts that worldwide broadband subscribers will reach 876 million, almost twice the size of the current subscriber base.
- 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.
- Also as of September 2008, there were 100 million broadband subscribers in the United States. Based on the current subscriber growth rate, the U.S. is adding approximately 1 million broadband subscribers each month.
