Skip to main content

Broadband Consumers Using Multiple Access

Consumer enthusiasm for broadband service continues unabated. In fact, some will subscribe to more than one type of broadband access, according to the latest market study by In-Stat. During 2009, an average of 8.8 million new broadband subscribers worldwide signed up for service each month.

By 2013, In-Stat forecasts that the number of global broadband subscribers will surpass 1 billion.

"The growing popularity of bandwidth-intensive applications, such as watching online video, using IP-based telephony services, and downloading music files, is spurring global demand for broadband Internet connections," says Mike Paxton, In-Stat analyst.

Their reporting on the penetration of DSL relative to Mobile Internet subscribers was a surprise to me. I'm wondering if In-Stat has some of their data points transposed in their research report summary. Can it be true, that mobile wireless broadband has already surpassed cable broadband access, globally?

In-Stat's market study found the following:

- As of December 2009, there were 578 million worldwide broadband subscribers, an increase of 99 million over the year-end 2008 subscriber total.

- DSL, mobile wireless, and cable modem service are the leading access technologies, providing 89 percent of worldwide broadband connections.

- Mobile wireless broadband is the second largest access technology (behind DSL) with 18 percent of total subscribers.

- Over the next few years, the number of households with multiple broadband connections will increase significantly. These multiple connection households will commonly have a wired broadband access technology, like DSL or cable modem service, along with a mobile wireless broadband connection.

Popular posts from this blog

AI Supercycle: Server Market Growth Surge

The worldwide server market has entered a new phase defined almost entirely by artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure economics rather than traditional enterprise refresh cycles.   The latest market data shows robust growth and a structural shift in where value is created, who captures it, and which architectures are setting the pace for the next decade. IDC reports that worldwide server revenue reached a record $112.4 billion in the third quarter of 2025, representing a striking 61 percent year-over-year increase compared to the same quarter in 2024. For context, this means the market is adding tens of billions of dollars in incremental quarterly spend, driven overwhelmingly by AI and accelerated computing requirements.  IT Server Market Development Over the first three quarters of 2025, server revenue has already reached $314.2 billion, meaning the market has nearly doubled in size compared to 2024, underscoring how AI buildouts have compressed several years of exp...