In-Stat: 763 million broadband subscribers in 2010
JANUARY 11, 2011 -- Market research and analysis firm In-Stat estimates the number of global broadband subscribers grew to 763 million in 2010. Mobile wireless growth, in particular, exceeded expectations, the company stated in its new report, World Connecting at Broadband Speeds, More Mobile in 2010.
The primary market driver responsible for the growth of broadband subscribers continues to be the desire to access the Internet with a high-speed connection, In-Stat says. The growing popularity of bandwidth-intensive applications, such as watching online video, using IP-based telephony services, and downloading music files, is spurring this demand for higher-speed Internet connections.
"From 2007 through 2009, there was a continued growth rate of 25% in broadband subscribers worldwide," says Vahid Dejwakh, industry analyst at In-Stat. "Though this is expected to slowly decrease to 10% by 2014 as the broadband market matures, there are still some substantial gains to be made. The Asia/Pacific region will continue to see very high growth rates, along with Latin America and the Middle East/Africa regions."
Additional research findings include:
- Approximately 76% of the world's FTTH subscribers reside in the Asia/Pacific region.
- By year-end 2010, the US will have had over 179 million broadband subscribers.
- Total worldwide DSL subscribers will have reached 371 million at year-end 2010, fueled primarily by strong demand for DSL service in the Asia/Pacific region.
- Mobile wireless broadband subscribers continue to grow rapidly as mobile telephone service providers roll out 3G and 4G services.
- North America continues to be the largest market for cable modem services.