7 August 2003 London--DSL was by far the strongest growing broadband access medium in China during 2002 - contrary to expectations - says a new report from market analyst Point Topic.
Starting from far behind, DSL overtook LAN-based broadband to become the most used broadband medium by the end of the year.
DSL grew rapidly in China in 2002, adding over 1.4 million lines during the year, although not quite as rapidly as the Chinese themselves expected. By the end of the year there were nearly 3m ADSL lines installed and available - but fewer than 2m actual subscribers.
Broadband LAN access, typically provided by Gigabit Ethernet running over an optical fibre connection to a large apartment block, was expected to be even bigger than DSL in China. However LAN access grew rather slowly and was actually overtaken by DSL during the last quarter.
Progress with VDSL has also been disappointing. "Current market demand for VDSL access is not strong," says the report. "The authorities foresee only modest development of VDSL."
The pace of growth has been increasing during 2003. Forecasts in the China DSL Report suggest there will be another 6.8m DSL lines shipped during 2003. China Telecom Group, the biggest Chinese telco, is reported as having 2.7m DSL subscribers by mid-2003.
From the data in the China report, and other recent announcements, Point Topic estimates that the number of DSL lines in China has more than doubled in the first half of 2003.
"We estimate there are at least 4 million active DSL subscriber lines in China by now," says Tim Johnson. "There should be well over 6 million by the end of the year."
Point Topic's new China DSL Report gives a clear view of what is happening with broadband. It was prepared for Point Topic by China Telecom & IT Review.
Subscribers to Point Topic can access the full China DSL Report 2002 through the DSL Reports section.