600 million people now subscribed to broadband
600 million people now subscribed to broadband
Over 600 million people globally are now broadband subscribers, according to new figures released by the broadband forum.
The number of broadband subscribers surged past 600 million in the first quarter of this year, suggesting that demand is continuing to grow. The figures reveal that 100 million new broadband lines were taken up in the last 18 months alone. The Broadband Forum said the 600 million user mark was a “major milestone”.
The figures show that globally there are now 16,118,210 broadband lines, up from 14 million in the final quarter of 2011. According to analysis, this represents an annual rise of 11.48 per cent. The findings were announced at CommunicAsia, which is being held in Singapore.
Robin Mersh, CEO of the Broadband Forum, commented, "The demand for connectivity and the efforts of the industry all point to a world in which billions of devices are connected via the internet.”
On a country basis, Russia, Brazil and India are all growing faster than the average in terms of broadband take-up and Ukraine and Turkey were also identified as high-growth countries. China had the highest number of new users, with an annual growth rate of 26.4 million. The figures show that Asia accounts for a third of all broadband subscribers.
Robin Mersh said, "This is another significant milestone in an exciting arena that shows no sign of slowing down. It is just 18 months since we celebrated the 500 million subscriber watershed and even less time since IPTV subscribers reached 50 million - yet in both cases growth is still accelerating.”
He added, “It is especially rewarding to be making this announcement in Asia, which has contributed so much to fuelling this phenomenal success."
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