The latest figures from broadband analysis group Point Topic show that broadband penetration is increasing at a rapid rate across the globe. China - the world's largest broadband market has added well over 20 million broadband customers in the 12 months to September 2009.
Taking the top 10 broadband countries as a whole, collectively they added over 9.3 million broadband lines in the 3 months to September 2009, representing an increase of 2.95% in the quarter. The remainder of the world's broadband markets grew by over 3.7% in the same period.
Despite the clear advantages of fibre-optic broadband infrastructures, the prohibitive cost of installing wide-spread fibre optic broadband networks means that the majority of broadband growth is coming from DSL broadband using existing copper home phone wires.
"DSL is the cheapest broadband option in every market around the world in monthly subscription and usually deployment terms. That's significant for growth in countries where average incomes won't stretch to super fast access," says Johnson, the CEO of Point Topic.
In the third quarter of 2009 DSL was responsible for almost 70% of the net broadband adds in the world and took market share from the other two major technologies (cable and fibre).
However, in the more mature broadband markets there is a recognition that DSL broadband cannot meet the rising broadband speed expectations of broadband users. Japan for example which is dominated by FTTH (fibre to the home) fibre-optic broadband networks, has an average broadband speed of over 90 Mbs. This compares to the DSL dominated Uk broadband market where the average residential broadband speed is approximately 4 Mbs.
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