Some 422 million households have fixed broadband
Broadband adoption continues to grow at an impressive rate despite the challenging economic climate, according to the latest industry figures.
The number of household broadband connections continues to grow robustly, and one in five households worldwide will have a fixed broadband connection by the end of 2009, numbers just released by Gartner indicate.
Broadband adoption rates are seen as important because they can reflect the economic competitiveness of a country or region.
The Economist Intelligence Unit research director Manoj Vohra has been quoted as saying that for every 10% rise in broadband penetration there is a 1.3% rise in GDP (gross domestic product), evidence that stems from a 2009 World Bank study.
At the end of 2008, 21 countries had broadband connections in at least 50% of homes, Gartner reported. “In many countries, the rates are much higher; the highest penetration being in South Korea at 86%.”
Counts for the UK suggest levels have reached 63%, a number that just places it in the top ten. Earlier this month the Broadband Forum announced its latest broadband statistics which suggested the UK was ranked sixth in terms of the take up of broadband services, with some 17.8 million connections.
Broadband household penetration in UK is expected to reach 71% by 2013, analysts with Gartner are predicting.
While adoption has slowed in Western Europe and is said by the Broadband Forum to be running at around 1.64% in Q2 2009, emerging economies are driving growth.
China is edging ever closer to the 100 million mark and has an estimated 93.5 million subscribers, a 23% increase over figures for last year.
Gartner predicts that over the next five years, the emerging markets of China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Latin American countries, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa will collectively provide twice as many new consumer broadband connections as mature markets, when numbers will top 135 million against 62 million connections, in developed territories.
