Telecom Lead U.K: With 12.3 percent annual growth in
2011, broadband market witnessed the largest increase in the last five years,
according to year-end figures published by the Broadband Forum. IPTV also
recorded strongest growth quarter.
Overall, broadband growth is estimated at 65,493,596
lines, bringing the global total to 597,322,636, a quarterly increase
of 2.6 percent – and an annual growth rate of 12.3 percent. The figures,
prepared for the Broadband Forum by broadband industry analysts Point Topic,
also highlight the strongest ever quarter of growth in IPTV which is today’s
most demanding application for high speed broadband.
This is an exciting return to higher growth figures and
points to a strengthening in the broadband market,”said Robin Mersh, CEO of
the Broadband Forum. With a number of active new markets coming online and
standards based deployments becoming common – we are seeing broadband move into
the daily lives of more and more people the world over. A great example of
this is the exceptional growth in some key Eastern European markets, such as
Russia, Poland and the Ukraine.”
Among all the countries, Russia topped in terms of
both Broadband and IPTV figures in 2011. Russia recorded over 36 percent growth
in Broadband and more than doubled its IPTV subscribers from 495,500 to
1,145,000 in just one year.
With 254,721,342 broadband subscriber lines at the
end of 2011, Asia is by far the biggest region overall, though its growth
was slower in percentage terms during the last quarter than earlier in the year,
according to Broadband Forum. The region added 7,882,421 subscribers in Q4 of
2011, a rate of 3.2 percent in the quarter, representing annual growth of 16.4
percent.
Countries that demonstrated double digit broadband growth
include Brazil, Russia, India, China (BRIC) and Ukraine. While Russia grew at
the highest rate of 36.85 over the year, India is also moving up the rankings
with an annual growth of 24.46 percent.
Top 20 Broadband Countries
Country |
2010Q4 |
2011Q3 |
2011Q4 |
percent growth |
percent growth |
yr add |
China (all territories) |
131,447,883 |
152,548,458 |
158,191,913 |
3.70 percent |
20.35 percent |
26,744,030 |
USA |
87,197,827 |
90,512,692 |
91,633,360 |
1.24 percent |
5.09 percent |
4,435,533 |
Japan |
34,169,900 |
35,999,100 |
36,695,200 |
1.93 percent |
7.39 percent |
2,525,300 |
Germany |
26,706,200 |
28,157,000 |
28,511,300 |
1.26 percent |
6.76 percent |
1,805,100 |
France |
21,168,700 |
22,381,000 |
22,837,200 |
2.04 percent |
7.88 percent |
1,668,500 |
Russia |
15,156,300 |
19,359,900 |
20,740,900 |
7.13 percent |
36.85 percent |
5,584,600 |
UK |
19,607,600 |
20,440,200 |
20,736,500 |
1.45 percent |
5.76 percent |
1,128,900 |
South Korea |
17,224,102 |
17,816,717 |
17,975,507 |
0.89 percent |
4.36 percent |
751,405 |
Brazil |
13,812,200 |
15,957,000 |
16,482,500 |
3.29 percent |
19.33 percent |
2,670,300 |
Italy |
13,272,650 |
13,660,650 |
13,732,650 |
0.53 percent |
3.47 percent |
460,000 |
India |
10,713,608 |
12,881,044 |
13,333,827 |
3.52 percent |
24.46 percent |
2,620,219 |
Mexico |
11,402,094 |
12,263,263 |
12,587,401 |
2.64 percent |
10.40 percent |
1,185,307 |
Spain |
10,557,849 |
10,940,720 |
11,135,177 |
1.78 percent |
5.47 percent |
577,328 |
Canada |
10,547,239 |
10,920,540 |
11,041,882 |
1.11 percent |
4.69 percent |
494,643 |
Turkey |
7,074,867 |
7,437,829 |
7,507,829 |
0.94 percent |
6.12 percent |
432,962 |
Netherlands |
6,207,200 |
6,503,100 |
6,622,400 |
1.83 percent |
6.69 percent |
415,200 |
Australia |
5,539,500 |
5,702,600 |
5,756,200 |
0.94 percent |
3.91 percent |
216,700 |
Poland |
5,303,881 |
5,597,348 |
5,708,229 |
1.98 percent |
7.62 percent |
404,348 |
Taiwan |
5,209,000 |
5,472,000 |
5,589,000 |
2.14 percent |
7.30 percent |
380,000 |
Ukraine |
3,950,000 |
4,920,000 |
5,198,000 |
5.65 percent |
31.59 percent |
1,248,000 |
Source: Point Topic
Among the broadband technologies DSL continues to
grab major share of the market with 60.8 percent of the overall market share
although it is beginning to lose ground to other access
technologies. The expectation is for hybrid fiber/DSL deployment
solutions to continue to grow, delivering broadband for more and more
subscribers. The combined market share for FTTH and FTTx/hybrid technologies
has again grown from 16 percent in Q3 to 16.7 percent at the end of 2011,
encroaching on cable’s market share, which has dropped to 19.4 percent.
IPTV’s best quarter ever saw net additions of 3.68
million to finish the year strong with more than 58.2 million IPTV subscribers
worldwide. Though Europe still holds the top regional spot -China is the
fastest growing country and now has over 12 million subscribers, outstripping
France for the top spot in the Top Ten IPTV countries world-wide.