Broadband explosion predicted to continue

Broadband is officially the fastest adopted technology ever

Broadband uptake is expected to grow by 67 per cent globally over the next five years, according to Point Topic.

The analyst firm said that the explosion in broadband uptake makes it the fastest adopted technology ever, and is predicting that the number of broadband lines worldwide will pass 680 million by the end of 2013.

"From 2004 to 2008 broadband worldwide grew an average of 28 per cent every year," said Tim Johnson, chief analyst at Point Topic.

However, Johnson warned that the saturation in developed countries, coupled with global economic issues, will slow the worldwide march of broadband to an expected compound annual growth rate of eight per cent for the next five years.

This is expected to be offset in some countries, where the expansion will continue to be "spectacular". Fourteen of the 40 countries examined will more than double their broadband base by 2013, with India, Vietnam, Colombia, Russia, Venezuela, Brazil, Peru and Mexico all expected to see more than 150 per cent growth.

India leads the chart by a long way, with growth estimated to be as high as 489 per cent from around 4.1 million broadband lines today to 24.3 million by the end of 2013.

"With its burgeoning economy and huge population India will zoom up the rankings of the largest broadband countries in the world. Currently at number 18 in the charts, it will hit number six by the end of 2013," added Johnson.

"Central and South America will see the most high-growth countries. Brazil will shortly enter the top 10 broadband countries in the world, most likely before the end of 2008, and with a decent economic base and a large population hungry for bandwidth it will outperform most other countries in the next five years."

Despite this impressive growth, Johnson pointed out that, even by the end of 2013, more than two-thirds of the world's households will still be without broadband access.

"Many of them will be poorer households in rich countries, as well as those in huge swathes of the developing world," he said.

"But easy access to the internet is core to education, health, wealth and entertainment for everybody. Broadband is fast and adoption is rapid but, for the good of the world, it still has a long way to go."