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Broadband Usage in United States
By Enrique De Argaez, webmaster


Nielsen//NetRatings, the global standard for Internet audience measurement and analysis, reports that in 2003 the United States had 39 million, or 13 percent of Americans, connecting via broadband in the U.S. Broadband users at-home grew 49 percent year-over-year, while narrowband users declined 12 percent during May 2003 (see Table 1).

Despite higher growth rates for broadband, there were nearly twice as many narrowband users as broadband users in the U.S. Narrowband users then outweighed broadband users with 69.6 million users.

Table 1. Internet Connection Speed Growth Rates (U.S., At-Home)

Speed

May 2002
May 2003
Change %

Broadband Total

26,113,000
38,957,000
49.2 %

Narrowband Total

79,444,000
69,647,000
-12.3 %

Modem 14.4K

3,966,000
3,454,000
-12.9 %

Modem 28.8/33.6K

12,014,000
10,118,000
-15.8 %

Modem 56K

63,465,000
56,075,000
-11.6 %
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings, May 2003


Yankee Group estimates that the current 26.2 million broadband households in the USA of 2003 will grow to 61.5 million by 2008.

Table 2. Projected U.S. Broadband Usage, At-Home, 2002-2008

Year

Usage
(in millions)
Increase
(in millions)

2002

18.9
n/a

2003

26.2
7.3

2004

33.5
7.3

2005

41.0
7.5

2006

48.1
7.1

2007

55.2
7.1

2008

61.5
6.3
Note: includes cable modem, DSL, T1 lines, broadband wireless,
satellite, first mile fiber, and powerline broadband.
Source: Yankee Group, August 2003


San Diego, Phoenix and Detroit Lead Broadband Wired Cities in the United States

Nielsen//NetRatings, the global standard for Internet audience measurement and analysis, reported the top local markets connected via broadband at-home during the month of August 2004. Tracking 35 local markets in the U.S., Nielsen//NetRatings found that the cities of San Diego, Phoenix, Detroit, New York and Sacramento represented the top five wired local markets connected via broadband access with penetration rates of 65 percent or higher

Local Market USA

Percentage of Broadband
within Local Market

1. San Diego

69.6

2. Phoenix

68.4

3. Detroit

67.0

4. New York

66.8

5. Sacramento

64.9

6. Orlando

64.7

7. Seattle

63.0

8. San Francisco

63.0

9. Los Angeles

61.6

10. Boston

61.4
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings, September, 2004
Click here to read more.

The US Commerce Department has published a report on 2004 Broadband use in the United States .


Broadband in Other World Regions

In Europe, in Asia, and everywhere Broadband is also gaining users daily. Figures for selected countries are given below, from International Telecommunication Union (ITU) data and other trustworthy sources regarding broadband users. The table will grow as more data becomes available.

Table 3. Broadband Penetration in 2003.

Country or Region

Broadband Subscribers
Data Source
and Date

Australia

1,000,000
N/NR - May/2003

Austria

540,000
ITU - Dec/2002

Belgium

869,000
ITU - Dec/2002

Canada

3,600,000
ITU - Dec/2002

China

43,000,000
CNNIC - June/2004

Denmark

462,000
ITU - Dec/2002

Finland

274,000
ITU - Dec/2002

Hong Kong

989,000
ITU - Dec/2002

Hungary

260,000
KSH - Dec/2003

Iceland

25,000
ITU - Dec/2002

Japan

7,806,000
ITU - Dec/2002

Korea

10,128,000
ITU - Dec/2002

Netherlands

1,060,000
ITU - Dec/2002

Norway

158,000
SN - Dec/2002

Singapore

392,000
IWS - Dec/2003

Sweden

693,000
ITU - Dec/2002

Switzerland

455,000
ITU - Dec/2002

Taiwan

3,170,000
FIND - June/2004

United Kingdom

4,000,000
Ofcom - May/2004

U.S.A.

26,200,000
Y.G. - Aug/2003
Sources: (1) International Telecommunications Union (ITU),
(2) CNNIC, (3) Taipei Times, (4) Ofcom, (5) Yankee Group,
(6) Nielsen//NetRatings, (6) KSH , (7) Statistics Norway.

2003 BROADBAND DEVELOPMENTS


For the year end of 2003 there will be more than 100 million broadband lines worldwide. This conclusion is based on Point Topics full analysis of the broadband statistics for end-September 2003. It includes all kinds of mass-market broadband services - whether over the telephone network (DSL), over cable TV networks (via cable modems) or over fibre-optic cables.

The Q3 2003 results show that the worldwide total of broadband lines grew to 89.4m, an increase of 10m from the 79.4m lines at the end of June. Maintaining the same percentage growth in the fourth quarter of 2003 will have taken the worldwide number past 100m. In fact growth in the fourth quarter is usually faster than in the third.

This means that broadband is clearly established as one of the fastest growing new technologies in history. Broadband is growing much faster than mobile phone usage did - so far at least. It took mobile phones about 5.5 years to grow from 10m to 100m worldwide. Broadband has achieved the same growth in only 3.5 years.

Other major broadband developments in 2003 include:

The market is maturing. Broadband is not just an oddity in a few unusual countries any more. All the worlds major economies - the Group of Seven countries plus China - are now in the top ten as far as the total number of broadband lines is concerned.

China is rapidly becoming the worlds biggest broadband power. With over 17m broadband lines today, it will overtake even the USA eventually.

Growth in Korea is levelling off. Korea is still the world leader in broadband take-up, with over 25 broadband lines for every 100 people. But the number of new lines added is relatively small now and the main emphasis is on migrating customers to higher-speed services.

Broadband prices have been reduced sharply. For example, the major DSL operators cut their prices by 25% on average in the year to September 2003. This is an important factor driving take-up.

Some broadband value-added services are starting to take off. One leading example is the boom in voice-over-IP services in Japan. Broadband service providers such as Yahoo BB and others are now cutting deeply into NTTs voice revenues with over 5m customers for low-cost telephone service.

The cable networks are losing market share of broadband - but only slowly. Telco price cutting, wider coverage and greater financial strength means that DSL is showing bigger precentage increases than cable in most countries.

The United Kingdom now has four million broadband subscribers, according to the latest figures from industry regulator Oftel.


In its latest Internet and Broadband Brief, Ofcom says that there are 2,450,000 ADSL users and an estimated 1,540,000 cable subscribers. These figures do not include businesses with leased lines.


In Hungary Broadband usage is up, according to a report from the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH). As of the end of last year, the number of broadband subscribers in the country has increased from 63,000 to 260,000.


DSL Developements

Some 63.8 million people around the world are now connected to the Internet via DSL, reports DSL Forum, based in Fremont, Calif., a consortium of companies promoting use of the standard. The figures show that DSL attracted 28 million new subscribers during 2003.

U.S. DSL growth in the last six months of 2003 resulted in 1.9 million homes and businesses signing up. Canada had more than 440,000 new DSL subscribers in the year, making it the eleventh-largest growth country in the world in DSL.

In terms of penetration, South Korea, with 27.7 DSL connections per 100 phone lines, led the world. Next was Taiwan, with 21.4 connections per 100 phone lines, Japan with 14.4, and Canada with 10.9. The United States has 4.8 DSL connections per 100 phone lines.

In total connections, China ranked first in the world in DSL connections, with more than 10.95 million subscribers, followed closely by Japan, with 10.2 million and the United States, with 9.1 million. Canada was in ninth place, with 2.1-million subscribers.

At a 10.9-per-cent penetration of phone lines, DSL services in Canada are halfway to the DSL Forum's mass-market target of 20 per cent by year-end 2005. The United States reached almost 5 per cent phone-line penetration at the end of 2003.

The DSL Forum's global target is 200-million DSL subscribers — 20 per cent of all phone lines worldwide— by the end of 2005.



Broadband Statistics for 2005

Broadband Statistics for 2007


About the Author:
Enrique De Argaez is the webmaster of the
"Internet World Stats" website. Since 2000 he has been collecting Internet Usage Statistics, and publishing the data for over 233 countries and regions of the world for free use by the academia, the global business community and the general public. For more information on Internet World Usage, please visit: http://www.InternetWorldStats.com




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