What often gets lost in all of the hype over mobile broadband is the fact that fixed broadband services (cable, DSL and Fiber to the X) are still growing.
According to ABI Research's recent subscriber market data, there were 430.7 million fixed broadband subscribers in 2009, a 13 percent increase over 2008. What are restoring users' faith in fixed broadband are new innovations in fixed wireline technologies, including DSL (VDSL2), Fiber to the Premises (GPON) and cable (DOCSIS 3.0).
"Technologies such as fiber-to-the-home, VDSL and GPON are helping to keep fixed broadband relevant to end-users--both in the home and office," said Jake Saunders, VP for forecasting at ABI Research in a release.
Leading the fiber-based broadband charge are Japan and South Korea. In Japan, about 55 percent of broadband subscribers are using fiber-based broadband, while in Korea fiber-based broadband represents 49 percent of the country's overall broadband user base. ABI Research argues that the growing demand for higher speeds and advanced services such as IPTV will drive ongoing fiber broadband adoption with a subscriber base of about 134 million by 2015. In North America, ABI Research believes that government subsidies will help drive further broadband penetration in rural areas.
For more:
- see the release here
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