In my last post, where I portrayed the dismal picture of broadband affordability in India, I raised the concern regarding the need of imminent price war in broadband space. And as 3G/BWA spectrum auctions are in progress, I feel mobile broadband could shape next decade of broadband growth in India. But latest ABI Research report on ‘Broadband Subscriber Data Market’‘ illustrates that fixed broadband adoption is indeed growing as expected, totaling it to 430.7 million subscribers worldwide in 2009.
In India, where total broadband (speed > 256 kbps..quite outdated ) subscribers count crossed 8 million; majority of them are having their own preferred mode connection as DSL. And as operator’s interest in value added services like IPTV etc is growing, fixed broadband will find more room to grow. Fixed broadband is preferred mode of transmission for service like IPTV, where service provider broadcasts Video services (TV) over all IP network composed of DSL lines.
As more and more subscribers prefer high speed connection at home & office premises, fixed broadband seems to be only viable option. Moreover technologies like FTTH/FTTN, VDSL and GPON are making things better for them. Let’s summaries report in short:
- DSL is the most preferred mode of connection with 65{af589cdba9d77786c8c861317dbad60bba1e2ebbf56e2ffab874a1b59fde9ce3} of market share, followed by cable & fiber with 24{af589cdba9d77786c8c861317dbad60bba1e2ebbf56e2ffab874a1b59fde9ce3} & 11{af589cdba9d77786c8c861317dbad60bba1e2ebbf56e2ffab874a1b59fde9ce3} market share.
- South Korea and Japan are the countries with highest fiber broadband penetration. In Japan approximately 55{af589cdba9d77786c8c861317dbad60bba1e2ebbf56e2ffab874a1b59fde9ce3} of broadband subscribers are using fiber broadband. In Korea, fiber broadband customers represent 49{af589cdba9d77786c8c861317dbad60bba1e2ebbf56e2ffab874a1b59fde9ce3} of overall broadband users. The growing customer demand for speed will continue to drive more fiber broadband adoption in future.
- North America has highest broadband penetration in world, which is likely to be accelerated by Federal government’s Rural Broadband initiative.
- Total broadband subscribers grew by 13{af589cdba9d77786c8c861317dbad60bba1e2ebbf56e2ffab874a1b59fde9ce3} as compared to 2008, totaling it to 430 million, which is likely to reach 548 million by 2014, a 2010-2015 CAGR of 3{af589cdba9d77786c8c861317dbad60bba1e2ebbf56e2ffab874a1b59fde9ce3}.
I have a different opinion though. In countries like India, where rolling out broadband infrastructure is rural areas marks a tough challenge, mobile broadband may surpass fixed broadband soon. Though WiMAX rollouts in India were marked as failure, NGN broadband technologies (LTE included) would change the picture soon. As more than 37{af589cdba9d77786c8c861317dbad60bba1e2ebbf56e2ffab874a1b59fde9ce3} Internet users belong to small towns in India and given high cost of fiber/cable layout, mobile broadband will satisfy the growing hunger of connectivity from these towns in coming years. Wait & Watch!
