Fibre Optic Helps Global Broadband Revenues Reach GBP120bn in 2012

ABI Research estimates that the global fixed broadband ISP market (i.e. DSL, cable and fibre optic services) managed to grow by 7% last year to generate a total service revenue of around £120 billion ($188bn), which was helped by a strong growth in ultrafast Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) connectivity.

According to ABI, fibre broadband revenue had its strongest year-over-year growth of 24%, while DSL (e.g. ADSL) services grew just 2% and cable (e.g. Virgin Media) did a little better on 6%. Furthermore fibre connectivity is expected to continue this trend for the foreseeable future or at least until 2018 when revenues are expected to hit £160bn ($251bn).

However the growth in revenue will be tempered by a continued decline in the Average Revenue Per User (ARPU). Competition breeds lower prices.

Jake Saunders, ABI’s VP of Core Forecasting, said:

“The trend is expected to endure as the majority of operators are trying to offer lower prices to capture a larger market share. In some countries like Japan and South Korea, increasing competition from LTE services is expected to pressure fixed broadband operators to offer lower service pricing in the long-term.”

The results should not come as any great surprise because a large part of the world is currently spending heavily to upgrade broadband infrastructure, especially in the United Kingdom and Europe. As a result related services aren’t just getting faster but they’re also reaching more people than ever before.