The Broadband Forum has released its latest global broadband and IPTV (Internet TV) statistics for Q1-2010, which are sourced from Point Topic data. The data shows that broadband lines grew by 14 Million during the first quarter (16.6m in Q1-2009), bringing the worldwide total to 484,788,597. This represents a 3.12% growth in the quarter and 12.41% in the last 12 months.

Asia was responsible for more than 53% of the broadband lines added, with mainland China alone accounting for 45% of the total lines added worldwide in Q1 2010. China continues to be at the top of the table in terms of broadband with continued healthy growth at 5.67% in the quarter and 20.96% in the twelve month period, taking it to 112,594,000 subscribers.


Six of the top ten countries improved their performance in Q1 2010 compared to Q4 2009; China (above), the USA, Germany, the UK, South Korea and Brazil all grew more quickly in the first quarter of 2010 against Q4 2009. Happily the UK managed to retain its 6th position in the Top 10 Broadband Countries table.


Elsewhere IPTV is becoming a big part of today's connected lifestyle, albeit not so much in the UK. The 12 months from Q1-09 to Q1-10 saw global growth of 46% in IPTV subscriber terms. This equates to 11.4 million new IPTV subscribers, the most rapid growth in any 12 month period yet recorded. In the first quarter of 2010 the world-wide IPTV market has grown by just under 8% (7.8%) and there are now 36.3 million IPTV subscribers.

IPTV penetration is therefore running at around 7.7% of total broadband lines. This is significant penetration, given the established position of cable, DTT and satellite alternatives in many mature markets. Europe and especially France continues to lead the IPTV subscriber market in total subscribers and continues to grow quickly.

DSL ( ADSL , ADSL2+ ) continues to be the most popular access technology for broadband. However, superfast fibre optic broadband services continue to grow quickly, and the figures for Q1 2010 show that Asia now has over 50 million fibre subscribers. At present the UK doesn't even place, although that should start to change over the next two years.


The growth in fibre is expected to be the dominant theme over the next few years although DSL still has its place particularly in the second wave broadband countries like Indonesia and the Philippines, as does wireless particularly where the geography of a country makes fixed connections more difficult.