Analyst firm Point Topic UK has released its latest World Broadband Statistics Report Q1-2011, which found that the total number of global broadband subscribers had grown at a fairly steady rate of 2.9% to reach 540.69 million over the past quarter.

In terms of internet access technology - DSL ( ADSL etc. ) still dominates most of the fixed line broadband ISP market with a share of 63.18% or 314.6 million subscribers (down from 63.36% in Q4-2010). Cable Modem (DOCSIS) operators, such as Virgin Media UK, also accounted for 20% or 108.8 million users (down from 20.34% in Q4-2010).

As you might expect the new generation of superfast fibre optic ( FTTH etc. ) broadband services continue to be responsible for most of the xDSL and Cable declines. FTTx services now hold 14.10% of the market or 76 million subscriber (up from 13.82% in Q4-2010). This mostly represents growth by migration from the old to new broadband platforms.

Meanwhile the Top 10 Countries for total fixed line broadband subscribers continues to be dominated by China, which is home to 135.23 million users (5% growth in the quarter).


It's worth pointing out that "other technologies", such as Fixed Wireless Access (FWA), Satellite and Powerline, account for just 2.59% of the overall market.