In Q1 2005 Asia Pacific added 4.3 mln broadband lines, EMEA - 5.3 mln

The total number of broadband lines added in Q1 2005 was almost 13 mln. Asia Pacific alone added 4.3 mln lines in Q1 2005, and held its majority share of world broadband lines, despite dropping 1% since end-2004 to 42%. EMEA continued to grow impressively in the first half of 2005, adding 5.3 mln lines, and achieving a 29% share of world broadband lines. EMEA and Americas now both possess a 29% share of world broadband lines, Point Topic says.

DSL lines grew by 10.4%, while cable modem and other technologies achieved a more modest 5.0% growth rate in Q1 2005. The DSL share of world broadband lines is a dominant 65% compared to 35% of lines consisting of cable modem and other technologies. In the Americas DSL was again the dominant technology in terms of growth, as all 7 of the major countries experienced higher growth in DSL compared to cable modem subscribers. In the USA DSL subscriptions grew by 10.0% in Q1 2005 to reach 15.1 mln lines compared to a more modest 5.9% increase in cable modem subscriptions to reach an albeit higher 21.4 mln lines. In Canada, growth was also modest but DSL also achieved a higher growth rate, with 6.2% compared to 4.6% growth for cable modems. As broadband applications such as 'Video-on- Demand' and 'Voice over IP' emerge as mainstream services, competition between DSL and cable modem providers in North America will no doubt continue to be fierce.

Turkey has been one of the most impressive countries recently in terms of growth. In the second half of 2004, it achieved over 150% growth, and also led the growth rankings in Q1 2005, achieving 38% growth to reach 665,000 lines as of 31 March 2005. Thailand ranked second in terms of growth, marginally beating Poland to achieve 24.2% growth, and reach 225,000 lines. Poland led the Eastern European countries, achieving 23.8% growth and became the first Eastern European country to pass 1 mln lines. Elsewhere, and in Asia Pacific growth in Australia was a healthy 18%, with total lines reaching 1.8 mln at the end of Q1 2005. In contrast, in South Korea the broadband market continues its path to saturation, having achieved only 1.4% growth in the quarter, with lines creeping over 12 mln.