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UK beats China in DSL growth

The market for broadband in the UK is showing faster percentage growth than China - though smaller emerging markets have very high take up
Written by Ingrid Marson, Contributor

The market for broadband DSL technologies in the UK is growing faster than all other major DSL countries, according to a survey.

Research company Point Topic said the UK's DSL market grew by over 20 percent during the first three months of this year, compared with a growth rate of 14 percent in China. At the end of March 2005, there were almost 5 million DSL lines in the UK and 20 million in China, said Point Topic in its quarterly report on the DSL market released last week.

Only emerging DSL markets showed a higher growth rate than the UK, with Turkey, Thailand and Poland, growing at a rate of over 39, 27 and 25 percent respectively. The worldwide number of DSL lines passed the 100 million mark in the first quarter of this year, with an estimated 107 million lines at the end of March 2005, according to Point Topic.

Last month, the International Telecommunication Union completed work on the technical specification for the next generation of DSL technologies -- very-high-bit-rate digital subscriber line 2 (VDSL2). This technology will allow video, Internet and voice services at speeds of up to 100 Mbps -- ten times faster than standard ADSL, according to the ITU.

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