78 mln DSL lines, 45 mln cable Internet hookups by June 2004

The number of broadband lines worldwide increased by almost 55% to over 123 mln in the 12 months to the end of June 2004, according to Point-Topic. DSL lines increased by over 30 mln, or 66%, to 78 mln. Cable modem and other broadband lines increased by nearly 13 mln, or 39%, to 45 mln. One big feature of the market in the last year is the growth of broadband services over fiber, which accounted for 9 mln lines by the end of June, or 7.3%. Other technologies, mainly fixed wireless access and satellite, accounted for less than 0.3% of the total.

The USA is still well in the lead as the world's biggest broadband country, with over 29 mln lines. China as growing faster but still 10 mln lines behind. Growth in Japan is starting to level off and Korea is already almost static in total broadband numbers. Germany, Canada and France are all very close together with about 5.1 mln lines each while the UK is about 750,000 lines behind, but growing faster. In terms of broadband penetration per 100 population, the statistics show that Korea is no longer so very far ahead of the rest of the world as it used to be. With 21 broadband lines per 100 people, Hong Kong is coming close to Korea's 24.4. Denmark, Canada, the Netherlands, Taiwan and Switzerland are already in the 15 lines per 100 area.