106M FTTx Subscribers Worldwide in 2014

SINGAPORE -- Fiber broadband subscribers worldwide will total 106 million by the end of 2014, up from 44 million at the end of 2009, according to new market data released by ABI Research.  The number of subscribers to all fixed broadband services will rise to 501 million at the end of 2014, up from 422 million in 2009, ABI says.

ABI Research industry analyst Serene Fong notes, “Broadband penetration continues to increase since more service providers are offering triple-play services and driving down access prices.”

Sixty-five percent of worldwide fixed broadband consumers subscribe to DSL, 25 percent to cable and 11 percent to fiber broadband services. The number of fiber broadband subscribers is increasing fastest, with a compound annual growth rate of 20 percent from 2008 to 2014.

“File sharing, music downloads, IPTV, online gaming and videoconferencing are all acting to increase the user demand for high speed Internet. The number of fiber broadband subscribers is increasing with growing popularity of these services,” comments research associate Khin Sandi Lynn.

The Asia-Pacific region has the highest fiber broadband penetration, followed by North America. Asia-Pacific represents nearly 84 percent of worldwide fiber broadband subscribers. South Korea and Japan have the highest fiber broadband penetration. Japanese incumbent telecom NTT is the largest fiber broadband operator with approximately 12 million subscribers.

In 2009, Western Europe had only about 2 million fiber broadband subscribers — a very low penetration compared with North America and Asia Pacific, although Western European countries are planning to accelerate fiber broadband penetration.