FTTH/B Uptake Drives Global Broadband Market To 1.38 Billion
TelecomTV, Tuesday, July 18,2023
Despite an international cost-of-living crisis, the global fixed broadband sector continues to grow at about 20 million new connections each quarter, driven by the increasing availability and subsequent uptake of fibre-to-the-home/building (FTTH/B) connections, though other broadband technology options are also proving increasingly popular, according to statistics from research house Point Topic.
In its latest global broadband subscriptions report, the Point Topic team noted that the number of fixed broadband connections worldwide reached 1.377 billion at the end of March 2023, up by 83 million from a year earlier: The number of additional connections varies from quarter to quarter, but it averages out at just over 20 million every three months.
FTTH/B connections now total just over 918 million and account for 66.7% of the global total, and that percentage is slowly increasing - it stood at 66% at the end of 2022 - as fibre-based connections are increasingly available and users opt for the latest technology option. The number of copper-based connections is decreasing and now account for just 8.44% of the global total, and while the number of cable broadband connections is slightly higher than a year ago, that technology (DOCSIS) now accounts for just 15.78% of the world's broadband connections, down from 15.95% at the end of 2022.