PARIS – The number of broadband subscribers in countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) continues to grow in leaps and bounds.
Across the 30-country OECD, the number of subscribers increased 24 per cent, from 178 million in June 2006 to 221 million in June 2007, according to the latest data released Monday. This growth increased broadband penetration rates from 15.1 to 18.8 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants.
Leading the way were Denmark, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Korea, Norway and Iceland, each with over 29 subscribers per 100 inhabitants. Canada tallied 25.
The strongest per-capita subscriber growth over the year was in Ireland, Germany, Sweden, Australia, Norway, Denmark and Luxembourg. Each country added more than 5 subscribers per 100 inhabitants during the past year.
The release of the June 2007 data coincides with the launch of a broadband statistics portal (http://www.oecd.org/sti/ict/broadband), which will contain additional indicators from November 2007. They include broadband prices, advertised broadband speeds, household broadband usage, the number of households with a home computer, and the number of businesses with broadband connections and company websites.
The report shows that operators in several countries are upgrading subscriber lines to fibre. Fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) and fibre-to-the-building (FTTB) subscriptions now comprise 8% of all broadband connections in the OECD, up from 7% a year ago, and the percentage is growing. Fiber connections account for 36% of all Japanese broadband subscriptions and 31% in Korea.
The U.S. is the largest broadband market in the OECD with 66.2 million subscribers. Canada has 8.14 million.
In terms of pricing, the average price (Oct. 07) of a one-month broadband subscription in the OECD is $49 US. People in Finland have the lowest price at $31.18 US; Canadians pay on average $51.07.
On average, fibre to the home/building is the most expensive ($51 US) and fixed wireless the cheapest ($33 US).
The average price per advertised Mbit/s of connectivity in the OECD is $18 US. Japan at 0.13 has the least expensive offer per Mbit/s, while France, Sweden, Korea and Finland are all under 0.42. Canada weighs in at 3.81.
The report notes that fibre connections are nearly five times less expensive per Mbit/s, at $3.75 US, than DSL ($19.21 US), cable ($18.96) or wireless $18.69. Canadians are largely hooked on cable or DSL.
For those looking for speed, Japan is the place to be with an average advertised download speed of 93 Mbit/s. The OECD average is 13.7 Mbit/s, while in Canada, it’s a tortoise-like 7.7.
Japan also has the fastest residential download speed available in the OECD at 1 Gbit/s.
The report says fibre-to-the-home advertised download speeds in the OECD average 77.1 Mbit/s, much higher than DSL (9.0 Mbit/s), cable (8.6 Mbit/s) or fixed wireless (1.8 Mbit/s).
Advertised upload speeds on fibre connections are more than 36 times faster than average advertised upload speeds on DSL, cable or wireless networks.
http://www.oecd.org/sti/ict/broadband
