Broadband net is growing faster than mobile take-up

There are now an estimated 100 million broadband connections globally, it said in its end of year analysis.

Although Korea is still enjoying the fastest growth, China is quickly catching up.

China and all the world's major G7 economic powers are in the top 10 in total broadband numbers.

More than mobiles

The global figures include broadband connections through fixed telephone line DSL (Digital Subscriber Line), cable modems and fibre optic cables.

To date broadband take-up around the world has happened much faster than other emerging technologies, such as mobile phones, claims Point Topic.

It has taken 3.5 years for broadband lines to climb from 10 million to 100 million connections. By comparison mobile phones took 5.5 years to reach the same milestone.

Broadband growth shows no sign of slowing down.

According to Point Topic the number of connections grew by 10 million, to 89.4 million, between June and September 2003 alone.

Countries such as China are fuelling this growth, the country now has more than 12 million lines, and helping it catch up with broadband superpowers such as Korea, Japan and the USA.

Point Topic estimates that there will be more broadband users in China than Korea by the end of March 2004. Point Topic eventually expects Chinese people to be the biggest users of broadband.

In December 2003, the UK had three million broadband connections.