Western Europe Leads North America in Broadband Growth - US Broadband Penetration Grows to 85.3% Among Active Internet Users - October 2007 Bandwidth Report

Website Optimization is announcing today that countries in Western Europe are growing at a faster pace in broadband subscribers than the US and Canada. Confirming the broadband trend from last month's report Western European countries are adding subscribers at faster rate than North America, according to a recent report by Point Topic. Meanwhile in the US, broadband penetration grew 0.56 percentage points to 85.31% among active Internet users in September 2007.

Western Europe Leads North America in Broadband Growth

Western European countries are growing broadband subscribers at a faster pace than North American countries, according to a recent report by Point Topic. Both regions have followed a similar pattern over the past three quarters with both experiencing an increase in growth in Q4 2006 and decreases in both Q1 2007 and Q2 2007. Figure 1 shows how these two regions have showed similar trends, with Western Europe showing a higher quarterly growth rate in Q2 2007 of 5.28% versus North America with a growth rate of 3.14%. The annual growth rates show a similar pattern. Western European countries grew subscribers at an annual rate of 28.19 percent from Q2 2006 to Q2 2007, while North American countries grew subscribers by 21.9 percent over the same period.

European Countries Lead in Broadband Penetration by Population

Denmark still leads all countries with 35.1% of the population subscribed to broadband (see Figure 2). The Netherlands moved up to second place this quarter to 34.3% broadband penetration by population, bumping Monaco down to third at 33.7%. The remaining seven countries remain unchanged in rankings from Q1 2007. Norway follows at 32.3%, and Iceland was at 30.3% broadband pentration by population. Eight out of the top ten broadband countries by population are European countries. The exceptions are South Korea and Hong Kong with penetration rates of 29.9% and 27.9% respectively.

Broadband Penetration by Annual Growth

Figure 3 shows the top 10 countries with the higest broadband growth rates for the year Q2 2006 through Q2 2007. Only countries with 100,000 or more lines by Q2 2007 were included in this survey by Point Topic. Indonesia leads all qualifying countries with the highest annual growth rate of 222.88 per cent. Indonesia increased broadband subscribers from 53,735 to 173,500, primarily due to incumbend PT Telkom's increase in subscriber base. However, for a country of this size, Indonesia is behind more developed countries in broadband penetration on a population basis. The Ukraine follows at 181.68% growth in broadband subscribers, with Greece at 145.87%. Vietnam moved from sixth to fourth place to 137.49% growth through a higher rate of increase over the previous year. The Philippenes (131.5%), Egypt (128.03%), Tunisia (121.74%), Romania (104.52%), United Arab Emirates (88.69%), and Croatia (76.4%) round out the top ten.


Competition Boosts European Broadband Penetration

Countries that employed competition through cable and local loop unbundling, a process where competitors rent the last mile from established telecoms, ranked higher than countries that did not (see Figure 2). The Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, and Sweden all had penetration rates above 25% while Greece, Poland, Slovakia, and Cyprus remained below 10% with 0.4% or less local loop unbundling and little impact from cable.

Home Connectivity in the US

US broadband penetration grew to 85.31% among active Internet users in September 2007. Narrowband users connecting at 56Kbps or less now make up 14.69% of active Internet users, down 0.56 percentage points from 15.25% in August 2007 (see Figure 4). http://www.websiteoptimization.com/bw/0710/

Broadband Growth Trends in the US

In September 2007, broadband penetration in US homes grew 0.56 percentage points to 85.31%, up from 84.75% in August. This increase of 0.56 points is below the average increase in broadband of 0.76 points per month over the last six months (see Figure 5). http://www.websiteoptimization.com/bw/0710/

Work Connectivity
As of September 2007, 94.19% of US workers connected to the Internet with broadband, down 0.6 percentage points from the 94.79% share in August. At work 5.81% connect at 56Kbps or less (see Figure 6). http://www.websiteoptimization.com/bw/0710/

Further Reading:

Nielsen//NetRatings
http://www.netratings.com/
Provided the US broadband penetration data for active Internet users for the Bandwidth Report.

Point Topic
http://www.point-topic.com/
Provided the statics for the comparison graphs above. See also "World Broadband Statistics - Q2 2007," by Pamela Varley, September 2007.

For the full “October 2007 Bandwidth Report” visit http://www.websiteoptimization.com/bw/0710/

###

About The Bandwidth Report

The Bandwidth Report is a monthly roundup of connectivity trends in the US and elsewhere. Each month's bandwidth report offers the latest statistics in Internet connectivity and broadband trends, including:

* Home Connectivity in the US
* Broadband Growth in the US
* Work Connectivity
* Broadband Trends in the US, Canada, and other countries

About Website Optimization

Don't Make Me Wait! The new book titled "Speed Up Your Site – Web Site Optimization" by Andy King, and the companion web site are about designing "speedy" web sites with techniques that…

* Cut file size and download times in half
* Speed up site load time to satisfy customers
* Engage users with fast response times and flow stimulus
* Increase usability, boost profits, and slash bandwidth costs
* Improve search engine rankings and web page conversions

Andy King is also the founder of WebReference.com and JavaScript.com, both award-winning developer sites from internet.com. Created in 1995 and subsequently acquired by Mecklermedia (now Jupitermedia) in 1997, WebReference has grown into one of the most popular developer sites on the Internet. While he was Managing Editor of WebReference.com and JavaScript.com, Andy became the "Usability Czar" at internet.com, where he optimized the speed and usability of their sites. In addition to his consulting work, he continues to write the monthly Bandwidth Report and the “Speed Tweak of the Week” for www.websiteoptimization.com.