INTERNET
DSL subscribers exceed 48m in EU: report
20-03-2006
by Ciara O'Brien
High-speed broadband take-up is continuing to grow, with Ireland adding 87,966 new DSL subscribers in 2005, a new study has revealed.
This brings to 204,364 the number of DSL subscribers in Ireland, and represents a growth of more than 76 percent in the year, according to a report for DSL Forum by Point Topic. However, only 10.3 percent of all telephone lines deliver DSL services in Ireland.
The increasing popularity of DSL is reflected throughout the European Union, with the region seeing a 53 percent growth throughout the year. This translates into an extra 16,720,906 DSL subscribers added in 2005, bringing the total number of subscribers in the EU to 48,258,383 by the end of December 2005.
This means the EU is now the world's number one DSL region, with almost 35 percent of all global DSL subscribers located there.
Worldwide, more than 112,000 households signed up each day for DSL services, with more than 138.8 million subscribers by the end of 2005. This means that DSL subscriber levels grew by 42 percent, adding almost 800,000 customers each week.
Elsewhere, the Middle East and Africa was the fastest growing region, with DSL subscriber rates surging 112.5 percent in 2005, reaching almost 3 million in total. China tops the tables with more than 26.3 million subscribers, adding 9.4 million in the year. It now accounts for almost 94 percent of the DSL subscriber base in South and South East Asia. The US comes in second, at 18.8 million followed by Japan at 14.5 million.
Emerging DSL markets also performed well, with the Czech Republic, Russia, Thailand, Malaysia, New Zealand and Venezuela all showing over 80 percent growth in 2005.
Broadband penetration has been a contentious issue in Ireland. Despite an recent TNS MRBI survey indicating that the number of people working from home is on the rise, broadband is still difficult to get.
A report on broadband progress, published by the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Communications, Marine and Natural Resources in early March, described progress in broadband development over the past two years as "almost non-existent".
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