IPTV nearing the 100 million subscriber threshold

Wednesday, April 9th, 2014
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40 Million New Broadband Subscribers and 14.1% Growth in IPTV Mark a Year of Steady Growth

  • 40 million new subscribers in 2013 takes total broadband lines to 678.6 million world-wide
  • Overall figures show steady growth but slowing as older markets reach saturation
  • DSL is still the predominant technology, but fiber continues to outpace all access types in new deployments
  • IPTV is nearing the 100 million subscriber threshold with 21% growth in 2013 and 17 million new subscribers taking the total to 96 million at yearend 2013

BERLIN, Germany — Year-end figures for broadband and IPTV, published today by the Broadband Forum, show a slowing but steady growth in broadband subscribers with some significant trends in technology and regional growth in new markets. The figures, prepared by Point Topic, highlight the addition of over 40 million new users world-wide, an annual increase of 6.15%, bringing the global total up to 678,455,893.

Speaking at the Fixed Access Networks Summit in Berlin, Germany (8-10 April 2014), Broadband Forum CEO Robin Mersh said: “These figures for 2013 give an extremely interesting picture both regionally and in terms of the changes in technology choices as some markets reach saturation and others start their digital journey. They are a great illustration of the ‘second age of broadband access,’ with existing customers demanding more bandwidth and operators introducing new technologies.”

The figures show that copper-based technologies (DSL, ADSL and ADSL2plus) continue to be dominant, although fiber-based technologies (which include VDSL and VDSL2) are taking a firmer grip and – with growth rates of 17.6% overall.

Cable, Copper, FTTH, FTTx
Source: Point Topic Q4 2013
FTTH, FTTx, Wireless, Satellite, Cable, Copper
Source: Point Topic Q4 2013