Singapore, June 20 2012: China and India continue to set a scorching pace in the broadband arena in Asia with almost identical growth rates just shy of 20 percent. Acording to the latest figures published by the Broadband Forum at CommunicAsia shoiw here and prepared by broadband industry analysts Point Topic, the global total of broadband subscribers soared to over 600 million in the first quarter of 2012, indicating a further acceleration in growth as over 100 million new lines were added (20% of the total) in less than 18 months.
The study shows strong increases in hybrid fiber and fibre to home deployments, while IPTV subscribers grew by 3.8 million in the first quarter of 2012 to a global figure of over 65.6 million.
The figures also highlight again the dominant position of Asia, led in both broadband and in IPTV by China with India a strong contender only a whisker away with 19.11 % growth.

Said Robin Mersh, CEO of the Broadband Forum. “It is just 18 months since we celebrated the 500 million subscriber watershed and even less time since IPTV subscribers reached 50 million - yet in both cases growth is still accelerating. It is especially rewarding to be making this announcement in Asia, which has contributed so much to fuelling this phenomenal success.”
China can celebrate the highest number of new subscribers with annual growth of 26.4 million (19.17% annual growth rate). The highest annual growth rates are Russia’s 27.43% and Ukraine’s 26.82%, with China, India and Brazil also posting double-digit annual increases. The five Asian countries in the top 20, together serve 239 million broadband subscribers –more than one-third of the global total.
“DSL is the most popular access technology on a global basis: although its market share has dropped by 0.5% in the quarter, there is a long way to go before the copper-based access technology is overtaken,” said Oliver Johnson, CEO of Point Topic. www.broadband-forum.org .