Despite the global economic downturn, the number of household broadband connections continues to grow robustly, and one in five households worldwide will have a fixed broadband connection in the home by the end of 2009, according to research agency Gartner.
A total of 422 million households will have a fixed broadband connection in the home in 2009, up from 382 million households in 2008, and the market will steadily grow with nearly 580 million households having a fixed broadband connection by 2013.
In Western Europe, 105 million households will have a fixed broadband connection in the home in 2009, up from 99 million households in 2008 and the market is expected to reach 116 million households by 2013.
“Consumers may be watching their household expenditure, but dropping their broadband connections is not on the top of their agendas as a way to reduce outgoings,” said Amanda Sabia, principal research analyst at Gartner. “Multiple motivations are conspiring to keep broadband growth strong, such as PCs being more affordable, migration from dial-up, affordably priced broadband subscriptions, aging populations requiring broadband connectivity, and even as a result of an economic boost from country-specific economic and broadband-specific stimulus plans.”
At the end of 2008, approximately 21 countries had broadband connections in at least 50% of homes, Ireland listed as having 54% penetration, expected to rise to 64% by 2013. In many countries, rates are much higher; the highest penetration being in South Korea at 86% and the lowest being Indonesia at less than 1%.
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