Data: Global broadband subs near 1.5bn
August 6, 2024
In Q1 2024, global fixed broadband connections reached 1.45 billion, following a quarterly growth of 1.22 per cent.
Point Topic recorded a decline in fixed broadband subscriptions in 23 countries, up from 18 in Q4 2023. Some of these markets have high mobile subscriber penetration, others are experiencing high inflation and / or are already highly saturated markets, for example – Sweden, Switzerland, Monaco and the Netherlands. Yet others are at war.
The recovery in the Chinese fixed broadband market (a 1.7 per cent growth rate compared to 1 per cent in Q4 2024) also led to East Asia’s share of fixed broadband subscriber net adds recovering to 63.3 per cent, compared to 51.4 per cent in Q4 2024. The region continued to dominate, maintaining its position as the largest fixed broadband market with a 50.2 per cent share of global subscribers, primarily driven by China with its vast population.
Apart from East Asia and America-Other, other regions saw their net adds market shares drop quarter-on-quarter. In the Americas, such sizeable markets as the Dominican Republic, Peru and Ecuador recorded healthy growth in the first quarter of 2024.
On the other hand, quarterly decline in Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines is partly to blame for the largest decline in the quarterly adds share in the case of Asia-Other (from 12.9 per cent to 9.9 per cent q-o-q).
Given its low fixed broadband penetration (4.7 per cent), Africa continued to lead in terms of quarterly growth rate at 2.5 per cent. The region remains a growing market with a high potential for expansion, though the dominance of mobile broadband technologies will be hard to overcome. Point Topic recorded the second highest growth rate of 1.7 per cent for America-Other, where penetration is relatively low at 18.1 per cent.
As in the earlier quarters, Europe, North America and Oceania recorded modest growth rates of below 1 per cent, while enjoying relatively high population penetration, especially in the case of Europe–Other (40 per cent) and North America (39.3 per cent). These regions have a limited potential for expansion, with migration from copper to fibre and, to some extent, Docsis3.1 remaining the key trend. Oceania had a population penetration rate of 33.4 per cent, pointing to a market approaching maturity, too. While growth in Eastern Europe remained low (0.5 per cent), the region’s fixed broadband penetration rate of 25.3 per cent leaves headroom for market expansion. The ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine is still dampening growth, however.
Key Q1 highlights:
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As some economies saw signs of stabilisation, the global quarterly growth rate recovered to 1.22 per cent. The highest growth came from the developing and least saturated markets.
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The share of FTTH/B in the total fixed broadband subscriptions increased further and stood at 70.2 per cent. Broadband connections based on other technologies saw their market shares shrink again, with an exception of satellite and fixed wireless.
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Year-on-year, FTTH/B connections grew by 9.3 per cent. FWA was another technology group that saw annual growth (+8.1 per cent), while subscribers over other platforms declined.
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Among the largest twenty markets all but one recorded fixed broadband subscriber growth in Q1 2024. The average growth in the 20 markets was 0.53 per cent, compared to 0.41 per cent in Q4 2023.
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The highest FTTH/B broadband subscriber growth rates in Q1 2024 were in Algeria, Belgium and Dominican Republic, all of which recorded growth in double figures.
Overall, Point Topic’s data continues to indicate a steady consumer shift towards more reliable, symmetric bandwidth offered by ultra-fast broadband technologies such as FTTH/B. High speed fixed wireless is also seeing growth in take-up. Meanwhile, traditional technologies like copper and cable-based broadband are experiencing a decline. This trend persists as providers strive to meet the growing demand for faster and more dependable broadband services and to increase the value of their networks.