Canada ranked fifth in broadband penetration
The number of households with a broadband internet connection continues to grow with one in five households worldwide expected to have a fixed broadband connection by the end of 2009, according to Gartner.
The research firm says that Canada ranked fifth, tied with Sweden, in broadband penetration. Sixty-nine per cent of Canadian and Swedish households had broadband in the home in 2008.
Leading the broadband race in 2008 was South Korea at 86%, followed by the Netherlands (80%), Denmark (75%), Hong Kong (72%) followed by Canada and Switzerland. Rounding out the top ten were Norway (67%), New Zealand (65%), France, Singapore and the U.K (62%). The United States ranked 14th at 60%. At the end of 2008, approximately 21 countries had broadband connections in at least 50 percent of homes.
Gartner estimates that a total of 422 million households will have a fixed broadband connection in the home in 2009, up from 382 million households in 2008. The firm expects that despite tough economic times, the market will grow steadily with nearly 580 million households having a fixed broadband connection 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. “
Although many mature markets will see a slowing down of broadband rates as connectivity reaches saturation, many emerging markets are still in the early stages of broadband deployment and will see rapid growth in adoption rates. Gartner predicts that over the next five years, that emerging markets such as China, India, Indonesia and the Philippines, will collectively provide twice as many new consumer broadband connections as mature markets – 135 million vs. 62 million connections, respectively.
Brazil, Russia, India and China are expected to for 92 million (68 percent) of the increased 135 million household broadband connections in the emerging markets. China takes first place in contributing the greatest number (62 million, or 46 percent) of the 135 million new broadband connections in emerging markets.
Gartner estimates twenty seven million U.S. households will make up a large share of new broadband connections in mature markets between 2008 and 2013, with Japan accounting for almost 10 million, Germany with 5 million and the U.K. with slightly over 3 million connections.
