Asia Pacific broadband to grow 21 percent in 2009

BOSTON, USA: The Asia Pacific (APAC) broadband market ended 2008 with 158 million broadband subscriptions, and will grow an additional 21 percent in 2009, according to a report just published by analyst firm Strategy Analytics.

The report, “Asia Pacific Broadband Forecast: 1H’2009,” estimates that broadband subscriptions for the region will surpass 394 million by 2013.

“Broadband in APAC is really a tale of two regions,” said Ben Piper, Analyst and Director of the Strategy Analytics Multiplay Market Dynamics service.

“On one hand, highly developed markets, such as South Korea, Singapore, Japan, and Hong Kong, lead the world in broadband penetration and fiber deployment. Meanwhile, three of the world’s most populous countries, (China, India, and Indonesia), representing 40 percent of global population, have household broadband penetration rates below 21 percent.”

Household broadband penetration at the APAC regional level remains quite low at 17 percent; however this will reach 39 percent by 2013, according to the report.

“While DSL remains the dominant access technology in the region, it will increasingly give way to fiber and WiMax, which together will account for over 40 percent of all connections by 2013,” said David Mercer, Vice-President of the Strategy Analytics Digital Consumer Practice.