Asia fixed broadband and Internet market and forecasts

DUBLIN, IRELAND: Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Asia Fixed Broadband and Internet Market and Forecasts" report to its offering.

This market report (7th Edition) from Paul Budde Communication Pty Ltd. provides a comprehensive overview of the broadband Internet segment of the telecom market across the various economies of Asia. Asia makes a strong claim to be leading the world when it comes to the development of broadband Internet. In fact, after the mobile market, broadband has been the fastest growing telecom market segment in Asia.

Despite rapid growth a significant digital gap remains in broadband markets across Asia. This market report provides a comprehensive overview of the broadband internet segment of the telecom market across the various economies of Asia. Asia makes a strong claim to be leading the world when it comes to the development of broadband internet. In some of Asia's markets broadband has become the fastest growing telecom market segment.

The energetic expansion of broadband was for a long time, however, a phenomenon limited to the developed economies, with narrowband dial-up access being the norm in the majority of the poorer developing countries of the region. This is now changing rapidly, but for the time being there remains a digital gap'. In those economies where the broadband market has created a strong presence, both DSL and cable modem platforms have both proved popular, with DSL establishing a clear advantage.

Asia has become the leading region in the world for DSL, with close to 40 percent of the global DSL subscribers to be found in the region. More recently, we have seen the advent of FttX as an alternative platform for broadband access in Asia. FttX already comprises over 50 percent of the high speed internet access connections in the leading technology markets of Japan and South Korea.

As broadband internet continues to extend its presence across Asia, the region's broadband market finds itself dominated by six players. These high-ranked markets are predominantly the economies of North Asia.

South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Macau, Taiwan and Japan, for the moment at least, have left the rest of the region behind in terms of both penetration and sophistication of their broadband services and infrastructure. The penetration gap is clearly seen in the Exhibit below.

South Korea has been the most remarkable example of the Asian broadband revolution in the leading markets. By mid-2011 broadband subscriber penetration had passed 35 percent, and over 95 percent of households in the country had very high speed broadband Internet connections.

Another market of special note in the region is Singapore where the government has been implementing broadband internet access - wired and wireless - for the whole of the island state. The Infocomm Development Authority (IDA), Singapore's telecom regulator, has been reporting what it referred to as the Household Broadband Penetration Rate'. This had reached 165 percent by May 2010.