DSL connections outstrip cable and others globally

There are now over 110 million broadband connections globally and digital subscriber line (DSL) technology has come to account for almost two-thirds of them.

In the UK, DSL - as opposed to competing technologies such as fibre, satellite and mostly cable - serves 60.2 per cent of broadband users, according to figures from industry analyst Point Topic.

Of 69 countries that now have broadband, all but 11 are dominated by DSL. Regionally, all parts of the world are DSL-centric, apart from North America, where there are about 50 per cent more cable connections than DSL.

In terms of global rankings by sheer number of connections, Point Topic measures the top 10 as:

1. US 27.5 million
2. China 15.1 million
3. Japan 14.9 million
4. South Korea 11.4 million
5. Canada 5.0 million
6. Germany 4.9 million
7. France 4.5 million
8. UK 3.8 million
9. Taiwan 3.2 million
10. Italy 3.1 million

The research, which was commissioned by the DSL Forum, also found that even in counties such as the US and Canada where cable modems dominate, DSL connections are growing more strongly, taking 1.2 per cent market share from other broadband technologies in the first quarter of 2004.