150 million DSL users and counting

Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) appears to be winning out over cable as the most popular broadband connection method of choice.

The number of DSL subscriptions worldwide has grown 39 per cent over the past year to pass the 150 million mark, according to the latest figures from the DSL Forum.

The UK now boasts 7.93 million DSL subscribers, putting it sixth in the ranking of countries in terms of total DSL users. And that figure is still growing healthily - 2.94 million Brits have become new users of the broadband technology in the 12 months to 31 March 2006, a growth rate of 59 per cent.

China claims the most DSL subscribers with 29.4 million, having added 10 million in the past year. The US is second with 22.2 million. In the past year, DSL has grown 34 per cent in the US compared to 21.9 per cent for cable broadband access.

Europe remains the region with the largest share of DSL subscribers (34 per cent of the global market) and a total of 52.8 million users. France and Germany together added 6.8 million new DSL users in the last year.

The EU is followed by South and Southeast Asia (21 per cent), Asia-Pacific (19 per cent) and North America (17 per cent).

India has by far the fastest growing DSL user base for established markets (with more than one million subscribers) with a 700 per cent rise in the past year, followed by Turkey (190 per cent), Mexico (99 per cent) and Australia (84.6 per cent).

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Countries with highest number of DSL subscribers

1. China
2. US
3. Japan
4. Germany
5. France
6. UK
7. Italy
8. South Korea
9. Spain
10. Taiwan

Source: DSL Forum