Broadband growth fastest in Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe saw the world's highest growth in broadband uptake during the third calendar quarter of 2006.

The region saw a growth rate of 12.7 per cent during the period with global market share increasing to 3.5 per cent from 2.6 per cent, according to market researchers Point Topic.

The Middle East and Africa region showed the second-highest growth rate, at 11.9 per cent.

Western Europe and South-East Asia were the only two regions to show a decline in growth rate during the period.

By the end of September there were 263.8 million broadband lines worldwide, 16.9 million of which were added during the last quarter.

Broadband from A to Z

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A is for ADSL
B is for BT
C is for Cable & Wireless
D is for Dial-up
E is for Education
F is for Fibre
G is for Goonhilly
H is for HSDPA
I is for In-flight
J is for Janet
K is for Kingston
L is for Landlines
M is for Murdoch
N is for Next generation
O is for Ofcom
P is for Power lines
Q is for Quad-play
R is for Remote working
S is for Satellite phones
T is for Trains
U is for Unbundling
V is for VoIP
W is for WiMax
X is for Xbox
Y is for YouTube
Z is for Zombies

DSL remains the dominant type of connection with 173 million connections and 65.6 per cent of global market share.

But the market for FTTx - faster fibre-optic connections - grew almost twice as fast (12.6 per cent) as DSL, and topped more than 27 million subscribers during the period.

Point Topic analyst Vince Chook said the increasing demand for bandwidth means that fibre connections are becoming increasingly popular and competitive with copper connections.

The fastest growth in FTTx uptake was in the Asia-Pacific and North American markets, at more than 20 per cent.

The figures are part of Point Topic's quarterly World Broadband Statistics publication.