Title: World Broadband
Tracker Q2 2004
Publication Date: October 2004
Printed Page Length: 270 pages (included
data in Excel file)
Price: £395 €
570 US$ 700
Abstract
At the end
of June 2004, the number of broadband subscribers
across the world rose to 131.4 million with a 19%
growth over the previous quarter.
The less networked
regions showed faster growth mainly because a small
increase in numbers in those regions translate into
a substantial growth rate.
Competition
for broadband services will continue to intensify,
leading to pricing pressure and greater importance
placed on performance.
Cable still
holds 32% of the world broadband market, but that
share may shrink in the coming years, as telcos are
becoming more successful among an increasing level
of price-sensitive consumers, and also because of
the cable network infrastructure.
As a consequence,
the major challenge of DSL vs. Cable remains primarily
in the residential market.
There are some
significant limitations for residential cable broadband
services too.
Cable is a
shared network, unlike xDSL, which offers a dedicated
line for each user. There are also certain security
risks, which also can make users more vulnerable to
data interception, unauthorized monitoring, and hacking
from other users along the same cable network.
