The broadband picture in the UK is looking good, after the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development) placed the country in fifth position out of a selection of 30 major world economies based on the success of the broadband market.
The report does not cover every country in the world, omitting Russia and China amongst others, but it does provide a good idea of the general state of things for the worldwide broadband market.
The fifth position relates to the high number of broadband subscribers that the UK currently enjoys, with over 17 million people connected. This was one of the highest numbers in the world, although France and Germany were ahead of the UK, and the US led the field with 80 million subscribers.
With regards to the overall picture of broadband in the OECD nations, the results show that broadband subscriptions have risen by 15% in the last year across the 30 countries. This adds up to a total figure of 270 million subscriptions, or more than one-in-five people.
However, the fibre-optic market is still very much in its infancy, and since June 2008 the market has only grown by 1%. The UK does not even make it onto the fibre-optic list, but there is a very different picture in Japan and South Korea where it makes up the dominant connection format.
Disappointingly, the UK drops to 11th position on the scale of broadband per capita. The number of broadband subscribers per one hundred does not paint such a good picture, and schemes such as the government’s plan to get 2Mbps broadband to every home by 2012 will be important in helping this figure to increase.
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