July 14, 2005

The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) just released its latest report on US broadband Internet access a few days ago, showing the number of high-speed Internet subscriptions still rising and cable continuing to be the most popular method of hooking up a PC or computer network to the Internet.

The total number of broadband lines, at home and work locations, increased to almost 38 million in 2004 from about 28.2 million. The tally includes all lines faster than 200 kbps in at least one direction. Advanced high-speed lines—those with speeds above 200 kbps in both directions—increased to 28.9 million from 20.3 million.

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Cable increased its lead over DSL. The number of cable lines grew by about 5 million compared to 4.3 million for DSL. The number of advanced cable lines grew over twice as fast as advanced DSL lines. Fiber, satellite, fixed wireless and other wireline lines accounted for under 3 million, or about 7%, of all residential and business connections.

The number of just residential and small business broadband lines increased from about 26 million at the end of 2003 to 35.3 million by the end of 2004, with the number of advanced lines growing from 18 million to 26.4 million.

Broadband service is essentially available in every part of the country — 95% of the zip codes in the US have at least one broadband subscriber, and the FCC's analysis indicates that these zip codes account for 99% of the US population. At least 83% of the zip codes in the US have more than one high-speed service provider.

Although the number of broadband lines continues to grow, the US trails many other nations in the speed of its broadband.

The FCC's use of 200 kbps as a cutoff for broadband service means that "broadband" subscribers in the US are surfing high-speed connections slower than their counterparts in Japan and South Korea, where speeds can reach over 8,000 kbps.

High speed bandwidth is not merely a convenience, argues Ben Macklin, the senior analyst who covers broadband trends for eMarketer. "Since an increasing percentage of the world's developed economies rely on information and knowledge products and services for economic growth," he notes, "it only makes sense to ensure the infrastructure on which these goods and services flow are as efficient as possible—and that means fat broadband pipes."

Source: eMarketer