Internet Penetration and Broadband Access in France

The telecommunications market in France was deregulated in 2004 and the numbers have grown exponentially since then. In March 2007, 56.5 percent of the total population had access to the internet. This has been estimated to have grown to 61.4 percent by March 2008.

BROADBAND GROWTH PROJECTIONS (as percent of total households)

2007 : 52.4%
2008 : 58.2%
2009 : 62.7%
2010 : 65.9%
2011 : 68.6%
2012 : 71.0%

Household Penetration of Top Ten Broadband Nations

The subscribers per household of the top ten countries in terms of broadband connectivity is listed below. Conspicuous by its absence is USA which is at number 15 (0.57 subscribers per household)

1. South Korea : 0.93
2. Japan : 0.55
3. Finland : 0.61
4. Netherlands : 0.77
5. France : 0.54
6. Sweden : 0.54
7. Denmark : 0.76
8. Iceland : 0.83
9. Norway : 0.68
10. Switzerland : 0.74

India and Brazil did not feature in the top 30

Top Broadband Speeds by US Providers

Broadband networks are accelerating at break-neck speeds. Here is a list of the top broadband speeds available in USA:

1. CableVision : Upto 50 Mbps (downstream)
2. Charter (Wisconsin) : Upto 16 Mbps
3. Comcast (Minneapolis) : Upto 50 Mbps
4. Cox Cable : Upto 12 Mbps
5. Qwest : Upto 20 Mbps
6. Time Warner Cable : Upto 10 Mbps
7. Verizon : Upto 50 Mbps
8. Embarq : Upto 10 Mbps
9. SureWest : Upto 50 Mbps
10. CenturyTel : Upto 15 Mbps

Worldwide Penetration of IPTV, VOIP and Broadband

Here are few numbers on the number of subscribers of IPTV, VOIP and Broadband:

IPTV:
2007 - 12.5 million
2012 - 61.1 million

VOIP:
2007 - 69.6 million
2012 - 196.3 million

Broadband:
2007 - 312.5 million
2012 - 533.6 million

Household Broadband Deployment: Europe vs. USA

A recent study by the European commission puts US behind eight European countries when it comes to household broadband deployment. Denmark, Finland, Netherlands and Sweden have more than 30% penetration. This is followed by UK, Belgium, Luxembourg and France. USA comes behind all of these with 22.1% penetration.

Internet Penetration in New Zealand

Broadband:
Broadband grew at a rate of 28.6 percent in September 2006. By March 2007, this growth rate had become 18.5 percent. For the six months ending September 2007, the growth rate was 14.4 percent. That is 829,300 subscribers. That is 19.6 people per 100 inhabitants.

Dialup
Half the growth in Broadband was due to dial up subscribers shifting to broadband. The six months ending September 2007 saw the number of subscribers fall by 8.6 percent to 675,800 subscribers. This is 15.9 people per 100 inhabitants.

Broadband Connectivity in Ireland

In Ireland, it is still difficult to set up a broadband connection at home - a lot of phone calls and appointment scheduling at that. This explains the following dismal figure:

15.4 persons in 100 had access to broadband
This comes to 653,000 subscribers
Ireland stands 22 in terms of national broadband penetration

How Many People Affected By Undersea Internet Cable Cut?

Five cables have now been cut under sea in the middle east. The cumulative number of internet users to be affected by this cut is around 85 million. They are spread across

India - 60 million
Pakistan - 12 million
Egypt - 6 million
Saudi Arabia - 4.7 million
UAE - 1.7 million

Broadband Internet Connectivity in UK

Here are a few facts about Broadband connections in UK:

There are 15 million households with broadband in UK now
The households contribute $6 billion annually
Price of standalone broadband has reduced by 36 percent since 2004
Average Speed of Broadband has increased by 16 percent in the same period
Market Leader : Virgin Media

Countries making Best Use of Network Connectivity

“It is not about how much you have connected, but what you do with it” - This is the underlying fact of the study conducted to look into how the broadband and other network connectivity technologies are used for enhancing social and economic growth. The industrial economies were studied under the innovation-driven economies and the top 5 countries in this category are

1. United States
2. Sweden
3. Japan
4. Canada
5. Finland

Among the developing economies that were studied under the emerging and resource driven economies, the top 5 were
1. Russia
2. Malaysia
3. Mexico
4. Brazil
5. South Africa