South Korea Leads with 95% in 2008

Boston, MA - 18 June 2009 – Sixty percent of US households accessed the Internet via broadband in 2008, according to a report just published by analyst firm Strategy Analytics, compared to 95% of South Korean households.    This number puts the United States in 20th place worldwide, says the firm. 

Five of the top ten scorers in the Strategy Analytics rankings are Asian countries, underlining the rapid broadband growth in the region.  In its recently published report, “Global Broadband Forecast: 1H’2009,” the firm estimates a 15% five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of subscribers for the Asia Pacific Region between 2009 and 2013.

South Korea’s dominance in broadband penetration is attributable in part to its highly urbanized population, as well as to the existence of a comprehensive government-backed broadband policy.

David Mercer, Principal Analyst and Vice-President of the Strategy Analytics Digital Consumer Practice, admits that country-level broadband rankings are not without their share of controversy.

“Broadband rankings are often the subject of great debate and hand-wringing,” noted Mercer, “Though our rankings do differ from those of other analyst firms and statistical bureaus, it is because we are looking at the appropriate metrics.” 
Household broadband penetration, rather than per-capita broadband penetration, is the appropriate measurement, says Strategy Analytics.

“In far too many cases, people are looking at the wrong things,” says Ben Piper, Director of the Strategy Analytics Multiplay Market Dynamics service. “Residential broadband is overwhelmingly consumed on a household basis—not individually.  Reporting broadband penetration on a per-capita basis misses the mark, and can provide grossly misleading results.”

According to the report, 2009 doesn’t look much better for the US.  Strategy Analytics estimates that the US will fall to 23rd place worldwide this year.

Strategy Analytics: Global Household Broadband Penetration Rankings (2008)

The report, “Global Broadband Forecast: 1H’2009” provides in-depth market coverage for fifty-seven countries in six discrete regions, and provides history and forecasts for key metrics including: Households, PC Penetration, Internet Access Subscriptions, Household Internet Access Penetration, Broadband Subscriptions, Household Broadband Access Penetration, Broadband Users, Dial-up vs Broadband splits, Service Revenues, ARPU, and Subscriptions by Technology Platform (xDSL, Cable, FTTx, and FWA/WiMax). Also included is the ability to view revenues in multiple global currencies.