Asia Pacific broadband subs to hit 170m this year

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Asia-Pacific's broadband subscriber base is expected to reach 171 million by the end of 2008, representing a year-on-year growth of 31.5%, a report from Frost & Sullivan said.

The surge in demand for broadband is driven by the growing popularity of video-on-demand, multi-player online games, video content sharing and social networking services such as YouTube and Facebook, as well as the aggressive push by operators to offer innovative bundled triple- and quadruple-play services.

The report from Frost & Sullivan also revealed that the broadband subscriber base in the region, which covers 13 Asia-Pacific countries, reached 129.7 million in 2007 and estimates this to reach 321.8 million by end-2013, at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 19.9% (2008-2013).

The total broadband revenues in Asia-Pacific stood at $28.1 billion in 2007.

This is projected to reach a market size of $42 billion by end-2013, growing at CAGR of 7.1% (2008-2013).

Total number of broadband subscribers grew 19.2% in 2007 and household penetration rate stood at 15.2%.  The report also said the household broadband penetration rate for 2008 is 'only' 19.7%.

By 2013, the household broadband penetration rate is forecasted to hit 33.7%.

The top five Asia-Pacific countries with the highest household broadband penetration rates in 2007 are South Korea (90.8 %), Hong Kong (83.8%), Taiwan (76.8 %), Singapore (73.1 %), and Australia (63.2 %). Japan has a 57.8 % penetration rate, while the remaining seven markets have household broadband penetration rates of less than 50 %. India and Indonesia registered the lowest penetration rates at 1.4% and 0.57% respectively.

'As fixed-line substitution and voice migration to mobile continues, broadband value-added services (VAS) become critical drivers for fixed-line service providers,' Frost & Sullivan senior industry analyst Yong Lih Khoo said.