U.S. added 3 million broadband lines in first quarter

June 16, 2009

Despite the economic downturn and a drop-off in other technology sectors, demand for broadband internet continued growing in the first quarter, when the U.S. added more than 3 million broadband lines, according to the Broadband Forum.

In its latest quarterly report, prepared by industry analysts Point Topic, the Broadband Forum said global expansion of broadband grew by 16.6 million lines, while IPTV (internet TV) also continued to expand strongly.

Although the U.S. broadband growth rate was outpaced by countries with lower broadband penetration, IPTV expansion in North America grew by 15 percent over the last quarter and by 94.2 percent over last year. There are now nearly 4.5 million lines of IPTV across North America.

DSL continues to be the most popular broadband access technology, although fiber grew by more than three million lines to reach 12.4 percent of the market. Wireless broadband access grew by close to 20 percent, adding more than 1 million connections worldwide to a total of 5.58 million.

George Dobrowski, chairman and president of the Broadband Forum, said the group continues to work with industry partners to optimize networks and "to capture the full potential of broadband worldwide."

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