Frost and Sullivan have conducted analysis that shows broadband subscriber bases in the Asia-Pacific region are set to go up to 171 million by the end of the year.

 

This growth reflects an annual rate of 31.5 percent with broadband penetrating the household market at only a rate of 19.7 percent.

 

This substantial increase in broadband demand can be attributed to the increase in various Internet-based activities that are steadily gaining popularity. These activities include multi-player online games, video-on-demand, video content sharing and social networking services.

 

The report, "Asia Pacific Broadband Access Technology and Market Comparison" details the statistics that have led to these conclusions and covers 13 countries in the region.

 

The total broadband subscriber base, which was 129.7 million in 2007, is projected to increase to 321.8 million by the end of 2013.

 

The countries which are the forefront of this anticipated increase in the broadband subscriber base are South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Australia. These countries take the top five spots, with Japan coming in a close sixth. Also, household penetration rates were found to be the lowest in India and Indonesia.

 

“As fixed-line substitution and voice migration to mobile continues, broadband value-added services (VAS) become critical drivers for fixed-line service providers,” said Yong Lih Khoo, senior industry analyst, Frost & Sullivan. “Operators are as such aggressively promoting attractive bundled and discounted price plans, encouraging migration from narrowband, introducing local content and innovative services such as IPTV, as well as overall improving service levels and affordability.”

 

Broadband access technology will also become quite an important factor for consideration, as there are a few to choose from: fibre-to-the-home (FTTH), fibre-to-the-node (FTTN), fibre-to-the-building (FTTB), digital subscriber line (DSL), WiMAX among other wireless technologies.

 

“FTTx in its various forms - FTTH, FTTB, FTTN - will play a significant role in the next three to four years due to its potential of providing greater bandwidth to the premise, compared to copper wires. Some countries like Hong Kong are already providing speeds up to 1Gbps, while other countries like Singapore are following suit,” also said Khoo.