One in 5 Households Will Have a Broadband Connection by 2009

One in five households worldwide will have a fixed broadband connection in the home by the end of 2009. That is what Gartner claims in a new research report. In 2008 they counted 382 million broadband connections and have seen this number grow to a whopping 422 million household less than a year later. Based on those figures they estimate a nearly 580 million connections by 2013.

Amanda Sabia, principal research analyst at Gartner, says:

“Consumers may be watching their household expenditure, but dropping their broadband connections is not on the top of their agendas as a way to reduce outgoings. Multiple motivations are conspiring to keep broadband growth strong, such as PCs being more affordable, migration from dial-up, affordably priced broadband subscriptions, aging populations requiring broadband connectivity, and even as a result of an economic boost from country-specific economic and broadband-specific stimulus plans.”

At the end of 2008, approximately 21 countries had broadband connections in at least 50 percent of homes (see Table 1). In many countries, the rates are much higher; the highest penetration being in South Korea at 86 percent and the lowest being Indonesia at less than 1 percent.

Table 1: Broadband Household Penetration by Market (Percent)

Source: Gartner (September 2009)