Global Broadband Statistics:
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Global Broadband Subscribers FAQ
How does Point Topic collate the data?
How often is the data updated?
Data tables are not displaying properly.
I can’t find the operator that I need information on.
I can’t find a country that I need information on.
What are 'excluded' figures? And the issue of the double counting wholesale numbers.
I can't find the report that I have generated.
I have different numbers than Point Topic quotes.
What is in the database?
As of July 2006, Point Topic's GBS database contains quarterly broadband subscriber numbers for well over 290 operators and entities in about 90 countries worldwide. These are broken down into specific technologies and distribution channels (see above).
It so becomes possible to extract total numbers for world regions, countries and individual operators by technology and/ or the various delivery channels they deploy, such as, wholesale, retail, on-net or unbundled.
The majority of our numbers refer to the total number of broadband subscribers. There are a limited set of numbers for consumer and business segments, in particular for the UK.
GBS will be able to calculate statistics and market shares for all the main players - mainly incumbents and larger cable companies - in a specific country. But many developing countries accommodated a significant number of retail ISPs that offer their services through having acquired wholesale products of the incumbent. For the purpose of estimating country and regional trends, these ISPs are 'dispensable' as their figures will be included in the incumbent’s wholesale total. We recognise that for understanding the internal market dynamics of a country, such detailed numbers would be useful. However, GBS does provide these currently only for the UK and Germany.
How does Point Topic collate the data?
Point Topic has a rolling research programme utilising well over 400 different sources per quarter for updating information on individual operators' and countries' broadband subscriber numbers.
We use company press releases, media reports, visit websites, contact particular operators and regulatory bodies directly through our growing network of contacts built up over many years.
Many operators still do not release quarterly reports but only annual ones. Some also aggregate subscriber trends into overall totals, avoiding break-downs by technology. In these cases, Point Topic has continued conservatively estimating broadband figures. Important sources for estimated totals are partial or earlier reports by the operators themselves.
Individual numbers are mediciously referenced and contain a brief desciption of whether they are primary or estimated numbers.
How often is the data updated?
We gather information on broadband subscribers on a quarterly basis and will continue publishing a brief report with findings derived from the content of the database. We do not currently publish a complete set of world statistics numbers for a quarter before we have completed a thorough verification process. This usually takes up to 10-12 weeks after the end of that quarter. Users will receive a notification when this process is completed.
For some countries, quarterly data may become available earlier than for others. We aim to fit our updating schedule around these timelines more flexibly in the future. It would eventually result in quarterly data being released on a running basis for individual countries, immediately after the verification and analysis has been completed.
Data tables are not displaying properly.
GBS was designed to minimise inconvenience caused by diverging software and hardware provision. We acknowledge that this may not always be achievable. As a minimum requirement, your computer should be equipped with a browser capable of rendering HTML 4.01 and running JavaScript.
For further informatoin, see the system requirements
System requirements
The following browsers are known to be compatible:
- Mozilla Firefox 0.8+
- Microsoft Internet Explorer 5+
In your browser, you must enable:
- JavaScript
Javascript is usually enabled by default. In addition, you should enable style sheets. All of the colors and fonts in Faculty and Advisor Self Service are set via style sheets, and the intended presentation of the data is only achieved if style sheets are utilized.
These Web pages are optimized for and best viewed with a screen resolution of 1024 x 768, though any resolution will work.
I can’t find the operator that I need information on.
All the operators we cover are listed here: Full list of operators.
If you cannot see the operator you are searching for here, please follow these steps:
- Check the name of the operator. Is it listed under an alternate name or was it recently aquired by another company?
- If you know the country that the operator is in, please go to that country.
- Consider whether the operator mainly or exclusively aquires its broadband offers through the wholesale channel. If this is the case, you may find that the operator's subcriber figures were excluded from the country summaries. Tick the 'show excluded values box' on the …page.
- Although Point Topic collects information on more operators than any other broadband information service, these numbers are, nonetheless, dwarfed by the shear number of operators around the world. So it is possible that the operator has not yet been included in the database provded by Point Topic.
Please feel free to send us a request on adding this particular operator to GBS. We will review your request and inform you as to if and when it will be added.
I can’t find a country that I need information on.
All countries we cover are listed here: Go To Countries' List
If you cannot see the country you are searching for here, please follow these steps:
- Check the name of the country. Country namings follow ITU (International Telecommunication Union) and ISO (International Organization for Standardization) protocol. It may be listed under an alternate name.
- Each country is grouped under one of seven world regions. Depending on the size and definition of a particular country, the same country may be perceived as part of several world region. For the purpose here, countries can only be and are assigned to only one region. If you are presently searching within a particular world region, please move upwards to view the 'Country List' (see above).
- Although Point Topic collects information on more countries than any other broadband information service and continously aims to expand that coverage, we recognise the limitations of reporting and current research. So it is possible that the country has not yet been included in the database provided.
Please feel free to send us a request on adding a country to GBS. We will review your request and inform you as to if and when it will be added.
What are 'excluded' figures? And the issue of the double counting wholesale numbers.
This section provides a brief guide as to how the database dealt with wholesale figures.
Wholesale lines are defined as broadband connections sold by an operator (typically but not always by the incumbent), not directly to the end-user, but to other ISPs. This process entails broadband access is further being sold to an ISP which will then, in turn, re-sell those access lines to its end user/customers.
Difficulties arise on several fronts when accounting for wholesale figures. From the perspective of resell ISPs, it is not always possible to accurately account for all the accesses bought in wholesale in a country. Some resell ISPs do not report their subscriber numbers in time, others not frequently enough and, again, others not at all. This circumstance makes it exceedingly difficult to derive an accurate picture of the country-wide wholesale figure that matches the one (sold and) published by the incumbent. Point Topic has, therefore, chosen to select the more straightforward approach of stating the incumbent's lines 'sold-on-wholesale' as the basis for counting broadband lines in a country.
If we then chose to expand our view of a national market by adding in these alternative resell ISPs (for which we use the distribution channel: 'bought-in-wholesale'), double counting would be the net result. Such numbers are entered and reported into the GBS. But in order to avoid double counting, we 'exclude' such numbers from the main view, from calculating country totals and several related statistics. GBS includes a functionality that allows the user to display them or not. Tick the 'display excluded figures' box and all 'excluded' number will show as italic grey in a tables.
Please also note that for many incumbents a reliable breakdown of its broadband base into wholesale ('sold-in-wholesale') and into those sold by its subsidiary ISP ('retail') is not available. In such cases, broadband services of the incumbents are assumed to be delivered - generically speaking - over its own network ('on-net').
I can't find the report that I have generated.
Most systems default to saving the file here: C:\ or the user's desktop. However, your system may have a different setting, or, alternatively, you or another user may have updated the saving defaults for your particular machine to a different location.
All files output from this system follow the naming protocol: PTGBS.xls or PTGBS.csv.
I have different numbers than Point Topic quotes.
Please follow this checklist to determine where or why a difference might occur:
- Does your number refer to the same operator?
Same operators (AOL, UPC, Telefonica etc.) have subsidiaries in several countries across the globe. Confirm that the country and operator are the same. - Is your number for the same quarter?
We publish figures which usually reference to the last day of a particular quarter. We do not publish 'spot' numbers between the end of two quarters without clearly identifying them as such. Confirm that the time frame is the same. - Does your number refer to the same technology?
The main reporting default is for 'All broadband' numbers to be grouped together. You can filter for particular types of technology by using the drop downs. Confirm that the technology is the same. - Is your number a country total?
Country totals are notoriously difficult to establish. Minor variations between the numbers in official main publications, such as, of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), ECTA (European Competitive Telecommunications Association) or the European Union are common, if not to say inevitable. If you feel that the discrepancy is significant, please tell us by sending an email (info@point-topic.com). - Is your number different from the number we quoted in the previous quarter?
When compiling the numbers for a new quarter, we tend to revisit many of the numbers for the previous quarter. In the light of newly published data, there are occasions where we have to re-stated, that is, correct a particular number for the previous quarter. We consistently try to keep these changes to a minimum, but sometimes these are unavoidable for ensuring the compatibility with data for the new quarter. Again, If you feel that the discrepancy is significant, please contact us and we shall do our best to solve the matter.
Contact us.
Please email us at: info@point-topic.com