Summary
This report provides an updated analysis of trends in global and regional broadband subscriptions, technology adoption, and the growth rates in major markets.
In Q2 2024, global fixed broadband connections reached 1.46 billion, following a quarterly growth of 0.95%. We recorded a decline in fixed broadband subscriptions in 18 countries[1], down from 23 in Q1 2024. Some of these markets have high mobile subscriber penetration, others are experiencing economic headwinds or are already highly saturated markets, for example Hong Kong, Switzerland, Monaco. Yet others are still at war.
Some key points:
The global quarterly growth rate stood at 0.95%, the second lowest in the last two years. The highest growth came from the developing and least saturated markets.
India was at the top of the largest 20 fixed broadband markets with a 4.11% growth rate.
The share of FTTH/B in the total fixed broadband subscriptions increased further and stood at 70.9%. Broadband connections based on other technologies saw their market shares shrink again, with an exception of satellite and fixed wireless.
Year-on-year, FTTH/B connections grew by 8.5%. Satellite and FWA saw annual growth as well (+29.6% and +8.2% respectively), while subscriber numbers over other platforms declined.
Among the largest twenty markets all but one recorded fixed broadband subscriber growth in Q2 2024. The average growth in the 20 markets was 0.94%, compared to 0.97% in Q1 2024.
The highest FTTH/B broadband subscriber growth rates in Q1 2024 were in Algeria, Pakistan, Peru and UK, all of which recorded growth in double figures.
[1] It is possible there will be restatements in the coming quarter/s and single period data should be viewed in that light. Decline in some markets can be due to changes in methodology used by national regulatory authorities.
Global and regional trends
During Q2 2024, global fixed broadband subscribers increased by 0.95%, reaching 1.46 billion. The growth rate was the second lowest in the last two years, only exceeding that in Q4 2023, when we recorded 0.85% increase q-o-q (Figure 1 and Table 1).
Figure 1. Trends in world broadband subscriber growth. Source – Point Topic.
Partly this can be explained by seasonality – Q2 tends to be slow in many markets. Still challenging economic conditions and increasing reliance on mobile technologies in some markets are also playing a part.
Table 1. Global broadband subscribers and quarterly growth rates. Source – Point Topic.
The slower growth in the Chinese fixed broadband market (a 1.11% growth rate compared to 1.71% in Q1 2024) resulted in East Asia’s share of fixed broadband subscriber net adds dropping to 54.3%, compared to 66.1% in Q1 2024. Nevertheless, the region continued to dominate, maintaining its position as the largest fixed broadband market with a 50.4% share of global subscribers, primarily driven by China with its vast population[1] (Table 2 and Figure 2).
Africa and Asia-Other saw their net adds shares increase most significantly, which led to a 0.1% growth in their regional market shares. In the Americas, on the other hand, we recorded a drop in net adds shares, while in Europe they went up slightly, along with small changes in the market share of these regions, except for America – Other where it remained stable.
[1] Although we use them in our reports, we cannot vouch for the country’s officially reported broadband subscriber figures which suggest household penetration well over 100%.
Table 2. Share of fixed broadband subscribers and trends in net adds by region. Source – Point Topic.
Figure 2. Share of net adds of fixed broadband subscribers by region. Source – Point Topic.
Next we look at fixed broadband penetration among population, comparing it to growth rates across the regions. In the context of low fixed broadband penetration (4.8%), once again we recorded the highest quarterly growth rate in Africa (2.3%). The region remains a growing market with a high potential for expansion, though the dominance of mobile broadband technologies will be hard to overcome. In Q2 2024, significantly sized markets of Kenya, Algeria and Morocco, among others, saw healthy growth.
Figure 3. Penetration and quarterly growth by region (Bubble size represents the size of the market). Source – Point Topic.
We recorded the second highest growth rate of 1.8% for Asia-Other, where fixed broadband penetration is also the second-lowest (6%). Here Pakistan and India saw decent quarterly growth rates of over 4%.
As in the earlier quarters, Europe, North America and Oceania recorded modest growth rates of below 1%, while enjoying relatively high population penetration, especially in the case of Europe–Other (40%) and North America (38.8%). Due to already high saturation, these regions have a limited potential for expansion, with migration from copper to fibre and, to some extent, Docsis 3.1 remaining the key trend. In the US, we recorded a higher than usual churn in cable-based broadband subscriptions, while xDSL decline continued at significant pace. While growth in Eastern Europe remained low (0.5%), not least due to the ongoing war affecting two among the largest markets, the region’s fixed broadband penetration rate of 25.5% leaves headroom for expansion.
East Asia and America-Other both recorded a 1% quarterly growth. While the former is very close to saturation, the latter still has high potential for expansion, with the penetration rate in America-Other at 18.3%.
Country and technology trends
In Q2 2024, we registered the highest broadband subscriber growth rates mainly in the developing countries and least mature broadband markets (Figure 4). In the case of Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Gabon, Ghana, Mali and some other countries in this category, the growth came from a very low base.
Figure 4. Top 25 markets by quarterly growth rate in fixed broadband subscribers (Q2 2024). Source – Point Topic.
Among the largest twenty broadband markets all except Argentina saw fixed broadband subscribers grow in Q2 2024 (Table 3). In Argentina, a significant drop in cable broadband connections was not offset by the FTTH growth.
In 13 of the twenty largest fixed broadband markets the growth in Q2 2024 was slower than in the previous quarter. We recorded the most significant drop in Argentina (-1.41%).
Table 3. Changes in quarterly growth in fixed broadband subscribers in the largest 20 markets. Source: Point Topic.
For several quarters now, India was at the top of the largest 20 fixed broadband markets with a 4.11% growth rate. The average growth in the 20 markets was 0.94%, compared to 0.97% in Q1 2024.
Technology trends
Full fibre continues to be the dominant broadband technology, whose market share has expanded further. Between Q2 2024 and Q1 2024, the share of FTTH/B connections in the total fixed broadband subscriptions went up by 0.57% and stood at 70.9%. Broadband connections based on cable, copper (ADSL) and FTTx technologies saw their market shares shrink further. Satellite and wireless broadband connections expanded their market shares slightly to 0.34% and 1.95% respectively. (Our satellite broadband figures now include Starlink subscriptions in most markets that we cover).
Table 4. Changes in broadband technology market shares. Source – Point Topic.
The share of FTTx (mainly VDSL) subscriptions stood at 6.71%, down from 6.88% recorded in the previous quarter[1]. Subscriber numbers grew only in three countries - Tunisia, Croatia and Germany, while elsewhere large numbers of VDSL subscribers migrated to other technologies.
In the context of fibre expansion, we looked at the growth of FTTH/B in markets with at least 0.5 million fibre broadband connections (Table 5 and Figure 5). Among the ten fastest growing markets, five were in developing economies. Algeria, Pakistan, Peru and UK recorded FTTH/B growth rates of more than 10%. Algeria (and Morocco) are leading in terms of fibre deployment in Africa, while Pakistan is pushing ahead in Asia-Other. Multiple altnets as well as the incumbent operators are striving to increase fibre adoption rates both in the UK and in Italy. Ireland is a dynamic FTTH market as well, with three major operators and some smaller providers offering the service. Germany and Australia are witnessing migration from legacy technologies, including xDSL and cable, to full fibre.
[1] Some of our FTTx subscriber figures include both FTTB/FTTH and VDSL, as it is not always possible to identify the technology split in some operators’ figures reported as ‘fibre’.
Table 5. Top 10 markets by FTTH/B growth rates (countries with at least 0.5m fibre broadband subscribers). Source: Point Topic.
Figure 5. Quarterly growth in fibre broadband subscribers around the world. Source: Point Topic.
In terms of FTTH/B broadband net additions in Q2 2024, China continued to maintain a significant lead with 7 million, while India added 1.8 million. See our complete dataset for full details.
Between Q2 2023 and Q2 2024, broadband technologies diverged further. The number of copper lines saw another decline (-14.5%), while FTTH/B connections grew by 8.5%, as the operators sought to increase fibre broadband take-up on their networks. In the face of competition from fibre, FWA and 5G, cable broadband subscribers also declined by 0.6%, while FTTx dropped by 4% (Figure 6). Meanwhile, satellite broadband subscribers grew by nearly 30%, mainly due to the growing Starlink customer base[1].
[1] The actual annual satellite broadband subscription growth rate might be lower, as in a handful of markets we introduced Starlink figure estimates post Q1 2023, even though the services were launched slightly earlier.
Figure 6. Annual growth in subscriber numbers by technology, Q2 2023 to Q2 2024. Source – Point Topic.
Wireless broadband (mainly FWA / 5G and LTE fixed) connections also continued to grow – they went up by 8.2%, not least due to healthy growth rates in the US, Sri Lanka and Italy. We expect this trend to persist due to demand for connectivity in remote and underserved areas where wired broadband infrastructure is not economically or logistically feasible, and due to some consumers cord-cutting their broadband access services.
Overall, our data continues to indicate a steady consumer shift towards more reliable, symmetric bandwidth offered by ultra-fast broadband technologies such as FTTH/B. High speed satellite and fixed wireless is also seeing growth in take-up. Meanwhile, traditional technologies like copper and cable are experiencing a decline. This trend persists as providers strive to meet the growing demand for faster and more dependable broadband services and to increase the value of their networks.
The data referred to in this analysis is part of our Global Broadband Statistics product.
Comments