Broadband Internet Access Reaches 77% - Wireless Connectivity To Drive Next Phase
The number of Internet adults utilizing ‘wired’ broadband
connections may be peaking, according to results released from Ipsos
Insight’s annual The
Face of the Web study. At the end of 2006, it is estimated that
77% of the global online population was utilizing a broadband connection
to access the Internet.
Since 2003, the percentage of active internet users utilizing a high-speed connection has jumped over 20 percentage-points.
In the US, the percentage of those using cable modems (30%) is nearly equal to the number utilizing DSL (33%), and in Canada cable modem is the #1 Internet access technology.
Within Asia Pacific, optical fiber connections are much more common than in any other part of the world, symptomatic of the high demand for Fiber to the Home (FTTH) installations in South Korean and Japanese households.
The Untapped Potential Of Wireless Internet Access
Today 15% of users connect to the Internet using wireless Internet access from a PC, but the future of Wireless Internet access looks very promising globally.
- The rate of household ownership of notebook PCs continues to climb globally – now at 34%.
- The prevalence of mobile Internet browsing – surfing the web on a wireless handheld device such as a cell phone or smart phone – also continues to climb globally; at the end of 2006, nearly one in three adults (31%) had ever accessed the Internet on a wireless mobile device.
- In many underdeveloped nations, some online adults are beginning to ‘leapfrog’ to Wireless access/service to connect to the Internet.
