摘要

This market report provides a comprehensive overview of the broadband Internet segment of the market across the various economies of Asia. Asia makes a strong claim to be leading the world when it comes to the development of broadband Internet. In fact, in 2008 after the mobile market, broadband is the fastest growing telecom market segment in Asia. The energetic expansion of broadband, however, has remained more of a phenomenon limited to the developed economies, with narrowband dial-up access being the norm in the poorer developing countries of the region.

Of course, there are signs that this is changing, but for the moment there is a ‘digital gap’. In those economies where the broadband market is taking off, DSL and cable modem platforms have both proved popular, with DSL having had a clear advantage. With DSL dominating the world market, Asia has become the leading market in the world for DSL, with about 38% of the world’s DSL subscribers. More recently, we have seen the advent of FttH as an alternative platform for broadband access. In the leading technology markets of Japan and South Korea FttH is starting to displace other forms of high-speed Internet access.

With broadband Internet continuing to take Asia by storm, the region’s broadband market finds itself dominated by six players. And these are predominantly the economies of North Asia. South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Macau, Taiwan and Japan, for the moment at least, have left the rest of the region behind in terms of penetration and sophistication of their broadband services and infrastructure.

Of these leading countries, South Korea is the most remarkable example of the Asian broadband revolution, with a broadband subscriber penetration in mid-2008 greater than 31%, while more than 90% of households in the country have a high-speed broadband Internet connection.

目录及图表

Table of Contents