| Brazil Ascending in Q1 Numbers |
| Written by Dave Burstein |
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The chart below from Strategy Analytics reports broadband penetration by household rather than population for 30 countries. Korea is at 95%, Singapore, Holland, Denmark, Taiwan and Hong Kong over 80%. France is the highest among large nations at 68%. Britain, Japan, the U.S., Germany and Spain are between 57% and 67%. a group that also includes Estonia, Slovenia, and Lithuania. Turkey, Poland, Mexico, Argentina and Chile are between 27% and 37%, with China at 21%. By household, the U.S. is at #20, even lower than the OECD ranking. That should shut up the D.C. apologists who say OECD is off because it doesn't account for family size. Reality is the U.S. is well behind the leaders in the middle of the pack. On the other hand, people who predict economic catastrophe because of modest differences in broadband are equally off-base Broadband is a good thing, but it doesn't tranform transform the economy. That's pure magical thinking that people believe because they want to believe. Verizon bought a few "studies" that provided a veneer of credibility, but they all fall apart if you look closely. If they ever were true, they are now badly out of date. Japan's mid of the pack household rate of 64% might surprise people because Japan has 80% fiber coverage at a low price. Growth has been slow since 3G wireless became common, and I'd guess many folks are content with a fast connection on their mobiles.
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Broadband reached 429.2M lines adding 16.6M according to Point-Topic. That was actually up despite the economy. Brazil added over two million broadband lines - most DSL - Q1 2009 over Q1 2008. That was more than Japan, France or Britain. China added 17M in 12 months, passing the U.S. and starting to pull away.
