Fixed broadband services are often eclipsed by the hype and media frenzy surrounding mobile broadband, yet fixed broadband subscriber adoption is still growing robustly. Fixed broadband subscribers totaled 430.7 million in 2009 according to ABI Research’s most recent broadband subscriber Market Data. That represents approximately a 13% increase over 2008.

“Fixed broadband is an attractive platform for the delivery of IPTV, gaming services with low latency, rapid access to web content, and secure access to non-building access points (e.g. vehicular traffic monitoring units),” says Jake Saunders, VP for forecasting. “Technologies such as fiber-to-the-home, VDSL and GPON are helping to keep fixed broadband relevant to end-users – both in the home and office.”

As end-users clamor for greater interactivity in the living areas of the home as well as in business offices, fixed broadband services will continue to complement mobile broadband services. Indeed some carriers are intending to use in-the-building broadband connection to hand off femtocell-connected wireless traffic. At present, the DSL platform dominates the market with 65% market share; cable and fiber represented 24% and 11% market share respectively in 2009.

South Korea and Japan are the countries with highest fiber broadband penetration. In Japan approximately 55% of broadband subscribers are using fiber broadband. In Korea, fiber broadband customers represent 49% of overall broadband users. The growing customer demand for speed will continue to drive more fiber broadband adoption in future. ABI Research forecasts that fiber broadband subscribers will total almost 134 million by 2015.

North America has the highest broadband penetration in the world. According to analyst Khin Sandi Lynn, “We expect broadband penetration in North America to be accelerated by federal government initiatives which aim to roll out broadband access in rural areas of the US.”

ABI Research estimates that the number of worldwide fixed broadband subscribers will rise to 548 million in 2015, a 2010-2015 CAGR of 3%.