The USA has passed Singapore to 15th overall in global broadband penetration per 100 inhabitants. The US rose from 16th to 15th place overall in broadband penetration passing Singapore in a November 2005 ITU report. US Broadband penetration climbed to 63.76% in October 2005, up 1.3 percentage points from 62.46% in September. The charts below, derived from Nielsen//NetRatings and ITU data, show trends in connection speeds to the Internet for users in the United States and countries worldwide.*
The United States rose to 15th place in broadband penetration among countries surveyed by the ITU in a November 2005 report titled "The Internet of Things 2005, 7th Edition." As of December 31, 2004, the US was 15th overall in broadband penetration per 100 inhabitants, up from 16th place in June 2004 as we reported in the August Bandwidth Report (see Table 1 and Figure 1). Iceland moved up from 9th to 5th place overall, while Canada dropped from 5th to 7th place overall in broadband per 100 inhabitants. Measured in percentage of Internet subscribers with broadband, the top seven countries are Korea (99.1%), Israel (92.6%), Belgium (79.6%), Canada (69.3%), Austria (61.8%), Hong Kong (60.3%), and the US (59.5%).
Figure 1: Broadband Penetration by Country per 100 inhabitants
Source: ITU.int (data used with permission)
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US broadband penetration grew to 63.76% in October among active Internet users. Narrowband users (56Kbps or less) now comprise 36.24% of active Internet users, down 1.3 percentage points from 37.54% in September 2005 (see Figure 2).
Figure 2: Web Connection Speed Trends - Home Users (US)
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings
In October 2005, broadband penetration in US homes rose 1.3 percentage points to 63.76% up from 62.46% in September. This increase of 1.3 percentage points is above the average increase in broadband of 1.2 points per month over the last five months. At the current growth rate of over 1.1 percentage points per month, broadband penetration among active Internet users US homes should break 70% by February of 2006 (see Figure 3).
Figure 3: Broadband Adoption Growth Trend - Home Users (US)
Extrapolated from Nielsen//NetRatings data
Most workers in the US enjoy high-speed connections to the Internet. Most use a high-speed line such as a T1 connection, and share bandwidth between computers connected to an Ethernet network. The speed of each connection decreases as more employees hook up to the LAN. As of October of 2005, of those connected to the Internet, 86.41% of US users at work enjoy a high-speed connection, up 1.32 percentage points from the 85.09% share in September. At work, 13.59% connect at 56Kbps or less (see Figure 4).
Figure 4: Web Connection Speed Trends - Work Users (US)
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings
*Note that Nielsen//NetRatings new NetSpeed report differs from the previous Web connection data in two ways. First NetSpeed determines the connection speeds of the Digital Media Universe, which combines Web traffic, Internet applications and proprietary channels. The old Web connection data was based solely on Web traffic. The other difference is that the old Web connection data was based on panelists where the linespeeds are known. Since line speeds don't change often, if a panelists has an unknown linespeed, their previous month's speed is taken.
By website optimization on 14 Nov 2005 AM
Hello
We're looking at launching an on-line service to US, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. NZ and Oz don't feature in your stats. Are they available?
The key question for web developers is, by country, the ratio between broadband and dial-up subscribers, since that influences site design. Is that available?
Regards
Graham Phillips
By: Graham Phillips at January 21, 2006 6:36 AM
Graham,
Hi, I have published AU and NZ stats, although they are from 2004 or 2003 now. Note that on the home page of the Bandwidth Report we break out the reports by country. I'll see if I can dig up some more recent data for you.
We've been tracking Canada for some time, they are ahead of the US in broadband penetration, which is what I think you want, by about 20 percentage points. See:
US-Canadian Broadband Penetration Gap at 20 Points for the latest on Canadian broadband penetration.
From what I've read lately you'd be best to design with lower bandwidth users in mind, since folks down under do not enjoy as high a penetration rate as in north america. Keep in mind that even in the US, for all households broadband penetration is only about 30-35%. - Andy
By: website optimization at January 21, 2006 9:10 AM
Graham,
Hi, I've got some newer data for you for Australia and New Zeland broadband. In the January 2006 Bandwidth Report I just published, NZ has 26.2% household broadband penetration, while AU has 31.3%.
By comparison the US is at 33.09% and Canada is at 45.72% for household broadband penetration. Note that this is for all households, for active Internet users it is higher of course. Hope this helps. - Andy
By: website optimization at January 22, 2006 8:07 PM
Pray tell, If in Nov. 2005, the U.S. broadband was 63.8%, what was the combined broadband and lowband total??
Your other report of Nov 2004 shows a total access at 75% with 43% being broadband. What might the most current total U.S. homes with 'all bandwidth's internet access? Thanks
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