US Broadband Penetration to Break 90% by Mid-2008 Among Active Internet Users - Broadband Survey: US Broadband Uptake at 57% Overall - February 2008 Bandwidth Report

Summary: Broadband penetration among active Internet users should break 90% by mid-2008 in the U.S, according to projections by Website Optimization. Overall, broadband penetration is 57% in U.S. households, according to a recent survey. A broadband stimulus package could realize an economic impact nearly as much as the economic stimulus package recently passed by Congress.

At current growth rates, broadband penetration among active Internet users should break 90% by mid-2008 in the U.S. Overall, broadband penetration is 57% in U.S. households, according to a recent Leichtman Research survey. In a related study by Connected Nation, the U.S. could realize an economic impact of $134 billion annually by accelerating broadband availability across all states.

Home Connectivity in the US

US broadband penetration grew to 87.49% in January 2008. Narrowband users connecting at 56Kbps or less now make up 12.51% of active Internet users, down 0.70 percentage points from 13.21% in December 2007 (see Figure 1).

Figure 1: Web Connection Speed Trends - Home Users (US)
Source: Nielsen Online

Broadband Growth Trends in the US

In January 2008, broadband penetration in US homes grew 0.7 percentage points to 87.49% up from 86.79% in December. This increase of 0.7 points is above the average increase in broadband of 0.59 points per month over the last six months (see Figure 2). At current growth rates, broadband penetration among active Internet users will break 90 percent by May 2008. For all households, a recent Leichtman research survey found broadband penetration to be 57% for the U.S.

Figure 2. Broadband Adoption Growth Trend - Home Users (US)
Extrapolated from Nielsen Online data

Work Connectivity

As of January 2008, 95.16% of US workers connected to the Internet with broadband, up 0.17 percentage points from the 94.99% share in December. At work 4.84% connect at 56Kbps or less (see Figure 3).