* U.S. DSL subscribers now number 13.7 million
The number of DSL subscribers in the U.S. surged in 2004, up 45% to a new high of 13.7 million. The rising popularity of DSL is good news for U.S. carriers, who have been trying to catch up with rival cable providers in broadband deployment.
Globally, DSL subscribers surpass cable modem subscribers except in North America. Indeed, the number of global DSL subscribers passed the 100 million mark in February 2005, according to data compiled by industry analyst Point Topic for the DSL Forum.
However, cable modem service has been the preferred method of broadband Internet access here in the U.S.
“We have seen the telcos starting to make some inroads on the cable competitors,” says Jay Fausch, chairman of the DSL Forum’s marketing committee and a senior director of marketing at Alcatel. “It used to be that two out of every three broadband subscribers in the U.S. chose a cable operator, but now we’ve beaten that back to around 50/50 for new subscribers.”
Fausch says most new subscribers are interested in broadband for personal usage rather than for work-related reasons.
“There’s increasing usage of digital devices in the home that is driving an appetite for bandwidth,” Fausch says. “More and more people have digital cameras, digital camcorders and digital music devices, and they are looking to share that material with friends and loved ones.”
Many of the new DSL subscribers are upgrading from dial-up connections. Proponents of DSL say interest in this technology is increasing in the U.S. because prices are generally less than cable modem fees. DSL also offers a dedicated connection while cable modem systems use shared access lines.
The service providers who are benefiting most from the rise in DSL subscriptions are the large regional carriers, including SBC, Verizon, Qwest and BellSouth. Fausch says these carriers are planning to introduce new video and voice services that will make DSL an even more attractive alternative to cable modem service.
“What we’re going to see in the coming couple of years is a whole raft of new services in the video and voice domain that will continue to fuel the demand for DSL. It will go beyond the homes that are Internet connected today,” Fausch says.
Fausch predicts that ongoing consolidation in the ISP industry will not slow down this shift to DSL.
“I think it’s going to have some efficiencies where the operators are concerned and give them some degree of freedom in terms of how they provide customer service, how they package service offerings and how they price them,” Fausch says.
More statistics on DSL usage globally https://www.dslforum.org/pressroom.htm?page=PressRoom/news_releases.html
