The number of fixed-line broadband subscribers worldwide will rise to 501mn by the end of 2014, with around 106mn of these expected to subscribe to services delivered via fibre, according to a new report from ABI Research.

There were an estimated 422mn broadband subscribers worldwide by the end of 2009 (up 9% from 2008), with around 44mn of these receiving fibre-based broadband services.  “Broadband penetration continues to increase since more service providers are offering triple-play services and driving down access prices,” says Serene Fong, industry analyst at ABI Research.

Among the three fixed-line broadband technologies, 65% of the world's subscribers connect via DSL, while 25% connect via cable and 10% connect via fibre-based broadband, according to ABI Research.  The number of fibre broadband subscribers is reported to be growing fast, showing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20% from 2008 to 2014.

“File sharing, music downloads, IPTV, online gaming and video conferencing are all acting to increase the user demand for high speed Internet," adds Khin Sandi Lynn, research associate at ABI Research.  "The number of fibre broadband subscribers is increasing with growing popularity of these services."

The Asia-Pacific region is reported to have the highest fibre broadband penetration, and accounts for nearly 84% of the globe's fibre broadband subscribers, while North America comes in second in terms of market penetration.  South Korea and Japan are reported to be the countries with the highest fibre broadband penetration, with Japan's NTT being the largest fibre operator with approximately 12mn subscribers.

Western Europe had only about 2mn fibre broadband subscribers by the end of 2009, according to the report - a very low penetration compared to Asia-Pacific and North America, however Western European countries are reportedly planning to accelerate fibre broadband penetration.