According to VNUnet news, in 2005 Streamyx Activation global broadband boom was unstoppable, and now, just three years later, Ars Technica has declared that "it's no secret that broadband growth in Business Broadband Streamyx US is stagnating". Both Ars Technica and VNUnet have reported on the lowest levels of broadband growth in the US in seven years.
Two reports published recently, one by Leichtman Research Group and another by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) have painted rather a bleak landscape of America's broadband industry.
The Leichtman paper revealed that broadband take-up has halved in the second quarter of 2008 when compared to the second quarter of 2007. Telephone companies experienced the lowest levels of growth, while cable companies took the lion's share of new acquisitions. According to the report, an undue emphasis on high-speed FiOS and U-verse bundled services over traditional DSL services is largely to blame.
Predictions for the future of broadband are contradictory. According to Bruce Leightman, president of the Leichtman Research Group, there's a lot of potential for growth in the US market. But he admits that there have been reports that say the US broadband market is nearly saturated. Around 55% of the US population has broadband in their homes. The other 45% can either not afford to subscribe to broadband services, aren't interested in or are out of range of broadband services. In one instance, a city that was out of range of commercial broadband services tried to build their own network. But it was sued by a local telecommunications company so that the city wouldn't be able to provide them with the necessary fibre to complete the task.
The report published by the CWA showed that the US broadband speed falls far short when compared to many other industrialised countries. The average speed from 230,000 internet users was found to be 2.3Mbps. The two extremes were Rhode Island at 6.8Mbps and Alaska at 0.8Mbps. In comparison Japan has the fastest broadband speeds at 63Mbps; South Korea was second at 49Mbps, while France clocked in at 12Mbps.
According to Larry Cohen, president of the CWA, broadband speed isn't just about how fast users are able to download movies. Cohen says that download speed is important to the economy and to developers who are trying to be competitive in an increasingly sophisticated global market. But if expense, consumer apathy and competition with the US market continue to hamper growth, America could soon find themselves falling behind developing nations, such as South Africa.
Recommended sites:
vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2223779/broadband-growth-speeds-US
arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080811-broadband-growth-slows-to-dial-up-speeds-in-second-quarter.html
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