Point Topic reports slight fall in global broadband growth

Specialist research company Point Topic, has reported a slowdown in subscriber growth towards the end of the third quarter of 2007.

The total number of broadband subscribers worldwide stood at 328.8 million at this point, an increase of 4.72%.  This is slightly lower than the previous quarter which was 5.16%.  The increase equates to around 14.8 million new global subscribers.

This is not as high as in previous quarters and is the lowest reported since Q2 2006, which showed 14.9 million new subscribers.

Since the start of 2007, the reports have shown a steady decline in subscriber growth.  All countries reported a slowdown, with the exception of North America (US and Canada).

Western Europe came second, reporting particularly strong growth in Germany, UK, France, Italy and Spain.

Eastern Europe leads the way in overall percentage growth, with an 11.54% rise in Q3 2007, albeit marginally down on its previous quarter.  South and East Asia showed a slight dip in percentage terms in Q3 2007, but still reported the highest number of net additions at 3.9 million, with a large majority of these in China (3.5 million).

For more information, see the full Point Topic report.