Jumping On the Broadband Bandwagon

JUNE 7, 2006
All aboard!
A new report fromPew Research, "Home Broadband Adoption: 2006," shows that broadband growth in the US resumed its sharp upward trajectory in 2005, after being slightly sluggish in 2004.
US broadband internet connections to the home rose from 60 million in March 2005 to 84 million in March 2006, an increase of 40%. From March 2004 to March 2005, US broadband adoption at home grew by only 20%.

That means 25 million more Americans were using broadband at home in early 2006 than a year earlier. This is equivalent to the entire population of home broadband users at the end of 2002.
Unlike in previous years, everyone is now using broadband. For instance, the number of African Americans with a broadband Internet connection grew by 121%. Four other previously under-represented groups also saw significant growth in broadband connections: those who did not finish high school, senior citizens, those with annual household incomes in the $30,000 to $50,000 range and high school graduates.

When it comes to the exact type of broadband technology Americans are using at home, and what they will use in the future, there seems to be a slight disagreement among some observers.
According to the Pew researchers, DSL is overtaking cable as the connection of choice, and wireless is starting to have an impact:
"According to our March 2006 survey, 50% of those with high-speed connections at home log on using DSL compared with 41% who use cable modems. As a home high-speed connection, wireless has also increased its presence — from next to nothing in 2002 up to 8% of the home broadband market as of March 2006. This translates into approximately six million Americans who use a wireless connection to get online at high-speed at home."
On the other hand, a new report fromKagan Research is bullish on prospects for cable broadband connections, mainly due to its ability to generate revenues (and subscribers) from triple play offerings of video, voice and broadband. Products such as video-on-demand and digital video recorders add to cable‘s appeal to customers.
According to Kagan estimates, the US cable business will grow to $14 billion in 2015, and residential revenue per subscriber per month will nearly double to $142.37 in 2015, compared to $80.16 in 2005.

Combined, Kagan predicts that in the US the cable industry will have 28.7 million telecommunications customers and 45 million cable modem subscribers in nine years. Based on information from a wide variety of sources, eMarketer believes that cable connections will continue to dominate the broadband market in the US
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