Global fixed broadband subscriber numbers continue to grow, reaching 1.27bn

Global fixed broadband subscriber numbers continue to grow, reaching 1.27bn

By Oliver Johnson, CEO at Point Topic

Fixed broadband plays a vital role, helping people to connect all around the world and its significance continues to flourish. According to Point Topic’s Global Broadband Statistics, the number of fixed broadband subscribers grew by 1.5% during the final quarter of 2021. The growth rate was lower than in the respective quarter of 2020 that grew by 1.7% but the overall number of connections climbed, reaching 1.27 billion.

Trends in world broadband subscriber growth. Source – Point Topic.

FTTH/B claimed 62.5% of the share of subscriptions as it continues to grow in developing broadband markets. Fiber connections have increased by 13.6% since the end of 2020, gaining market shares from both cable and copper connections. Unsurprisingly, China has the most FTTH/B broadband net additions. The country gained 8.9 million new fiber connections in Q4 of 2021, exceeding half a billion fixed broadband subscribers.

Growth in 89% of fixed broadband markets

The number of fixed broadband subscribers grew in 89% of the 130 countries sampled in the report. A decline in subscriptions in the fourth quarter of 2021 was reported in only 14 countries of those sampled. This decline was mainly either in saturated broadband markets with high household penetration or those where mobile connections are the preferred way of getting online. All of the largest 20 broadband markets saw growth in this quarter, but 13 of these markets saw a slower growth than in the penultimate quarter of 2021. However, this is not unexpected given the seasonal fluctuations in various parts of the world.

Changes in quarterly growth in fixed broadband subscribers in the largest 20 markets. Source: Point Topic.

Due to an existing high fixed broadband penetration and the dramatic growth of 5G, China experienced a significantly slower growth in Q4. It also witnessed a 43% decrease in broadband adds, impacting on East Asia’s share of net additions to fixed broadband subscribers as the percentage dropped from 64% to 52% over the final two quarters. Despite the decline, the region retained the largest regional market share of fixed broadband connections at 48%.

Share of fixed broadband subscribers by region. Source – Point Topic.

In comparison to the previous quarter, Africa and East Asia saw their market shares increase. Africa has the second lowest market share of global fixed broadband subscribers coming from a low base of 20.6 million subscribers, but it saw the second fastest growth among all regions. Africa, along with the likes of America – Other and Asia – Other, lack behind the competition in terms of population penetration, but they all achieved significant Q4 2021 growth with 3.09%, 2.13% and 3.67% respectively.

Regional growth vs population penetration. Source – Point Topic.

Fiber dominates connections share

The share of FTTH/B connections continued to grow between the final two quarters of 2021, increasing by 0.6%. In terms of absolute figures, China had the most FTTH/B broadband net additions with 8.9 million. Brazil also boasted an increase of 1.6 million FTTH/B additions.

The highest fiber quarterly growth rates were mainly in the developing markets, as well as the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Germany that all reported significant growth between 5% and 16%. (Markets with at least 0.5 million fiber subscribers).

FTTH/B claimed the majority of the global total with a 62.5% share, followed by superfast and ultrafast cable broadband connections with 18% of the total market share. However, both cable and copper-based broadband connections saw their market shares shrink further, losing shares to fiber technology. The number of copper lines fell by 10.9% since the end of 2020. But VDSL continues to do well in certain countries with the sizable markets of Turkey, Germany, Greece and Czech Republic, for example. Wireless (mostly FWA) connections also saw a respectable growth of 8.4%, with these technologies increasingly used where fixed networks are difficult to deploy.

Overview of subscriber growth by technology from the end of 2020 to the end of 2021:

• Cable – 3.5% increase
• Copper – 10.9% decrease
• FTTH/B – 13.6% increase
• FTTx – 6.4% increase
• Satellite – 4.5% increase
• Wireless – 8.4% increase

Fixed broadband – Still plays a crucial role

The Point Topic report highlighted fixed broadband’s largest subscriber region, China, as having a slower growth in the fourth quarter of the year. The East Asian region had the most significant growth decrease in the largest 20 broadband markets between Q3 and Q4 of 2021. This could be attributed to the dramatic growth of 5G in the region. Predictably, the smallest and well-developed economies are among the top ten countries by fixed broadband penetration.

Country ranking by fixed broadband penetration. Source – Point Topic.

Overall, the growth of fixed broadband subscribers in Quarter Four was the slowest in 2021 and was lower than the growth rate in the respective quarter in 2020. However, although the number of emerging 5G connections is growing drastically, fixed broadband gained a large sum of connections in Q4 of 2021 and continues to display its importance in keeping people connected worldwide.