The number of broadband subscribers worldwide zoomed ahead 72% last year, and there's no reason to expect a leveling off anytime soon. This is nothing but good news for the global economy.
According to the United Nations' International Telecommunication Union (ITU), 63 million people paid for high-speed service in 2002. That works out to about one in every 10 Internet subscribers. The Republic of Korea leads the way in broadband adoption, with 21 subscribers for every 100 inhabitants. Hong Kong (China) is next with 16 per 100, and Canada is third with 11 per 100. The U.S., by contrast, is 11th on the list at roughly seven per 100.
As the ITU says in its report, there seems to be evidence linking broadband access to higher consumer spending. "The dot-com boom was driven by the expectation that the Internet would create a large market for electronic commerce, on-demand content, and online applications," says the ITU's Dr. Tim Kelly. "Broadband brings this expectation one step closer to reality by offering faster speeds and a better platform for the development of content services."
The report is good news for Internet companies with global operations. Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), for example, and eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) -- which expects its international operations to grow larger than its U.S. unit in the future.
That's not to discount what this means to the U.S. economy, where broadband is expected to reach the 25% penetration mark even more quickly than either PCs or mobile telephones did. There are the obvious winners: music distributors such as Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iTunes or companies like Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:ERTS) that benefit from online gaming. Soaring broadband usage is but one reason EA was tabbed by David Gardner in Motley Fool Stock Advisor.
Of course, it's not just online companies that benefit. Indeed, most every company is now "Internet-related" in some form or another, and able to benefit from quick and efficient networking. As broadband and "always-on" connections proliferate, the medium will begin to live up to earlier expectations. "The reality," says Dr. Kelly, "is finally starting to catch up with the market hype."
