Industry news

Fibre-optic broadband booms

The number of fibre-optic broadband subscribers is booming, one market analyst has said.

Point Topic revealed the number of subscribers to fibre-optic internet grew by 4.2 million in the first quarter of 2008 faster than the rate of cable broadband (2.5 million) for the first time.

Oliver Johnson, chief executive of the analysts, said the growth is a "significant milestone" for fibre-optic broadband and it is set to overtake other broadband technologies where it is available.

"DSL is adding more subscribers than fibre in absolute numbers, but not in percentage growth," he added.

The analyst stated there are currently 42 million fibre broadband users across the world compared to 79.6 million cable and 238 million DSL subscribers.

It added fibre users are getting "more bits for their buck" as it can cost 25 pence per megabit per month compared to around £10 for DSl and £6 for cable.

According to IDC, the amount spent worldwide on internet advertising is set to increase dramatically and will total $65.2 billion (£33 billion) in 2008.