MUMBAI: South Korea and Japan are the leading two countries in Asia with regards to internet penetration reaching 91 per cent in 2016. The two are followed by Singapore (84pc), Taiwan (83pc), Azerbaijan (79pc), and Hong Kong (79pc).

China leads in terms of overall number of internet users in 2016 (730 million), followed by India (290 million), Japan (115 million) and Indonesia (63.1 million). The expansion of broadband was for a long time a phenomenon limited to the developed economies, with narrow-band dial-up access being the norm in the majority of the developing countries of the region, WiseGuy Consultants reported Marketers Media as stating.

However this has been gradually changing. In those economies, there is now increasing access to broadband, both DSL and cable modem platforms have both proved popular, with DSL establishing a clear advantage. More recently, one ha sseen the arrival of FttX as an alternative platform for broadband access in Asia. There also continues to be considerable activity in the broadband markets across Asia including amongst the many number of smaller countries such as Azerbaijan, Maldives and Macau.

China leads the fixed broadband market in terms of both overall subscribers and market penetration. Subscribers reached 213 million in 2016 and market penetration reached 53pc. Although China boasts the largest number of broadband connections in the world, annual growth rates are subsiding as housing penetration reaches levels indicative of market maturity.

China Telecom and China Unicom are the largest suppliers of fixed broadband. Fixed broadband levels in China are expected to continue rise more gradually due to a confluence of factors that includes telecom operators seeking revenue growth, a government seeking to reach ambitious targets, the increasing wealth of end users and digital media giants seeking new audience.

However, fixed broadband services will continue to grow based on the sheer volume of data traffic as the market shifts from:
• Connecting people to connecting devices;
• Increasing usage of cloud services;
• Increasing bandwidth demands from higher quality HD and 4K streaming services.

Key highlights of the fixed broadband market in Asia in 2016:
• South Korea and Japan are the leading two countries in Asia with regards to internet penetration.
• Behind South Korea and Japan are Singapore, Taiwan, Azerbaijan, and Hong Kong.
• China leads in terms of overall number of Internet users, followed by India, Japan and Indonesia.
• China leads the fixed broadband market in terms of both overall subscribers and market penetration (53pc).
• South Korea holds second place with fixed broadband subscriber penetration of 41pc in 2016.
• Hong Kong takes third place with fixed broadband subscriber penetration of 32pc in 2016.