Tag: #OECD

Future-proof broadband access technologies gain ground for both fixed and mobile networks across the OECD in 2023

Broadband technologies such as fibre and 5G mobile networks which help “future-proof” networks, continue to grow rapidly to meet the increasing demand for high-quality, affordable and ubiquitous connectivity, the latest OECD broadband data reveals.

Across OECD, fibre connections accounted for 42% of all fixed broadband subscriptions by the end of 2023, compared to 38% a year earlier, while 5G comprised 28% of mobile broadband subscriptions, a 9% increase compared to the end of 2022. Since COVID, total fibre connections in OECD countries have surged by 73%, growing from 122 million in December 2019 to 211 million at year-end 2023.

The countries with the highest share of fibre connections in total fixed broadband are Korea (89.6%), followed by Iceland (89%), Spain (86%), Lithuania (80%), and Japan (79%). Fibre is crucial to future-proof networks that support digital transformation as it offers symmetrical upload and download speeds, scalability and helps support 5G mobile networks.

Transitioning to future-proof broadband access requires the shutdown of legacy copper networks (e.g. DSL). Across the OECD, the share of DSL subscriptions has decreased significantly in four years, from 33% of total fixed broadband subscriptions in 2019 to 20% by the end of 2023.

OECD member countries in Latin America – notably Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica and Mexico – have accelerated their transition to future-proof networks. Over the past four years, these countries have experienced a 258% increase in fibre connections while legacy DSL subscriptions declined by 66%.

OECD Nordic members such as Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden that initiated this technological shift approximately eight years ago, experienced a growth rate of 36% in fibre and a 77% decline in DSL over the same period (2019-23).

Despite already high penetration rates, mobile broadband subscriptions have also grown, increasing by 19% between 2019 and 2023, reaching 1.86 billion subscriptions by December 2023, up from 1.56 billion four years earlier. Japan and the United States lead in mobile broadband penetration, with 203.5 and 190 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants respectively, followed closely by Estonia and Finland with 176 and 160 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants respectively. This growth is likely due to an increase of 5G deployments across the OECD, which are now present in 37 of 38 OECD countries.

The top end of networks also continues to grow. There is growing demand for high-quality broadband offers across the OECD. In four years, the share of Gigabit (GB) offers has more than tripled, reaching 14% of fixed broadband subscriptions in December 2023, up from 4% at the end of 2019.

This is mirrored for mobile data usage, which is on a steady rise in OECD countries: the average monthly data consumption per mobile broadband subscription increased by 20% in just one year, and more than doubled over the past four years (2019-23), climbing from 6 to 13 GB.

 

Fixed broadband subscriptions are still growing in OECD countries, totaling 496.5 million by December 2023, with an average of 36 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants. This marks an increase of 63 million, or 15% since the end of 2019. France leads in penetration rates with 47 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants, followed closely by Korea (46.6), Switzerland (46.2), and Norway (46).

Fixed wireless access (FWA) is emerging as a connectivity solution in sparsely populated and remote areas due to its lower deployment costs. Although FWA subscriptions account for a modest 5% of the total fixed broadband subscriptions in OECD countries, certain countries had notably high adoption rates by the end of 2023: Czechia at 39%, the Slovak Republic at 23%, New Zealand at 19%, and Estonia at 18%.

Machine-to-machine (M2M) SIM cards are also experiencing again the highest growth rates among all indicators, with a 15% increase in just one year. Sweden and Austria lead in M2M adoption, with 253 and 209 M2M SIM cards per 100 inhabitants, respectively, followed by Iceland (114), the Netherlands (100), and Norway (75). The significant numbers in Sweden and Iceland are largely due to the issuing and registration of M2M SIM cards by national operators for international use.

 

Download broadband data, charts and maps by country.

Fibre and Fixed Wireless Access are the two fastest-growing fixed broadband technologies in the OECD

The latest OECD statistics show that Fibre and Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) have seen the strongest growth in fixed broadband technologies in three years. Fibre subscriptions have increased by 56% between June 2020 to June 2023, and FWA subscriptions have increased by 64%. The United States (252%), Estonia (153%), Norway (139%) and Spain (118%) led this FWA growth. The dynamism of fibre and FWA stands in stark contrasts to the decline in DSL (- 24%).

Fibre, which is the dominant technology since 2021, amounts to 41% of total fixed broadband subscriptions in June 2023 (see graph below). FWA still represents a more modest share of 3.7% of total fixed broadband subscriptions (in countries where data is available). DSL now represents a share of 22% of total broadband, while cable accounts for 30.5% of overall connections. Satellite, which grew 11% over the last three years, represents 0.7% of fixed broadband subscribers.

Broadband access technologies as share of total fixed broadband subscriptions in OECD countries, June 2023

Nine OECD countries have more than 70% of fibre connections over total broadband, with Korea, Japan, Iceland, Spain leading the way with the highest fibre penetration rates of 89%, 86%, 85%, and 84%, respectively. The highest fibre growth rates are in Europe, with Austria and Belgium having growth rates of 75% and 73% over the last year, closely followed by Mexico with a growth in fibre of 68%. Two other Latin American countries are in the top 7: Costa Rica and Colombia with fibre growth rates of 42% and 34%, respectively.

Mobile data usage per subscription grew substantially by 28% in one year passing from 10.2 GB to 13 GB per subscription per month in OECD countries as of June 2023. The amount of data consumed in countries vary greatly from 6 GB to 46 GB, with Latvia being the OECD leader.

Despite an already very high mobile broadband penetration in the OECD area, overall mobile subscriptions continue to grow by 4.6% over the last year, which totalled 1.8 billion as of June 2023, up from 1.74 billion a year earlier. Mobile broadband penetration is highest in Japan, Estonia, the United States and Finland, with subscriptions per 100 inhabitants at 200%, 192%, 183% and 161%, respectively.

Eighteen countries were able to provide the number of their 5G subscriptions separately from mobile broadband subscriptions. The share of 5G in total mobile broadband subscriptions is 23% on average for the OECD countries that provided this data.

Machine-to-machine (M2M) SIM cards grew 14% increase in one year. The two leading countries are Sweden with 238 M2M SIM cards per 100 inhabitants and Iceland (203), followed by Austria (179), the Netherlands (93) and Norway (76). Both Sweden and Iceland issue M2M SIM cards for international use.

Download broadband data, charts and penetration maps by country at:  http://oe.cd/broadband.

OECD – Growth of mobile data usage continues – but at a slower pace

Mobile data usage continues to grow, but at a slower pace, according to new OECD broadband portal data released on 13 July. Data usage per mobile broadband subscription in OECD countries grew 17% in 2022, compared to an average annual growth rate of 29% between 2017 and 2021. Nonetheless, the volume of mobile data usage overall per subscription has doubled in four years, from 4.7 gigabytes per month to 10.4 GB in 2022.

Of note is the range of mobile data consumption volumes registered across OECD countries, spanning from 4.3 GB per user per month to 42 GB – a 10-fold difference between the lowest and highest volumes observed. The five countries with the highest data usage levels – Latvia (42 GB per month), Finland (40 GB), Austria (30 GB), Lithuania (28 GB) and Iceland (24 GB) – consume three times more data than the OECD average. This gap, between the leading countries and the OECD average, has continued to widen year on year.

Range of mobile data usage per month in OECD countries, 2022

In the fixed broadband segment, fibre is now firmly established as the leading connection technology, accounting for 38% of all fixed subscriptions at the end of 2022, up from 28% in December 2019, shortly before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Belgium, Costa Rica, Austria and Israel increased their fibre connections by more than 40% in 2022. Fibre as a share of all fixed broadband now exceeds 80% in Iceland, Japan, Korea, Spain and Sweden, and is greater than 50% in a further 10 OECD countries (Chile, Finland, France, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal and Slovenia). By contrast, the DSL share of total fixed subscriptions has continued to fall, from 40% five years ago to 24% today, while cable has maintained a steady share over the last five years of around 33%.

Overall, fixed broadband subscriptions are still growing in almost all OECD countries, reaching a total of 481.6 million in December 2022 and averaging 35 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants. This compares to 433 million at the end of 2019 – an increase of 48.6 million, or 11.2%, in three years. Switzerland had the highest penetration rate of 48 subscriptions per 100 people, followed by France (47), Norway (46) and Korea (45).

Mobile broadband subscriptions also continue to expand, despite very high penetration rates, growing by 13% between 2019 and 2022. Total subscriptions reached 1.76 billion in December 2022, up from 1.56 billion three years earlier. Estonia and Japan top the ranking for mobile broadband penetration, with 204 and 197 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants, respectively. The United States and Finland, with 176 and 160, respectively, are not far behind.

The rollout of 5G continues apace. As of July 2023, it was available in 37 out of 38 OECD countries. For the 20 OECD countries able to provide relevant data, the share of 5G in total mobile broadband subscriptions averaged 21%, with the highest share in Denmark (54%), Korea (45%) and Japan (26%).

Machine-to-machine (M2M) SIM cards are once again experiencing the highest growth rates of all indicators, with a 14% increase in one year. The two leading countries are Sweden (222 M2M SIM cards per 100 inhabitants) and Iceland (191), followed by Austria (128), the Netherlands (86) and Norway (72). The issuing and registration of M2M SIM cards by national operators for international usage in Sweden and Iceland accounts for their elevated numbers.

Download broadband data, charts and penetration maps by country at http://oe.cd/broadband.

Fibre is now the dominant broadband access technology in half of all OECD countries

High-speed fibre is now the primary fixed broadband technology in 19 out of 38 OECD countries, according to the latest data. Among these countries, 15 have a share of fibre subscriptions of over 50%.

The latest update of the OECD Broadband Portal shows a 12.3% rise in fibre broadband subscriptions across OECD countries between June 2021 and June 2022, a slightly slower growth rate than the previous 12 months. The need to bolster remote working capacity has remained even as many workers physically returned to the office in 2022, driving demand for fibre connections that provide fast upload and download speeds. Overall, fibre now accounts for 36% of fixed broadband subscriptions in the 38 OECD member countries, up from 22% five years ago.

Korea, Japan and Spain have the highest fibre penetration rates in the OECD at 87%, 84% and 81%, respectively, being among the seven countries with a fibre share of total fixed broadband subscriptions of 70% or above. The highest fibre growth rates in Latin America were in Costa Rica, Chile and Colombia (51%, 35% and 32%, respectively), while in Europe they were Belgium, the United Kingdom and Ireland (87%, 47% and 40%, respectively).

The latest update of the Broadband Portal features 5G subscriptions for the first time, with 14 OECD countries now able to show 5G data as part of their overall mobile broadband data. Overall, of all 38 OECD countries, 5G services are available in 36, with the number of 5G subscriptions representing 17% of mobile broadband subscriptions (in countries with available data). Denmark (41%, 3.5 million subscriptions), Korea (28.5%, 24.6m) and Japan (21%, 51.5m) have seen the highest take-up. Mobile broadband continued to grow overall, with a 6% increase in subscriptions in the year to June 2022.

Cable grew by a more modest 2% in the year to June 2022 and is now declining in 18 countries. It remains the leading fixed broadband technology in eight OECD countries, and is dominant in North and South America, with subscriptions in the United States, Colombia and Costa Rica accounting for 63%, 59% and 56% of the total, respectively (although in Chile fibre has overtaken cable). In Europe, cable remains popular in Belgium, Hungary and the Netherlands, with 53%, 45% and 44%, respectively.

DSL subscriptions fell by 8.5% over the same period, with several OECD countries showing sharp declines. While DSL remains the main broadband technology in several countries, some saw sharp declines in subscriptions, notably Norway (-64%), Chile (-49%) and Sweden (-41%).

Fibre, DSL and cable in total fixed broadband subscriptions, June 2022

Overall, fixed broadband subscriptions in OECD countries totalled 476 million in June 2022, up from 463 million a year earlier, with an average of 34.7 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants. Mobile broadband subscriptions totalled 1.76 billion in June 2022, up from 1.66 billion a year earlier, with an average of 128 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants.

Download broadband data, charts, and penetration maps by country at http://oe.cd/broadband.

Fibre overtakes cable as the primary fixed broadband technology in OECD countries

High-speed fibre internet has for the first time overtaken cable to become the primary fixed broadband technology across the OECD’s 38 member countries with 34.9% of fixed broadband subscriptions, according to the latest data.

The latest update of the OECD broadband portal shows that fibre subscriptions increased by 18.6% over the year to December 2021 to move ahead of cable, now at 32.4% of fixed broadband subscriptions, and DSL at 27% and declining. This is good news for the delivery of data-intense services and applications, given the symmetrical capacity that fibre offers. The biggest growth was in Costa Rica, Israel, Greece and Belgium which all increased fibre connections by more than 80% in 2021. The share of fibre in total broadband is now at 50% or above in 13 OECD countries, standing above 50% in Chile, Finland, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Norway, and Portugal, and above 70% in Iceland, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Spain and Sweden.

Fixed broadband subscriptions by technology 2009-2021

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Fixed broadband subscriptions continue to grow in almost all OECD countries, increasing by 3.9% across the OECD area in 2021 to total 472 million, up from 454 million in December 2020, to average 34.4 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants in the OECD. Switzerland led the pack with a penetration rate of 48.4 subscriptions per 100 people, followed by France (46%), Norway (45%), and Denmark (45%).

Mobile data usage per subscription rose by 15% in 2021, less than in 2020, but still making a rise of 79% over the three years to end-2021. The amount of data consumed averages 8.4 GB per OECD subscription per month but varies greatly by country. Finland leads the way with 36.7 GB per month per subscription, followed by Latvia (29.7 GB) and Austria (26.4 GB) while monthly averages in Mexico and the Slovak Republic are just below 4 GB.

Despite the very high penetration of mobile broadband subscriptions, 2021 still saw significant growth of 5.5%. Mobile broadband penetration is highest in Japan, Estonia, the United States and Finland, with subscriptions per 100 inhabitants at 191%, 180%, 169% and 157%, respectively.

Iceland is by far the leader in machine-to-machine (M2M) communications with 317 M2M SIM cards per 100 inhabitants. The high number is driven by Vodafone Iceland’s provision of M2M subscriptions to help international pharmaceutical companies distribute COVID-19 vaccines. Sweden, Austria, Norway, and Germany also rank highly in terms of M2M SIM cards per head. Sweden’s 191 M2M SIM cards per 100 inhabitants is boosted by the use of these SIM cards in other countries by a Swedish operator. Overall, M2M/integrated mobile cellular subscriptions have increased by more than 16% (58 million new subscriptions) over the past year in the countries for which data were available.

Download broadband data, charts and penetration maps by country at http://oe.cd/broadband

High-speed fibre internet continues its strong growth in OECD countries as DSL declines

High-speed fibre subscriptions grew by 15% across OECD countries from June 2020 to June 2021, as living and working under Covid-19 restrictions continued to drive demand for high-quality internet connections with the rapid upload and download speeds that fibre offers.

The latest update to the OECD’s broadband portal shows fibre now makes up 32% of fixed broadband subscriptions across the OECD’s 38 member countries, up from 12% a decade ago, and is by far the fastest-growing broadband technology, outpacing a 4.5% rise in overall fixed broadband subscriptions. While countries use different technology mixes, 23 OECD countries have now a higher share of fibre than copper-wire DSL in their total fixed broadband connections, up from 20 countries a year ago.

Cable showed more modest growth of 4% in the year to June 2021, and is now declining in 15 countries, yet it remains the main fixed broadband technology for nine OECD countries. DSL subscriptions declined by 6% over the same period, with several OECD countries showing sharp declines.

 

Fibre, DSL and cable subscriptions in total fixed broadband, June 2021

Latin American OECD countries saw significant increases in fibre with growth rates of 74% for Costa Rica, 71% for Chile, 43% for Colombia and 26% for Mexico. Other countries with impressive growth in fibre connections include Israel with 76%, Ireland with 54% and Italy with 53%. Seven countries now have a fibre share of above 70% of their fixed broadband subscriptions: Korea with 86%, Japan with 83%, Lithuania with 77%, Spain with 76%, Sweden with 76%, Iceland with 72% and Latvia with 71%.

Cable remains dominant in North and South America, accounting for 64% of subscriptions in the United States, 62% in Costa Rica, 61% in Colombia, 50% in Canada, 42% in Mexico and 41.4% in Chile, where fibre has overtaken it. In Europe cable is the dominant technology in Belgium (53%), Hungary (46.4%), and The Netherlands (46%).

DSL connections, meanwhile, saw sharp declines of over 30% in Chile (-37%), New Zealand (-32%), Norway (-40%), Spain (-32%), and Sweden (-31%).  Some operators in OECD countries are in the process of shutting down copper connections altogether, for instance in France, Japan, Estonia, Finland, Sweden and Spain.

Mobile broadband continued its inexorable growth with a 6.3% increase in subscriptions in the year to June 2021, a higher rate of growth than in the two previous periods (3.6% in June 2019-June 2020 and 5.8% in June 2018-June 2019.) In contrast, the number of data-only subscriptions declined in 17 out of 38 countries and this category experienced a 0.4% drop in subscriptions. This could be due to greater use of fixed networks at home during Covid-19, which tend to offer a better connection quality for work, education, and leisure.

M2M SIM cards have grown by an impressive 16%, with Sweden, Austria, Iceland and the Netherlands dominating the ranking, having 175.6, 82.5, 82.3 and 50.3 M2M cards respectively per 100 inhabitants.

Overall, fixed broadband subscriptions in OECD countries totalled 462.5 million as of June 2021, up from 443 million a year earlier, to average 33.8 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants. Mobile broadband subscriptions totalled 1.67 billion as of June 2021, up from 1.57 billion a year earlier, and averaged 122 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants.

Download broadband data, charts and penetration maps by country at http://oe.cd/broadband.

High-speed fibre now makes up half of fixed Internet in nine OECD countries. #Broadband #OECD

Nine OECD countries – up from six a year ago – now have high-speed fibre making up 50% or more of their fixed Internet connections, according to an update to the OECD’s broadband portal.

Across the 37 countries studied, the share of fibre in total broadband has only risen slightly, to 27% as of June 30 2019 from 24% a year earlier, reflecting the still-wide gap between countries in rolling out fibre, which enables much faster fixed and mobile Internet. You can see how Ireland fits in HERE

The data shows Lithuania, Latvia, Spain and New Zealand starting to catch up with long-time fibre leaders Korea, Japan and the Nordic countries thanks to a mixture of increased competition, good regulation and policy and new infrastructure investment. Korea and Japan have a fibre share of over 75% in total broadband, while Lithuania, Sweden, Latvia,

Spain, Iceland, Finland and Norway are all above 50% fibre. New Zealand and Portugal are just below 50% and close to joining the leaders.

In the year to June 30 2019, the number of fibre subscriptions increased by 13.8% across the 37 countries measured (the 36 OECD countries plus Colombia, whose accession is imminent.)

                        Percentage of fibre connections in total fixed broadband, June 2019

Cable remains stable with a slight increase of 4.3% in the year to June 30 2019 and accounts for a significant 33.6% of all fixed broadband connections. DSL is increasingly being replaced by fibre and its share has fallen from 41.6% to 35.1% in two years.

Overall country rankings for fixed broadband subscriptions remain very similar to those of the previous years, with Switzerland in the lead having a penetration rate of 46.1 subscriptions per 100 people, followed by France (43.7%), Denmark (43.4%), the Netherlands (43.1%) and Korea (41.9%).

Mobile broadband subscriptions continue to grow strongly at a stable rate of around 7% a year. The countries with the highest penetration rates are Japan, Finland, Estonia, the United States and Australia, with subscriptions per 100 inhabitants at 177%, 155%, 153%, 150% and 144% respectively.

Machine-to-machine (M2M) SIM cards, are experiencing the highest growth of all our indicators with a 30% increase in one year. The leading countries are Sweden with 140.6 M2M SIM cards per 100 inhabitants, followed by Austria, Italy, the United States and the Netherlands. The high number of M2M SIM cards provided by Sweden is due in part to the use of these SIM cards in other countries by a Swedish operator.

The OECD’s broadband statistics cover 37 countries. You can download the underlying data, charts and broadband penetration maps for different countries at http://oe.cd/broadband.

Working with over 100 countries, the OECD is a global policy forum that promotes policies to improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world.