The worldwide broadband internet boom continued in the third quarter of last year, with the Middle East and Africa posting double-digit growth figures, research has suggested.
Quarterly broadband adoption statistics released this week by Research and Markets said the Middle East and Africa led broadband growth in Q3 2004, at an overall rate of 11.06 percent and more than one million subscribers.
The North American market had the second highest growth rate at 9.85 percent, reaching 41.76 million subscribers, with Europe third at 9.22 percent and 32.8 million subscribers.
Asia, the world's largest broadband market with 53 million subscribers, posted a relatively slack 8.46 percent growth for the quarter.
According to Research in Markets, broadband is hottest in the home, with 90 percent of subscribers being residential.
Representing the vast majority of broadband users, the number of residential subscribers worldwide rose 9.24 percent over the previous quarter to 115.36 million worldwide.
The third quarter residential growth rate was almost three points higher than in the previous quarter.
DSL was the broadband technology of choice for 7.8 million customers worldwide, 72 percent of new subscribers.
Only 2.5 million new users used cable internet services. Five percent chose other broadband technologies.