Consumer demand for IPTV seems to be driving the rollout of higher bandwidth options. In terms of technology, fiber and wireless broadband continue to gain access technology market share.

According to the Broadband Forum, in the past twelve months, broadband subscription in Europe grew 13 per cent overall, to reach 135 million, which included an impressive growth of 29 per cent in the Eastern European territories.

Figure 1 shows the top ten broadband countries. Europe is the second largest broadband region in the world, and holds four of the top 10 country spots as detailed below.

Based on data provided for the Broadband Forum by industry analysts Point Topic, global broadband grew by 12.9 million lines in the second quarter of 2009 to reach 445 million, while IPTV growth

remained strong at 11 percent - reaching 26.9 million. Europe continues to lead the IPTV success story with 13,631,074 subscribers, a 51 per cent growth over the twelve months leading up to July 2009.
Figure 2 shows the broadband regional growth numbers. In the second quarter 2009, there was a healthy six per cent growth in Western Europe, where France remains the as the leading IPTV country with more than seven million subscribers. Eastern Europe had a 12 percent growth where new services in countries such as Poland, Czech Republic, Slovenia and Russia are in demand.

The Americas have also continued to show massive growth in IPTV, where over the last 12 months there has been an increase of 86 percent, partly due to a major commitment by two of the region's leading operators.

Figure 1. Top Ten Broadband Countries

Figure 2. Broadband Regional Growth

Figure 3 shows IPTV subscriptions by territory. The Americas now have reached a major milestone in IPTV, serving over five million IPTV subscribers, which represents nearly 20 percent of IPTV penetration worldwide.

Broadband lines in the world now top 444.2 million. North America had total growth of 3.63 per cent and the USA and Canada between them now have more than 95 million broadband users. In Latin America broadband now serves more than 29 million customers. Brazil, one of the global top 10 countries for broadband, showed solid gains at 4.02 per cent - taking them to 23.3 per cent growth over the year, accounting for more than ten million of the region's users.

The Broadband Forum mission is to develop the full potential of broadband. With the recent union with the IP/MPLS Forum, the Broadband Forum is now the central body for next generation IP network specifications. This organization, comprising around 200 members of most of the world's leading service providers, equipment manufacturers, chip vendors and other key organizations, defines and facilitates next generation networks for local broadband access, mobile backhaul, business services, IPTV, gaming and other applications, and is poised to address further developments as they arise. The Broadband Forum's formal BroadbandSuite™ Release Program, Technical Reports and specifications are publicly available at www.broadband-forum.org.

Figure 3. Subscriptions per Territory