Reports Show Broadband Internet Access Increasing

NEW YORK
Recent surveys on broadband Internet access show patterns of robust use and high demand by American consumers. Arbitron Inc. and the Coleman organization conducted a study that shows nearly one-third, or 31 percent, of Americans have high-speed access to the Internet. Of people with high-speed Internet access, 59 percent get broadband access through work; 27 percent have broadband access at home; and 15 percent have access at both home and work. Of the people with broadband access, known as "speedies" by the study, 86 percent say they are "extremely" or "very" satisfied with the high-speed service. College students reported they are more likely to get broadband at home in the future. They also say they are more interested in the Internet for online entertainment than other users, according to the study.
"To improve the number of residential broadband subscribers, providers should consider marketing content rather than just speed," says Coleman's vice president Warren Kurtzman. "Speed is good, but the study shows that it will take more than speed to get people at work to pay for broadband at home."
In another recent study, The Broadband Marathon: Access Technologies Jockey for Subscribers, the number of broadband Internet access subscribers is projected to reach 21 million by the end of 2001 and to quadruple to 84 million by 2005. The study, conducted by the Cahners In-Stat Group, attributes the rapid growth in broadband access to the increasing dependence on the Internet for information, communications, business, entertainment and downloading high-bandwidth applications.
The report says that cable-modem Internet service will continue to be the most widespread broadband application in North America, but digital subscriber line (DSL) Internet service will surpass cable service worldwide in 2002, with satellite and wireless broadband services continuing to lag behind for several years. Fiber optic cable service is expected to have the highest global growth rate, from 10,000 subscribers this year to 3 million by 2005, according to researchers.