The number of IPTV subscriptions worldwide reached 51 million during the second quarter of 2011, according to statistics published by the Broadband Forum on Tuesday, representing a 7.8% increase on Q2 2010.
Citing statistics from research firm Point Topic during Broadband World Forum in Paris, the industry body revealed that France still has the highest IPTV penetration with 11.05 million customers, or 50% of broadband-connected homes, receiving an IPTV service. Every market covered in the survey with the exception of Spain saw a double-digit increase in the number of IPTV subscriptions.
"IPTV has reached almost 10% of broadband-equipped homes," noted Broadband Forum chief executive Robin Mersh, during a press conference.
Indeed, the number of broadband connections worldwide reached 557.8 million during the second quarter, up from 543.8 million sequentially, and 498.2 million a year ago. China still leads the world, with 144.3 million connections, compared to the U.S. in second place with 89.5 million.
According to the Broadband Forum, India is the fastest-growing fixed broadband market, followed by Brazil then Russia. Mersh insisted that despite India's relatively low penetration, if subscriber growth continues at the same pace it will become one of the top 10 broadband markets at some point next year, along with Mexico.
DSL technology continues to represent the largest proportion of broadband subscriptions, accounting for 52.7% of net additions during the second quarter. However, Mersh noted the growing share of fibre-based connections, particularly hybrid fibre/DSL access solutions, which now have a 14.8% share of the broadband market.
With that in mind, the Broadband Forum also on Tuesday announced the launch of its G-PON certification programme, which aims to accelerate the deployment of fibre by driving the development and adoption of standards-compliant, interoperable network infrastructure.