LONDON--Propelled by a boom in Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) services, China's broadband business is expected to grow by nearly 500% in 2002 and 654.7% in 2003, according to a report from Strategy Analytics here today.
This report predicts that 2.9 million Chinese households will subscribe to broadband Internet services by the end of 2002, up from 500,000 in 2001, according to the market research firm. In 2003, the research firm predicts that 8.4 million Chinese households will have broadband services.
And by 2008, the market will grow by more than fourfold to 36.7 million households in China, the report said.
At present, nearly three-quarters of Chinese households will use a DSL provider, such as state-run carrier China Telecom. Fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) services have also taken off in densely populated areas in the form of metropolitan area networks (MANs).
Residential cable modem services, however, are currently limited by regulatory restrictions.
"The Chinese government is determined to position China as a world leader in broadband adoption," said Nick Griffiths, who tracks the market for Strategy Analytics. "While the rural population is unlikely to benefit, there are signs that broadband connections will soon become the norm for the urban community."
Digital cable TV will struggle in the early years because of high prices. But digital TV will explode in China, from 100,000 users in 2002, to 600,000 in 2003, to 26.7 million by 2008, according to the report.
