India and China are sure to write a growth story in broadband adoption in Asia-Pacific region in next few years, according to ABI Research which provides in-depth analysis and quantitative forecasting of trends in global connectivity and other emerging technologies. 

The research says that in 1Q 2012, Asia-Pacific was alone in adding nearly seven million subscribers, most notably by net subscriber additions in China. China is aggressively upgrading its broadband infrastructure with optical fiber. The Chinese government allocated 80% of its $303 billion infrastructure investment for broadband development. China Telecom plans to hit 100 million fiber broadband subscribers by the end of 2015. The company is accelerating cloud computing and other Internet applications to speed up broadband adoption.

India is the next country trying to boost broadband adoption in the Asia-Pacific with a central government aim to achieve 175 million broadband subscribers by 2017. Although the target seems aggressive, the ongoing cable digitalization process, coupled with initiatives such as e-government services in banking, education, and healthcare, will definitely drive broadband uptake in India.

“Being driven by broadband deployments in China and India, the Asia-Pacific broadband market is expected to grow faster than other regions, generating service revenue of $92.2 billion in 2017,” says Khin Sandi Lynn, research analyst, broadband.

The worldwide fixed broadband market continues to grow, despite a surge in mobile broadband adoption. The number of fixed broadband subscribers reached 586.7 million in 1Q 2012, generating service revenue of $47.7 billion. Fixed broadband infrastructure is expanding in different countries around the world due to broadband’s socioeconomic benefits. In the countries with high broadband penetration, networks are being upgraded to provide better quality of service.