Broadband subscribers approach 300 million

According to research by Point Topic, there were 298 million broadband subscribers around the globe in March 2007 and the number could have now passed the 300 million mark.

France was the fastest growing broadband user in the first quarter of 2007, with a 9.6% increase in the number of subscribers to 15.3 million.

The US kept its position as the largest broadband country in the world, growing to 60.4 million subscribers in the quarter - an increase of 2.9 million.

China is catching up with the leader - it how has 56.3m broadband subscribers. Japan is in third place with 26.5 million subscribers and Germany is fourth with 16.1 million. The UK takes seventh place with 14 million.

Broadband usage in Eastern Europe grew 10 percent in the quarter. The region was the only one to record double digit growth and was also home to 3 out of the 10 fastest growing countries worldwide.

South Korea led the way in terms of broadband penetration, with nearly 90 percent of households connected to broadband.

The research highlighted a marked divide in broadband usage in advanced economies and the developing world where usage is struggling to take off. In South Africa, for example, only 1.8% of the population are connected to broadband and there were just 215,000 users as at the end of March.