by relatively mature markets and consumer use cases like enhanced mobile broadband , but that ’ s changing . We ’ re now entering a second wave for 5G that will see the technology engage a diverse set of new markets and audiences ,” said Peter Jarich , Head of GSMA Intelligence . As of January 2023 , more than 90 fixed broadband service providers ( the vast majority of which are mobile operators ) had launched commercial 5G-based fixed wireless services across over 48 countries . This means around 40 % of 5G commercial mobile launches worldwide currently include an FWA offering . SATELLITE . The new space race focuses on satellite Internet with a promise of higher speed and lower latency for industrial and business-oriented communication applications . As the connectivity revolution gathers momentum , low earth orbit satellites ( LEOs ) penetrate innovative application areas because of superior performance and positioning compared to geostationary and middle earth orbit satellites in remote tracking , climate monitoring , and inter-vehicular networking , according to GlobalData , a data and analytics company .
Sanchari Chatterjee , senior disruptive tech analyst at GlobalData , notes : “ Post Covid-19 pandemic , LEOs could be potentially critical to offer lightning speed broadband services , tracking of assets , securitising data , and strengthening the network infrastructure .” DEMAND . The demand for broadband connectivity over both fixed and mobile broadband networks is increasing dramatically . Yet , despite network expansions and upgrades , only half of households worldwide currently have access to fixed broadband services . With the rollout of LEO constellations , satellite broadband services will improve broadband penetration significantly .
“ LEO satellites will play an important role in satellite broadband services in the years to come ,” explains Khin Sandi Lynn , industry analyst at ABI Research . “ High Throughput Satellite ( HTS ) LEO systems can support multi-Gbps speed per satellite . Orbiting around 800-1600 km from the Earth ’ s surface , LEO systems offer a major advantage of low latency between 30-50 milliseconds , enabling LEO broadband services to support low latency services such as online gaming and live video streaming .”
Traditionally , Geostationary Earth Orbit ( GEO ) satellites are mainly used to provide broadband services to homes and businesses in remote or rural areas where the deployment of mobile or fixed broadband connectivity is challenging . Although GEO satellites support viable speed over 100 Mbps speed broadband access , their distance from the Earth surface , about 36,000 km , creates a drawback of longer latency as high as 600ms , limiting the use of low latency applications . STARLINK . Elon Musk ’ s Starlink broadband-by-satellite system now has more than 1.5m subscribers around the globe . A major and well-established rival , EchoStarowned Hughes Network System has more than 1.3m subs ‘ in the Americas ’. Viasat of California does not divulge subscriber numbers but at the last public declaration ( Spring 2021 ) it stated it had 590,000 subs .
The advantage that Starlink has over the HughesNet and Viasat systems is one of latency . Starlink ’ s low-flying satellites have impressively speedy connections while Hughes and Viasat use geostationary satellites , allowing Starlink to offer a better experience for tasks such as video chats and online gaming , which require faster , lower-latency connections for real-time interaction .
As broadband connectivity is becoming an essential service in today ’ s homes , satellite broadband services will remain an important part of the broadband market , says GlobalData . There is inevitable competition from terrestrial broadband networks as a result of the expansion of fixed broadband networks and mobile networks . The expansion of LTE and 5G networks will challenge the satellite broadband industry by supplying fixed wireless access ( FWA ) services to residential users . However , the cost and time associated with terrestrial network deployments can limit distribution in remote areas . “ Satellite systems will continue to provide broadband services to underserved and unserved areas ,” Lynn says .
LEO systems ’ arrival will benefit users in remote areas by supporting high-speed , low latency broadband service . “ The challenge of LEO-based broadband service currently is the cost of terminals , which are relatively high compared to existing satellite or terrestrial platforms . LEO satellite operators need to find ways to lower the terminal cost . Flexible packages and pricing could make the services affordable for users in both developed and emerging markets . Even though heavy subsidising of hardware costs may be required initially , the ability to boost adoption rates will help ecosystem development and eventually lower the hardware cost ,” Lynn concludes . BROADAND . Broadband market intelligence specialist Point Topic has updated its forecasts of fixed broadband take-up for 96 markets to the end of 2030 . The forecasts are based on its quarterly broadband take-up data up to Q2 2022 and include both residential and business connections . Point Topic forecasts that by the end of 2030 , there will be more than 1.595 billion fixed broadband subscribers across the globe . This is a slight increase from 1.55 billion it predicted in its forecast published in October 2021 . Between mid- 2022 and end-2030 , global fixed broadband subscribers will grow by 18 %.
The highest growth in fixed broadband subscribers ( 45.5 %) will come from the Emerging markets , where broadband services were introduced earlier than in the Youthful markets but there is still plenty of room to increase take-up . A number of countries in the Emerging category have been expanding fixed broadband infrastructure , especially focusing on fibre .
The demand for ultrafast broadband has been increasing at healthy rates in these generally large and growing populations and economies , with Indonesia and Philippines just a couple of examples . Youthful countries will see the second highest growth at 16 %. Here , fixed broadband take-up has already grown at high speed and so they will see growth rates slow down . To date , the growth curve of Youthful markets has been the steepest , with the likes of China having invested heavily in their broadband infrastructure over the last decade . FIBRE . The share of FTTH and FTTB in the total fixed broadband subscriptions continued to increase and stood at 65 %. Superfast and ultrafast cable broadband connections followed with a 17 % share , while ADSL fell to 9 %., The highest fibre broadband subscriber growth rates in Q3 2022 were in India , Brazil , France and Mexico .
Between Q2 2022 and Q3 2021 , the share of FTTH connections in the total fixed broadband subscriptions went up by 0.7 % and stood at 61.4 %. FTTB accounted for another 4 % of the global total . Cable and ADSL broadband connections saw their market shares shrink further to 17 % and 9.4 % respectively . VDSL subscriber numbers grew in fifteen countries ( including the large VDSL markets of Tunisia , Turkey , Czech Republic , Germany and Italy , for example ), while they fell in at least nineteen other markets as consumers migrated to fibre .
With fibre being a dominant technology , Point Topic looked at the growth of FTTH / B in the markets with at least 0.5m fibre broadband connections . The highest fibre broadband subscriber growth rates in Q3 2022 were in India , Brazil , France and Mexico . Overall , a mixture of mature and youthful markets from Asia , Europe and Americas recorded healthy quarterly growth in fibre broadband connections . However , the growth was generally slower than in Q2 2022 , as recession started to bite and consumers were more reluctant to switch to more advanced broadband plans , slowing down fibre broadband adoption .
In terms of FTTH / B broadband net additions in Q3 2022 , China continued to maintain a huge lead with 15m while Brazil added almost 1.5m . Spain and Argentina were pushed out of the top ten league by Germany and Mexico .
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