DSL subscriptions dropping drastically

WORLD DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) subscriptions are dropping, while speeds lines are simultaneously increasing, giving subscribers value for their money, a market research survey revealed last week.

With a drop rate of 20 per cent during the first three quarters of this year, DSL has the largest average worldwide price drop.

Broadband users are said to have paid $66.75 on average for a subscription during the first quarter and $53.32 during the third.

In comparison the average subscription prices for cable Internet was down ja little over 12 percent and for different versions of fiber access to the home, usually dubbed FTTx, was down by 6.5 percent.

Point Topic CEO, Oliver Johnsons, attributed the drop to to competitive pressure, and the current world economic climate.

Middle East and African subscribers are said to be paying paying over $46 per megabit for DSL access, compared to Western Europe where subscribers are paying only $6.23 per megabit.

The average price per megabit using DSL in the North America and Asia Pacific is $16.10 and $3.80, respectively.

Fiber is by far the cheapest access technology if prices per megabit are compared, it was four times cheaper than cable and ten times cheaper than DSL in the third quarter. When average monthly subscription prices are compared cable Internet is the cheapest option.
The future of broadband will increasingly be about fiber.

When fiber has been put in place it becomes the dominant broadband access technology in four to five years, at the cost of cable and DSL.

“DSL is going to have a really hard time, and we will see a gradual erosion of its market share,” said Johnson


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