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DSL is leading a global boom in broadband Internet access. Over the 12 months that ended June 30, DSL subscribers grew to 78 million, while the number of subscribers using all types of broadband services surpassed 123 million, the DSL Forum says.

There were more than 30 million new DSL subscribers--a growth rate of more than 62 percent--while broadband subscriptions overall grew at 55 percent, according to a DSL Forum statement. DSL's gain in total subscriber numbers was more than double that of cable and other broadband access technologies, the group says.

Industry analysis company Point Topic compiled the figures for the DSL Forum from carrier records, says Forum spokesperson Kristi Kosloske.

DSL subscriber growth was fastest in South and East Asia, at 110 percent, followed by 107 percent growth for the year in Africa and the Middle East and 104 percent in Latin America. However, Europe nudged the Asia-Pacific region as a whole out of the top spot for total DSL subscriptions for a region, gaining about 11 million subscribers to surpass 23 million, the statement says. There were just under 23 million DSL users in the Asia-Pacific region.

Around the World

The most dense DSL deployments remain in East Asia, led by South Korea, where 28.7 percent of phone lines carried DSL in the second quarter of this year. Taiwan had 20.8 percent penetration, and in Hong Kong, 19.6 percent of lines had DSL. Iceland, Belgium, and Israel filled out the top five markets for DSL penetration.

Mainland China, excluding Hong Kong, led the world in DSL subscriptions at 12.7 million, jumping up from fourth place a year earlier with nearly 7 million new subscribers. Japan was the second-largest DSL market with just over 12 million subscriptions and the United States was third with 11.4 million. South Korea was fourth, with 6.7 million, and Germany fifth, with 5 million.

Counting all technologies, the United States is the largest broadband market in the world with 29.1 million total subscribers. DSL subscriptions in the United States grew by 4 million, or about 48 percent, in the 12-month period, compared with 31 percent growth in cable and other technologies, the Forum says. DSL's market share in the United States is 39 percent, Kosloske says.