OECD: Demand soars for future-proof fixed, mobile broadband access

As the use of high-quality, affordable and ubiquitous connectivity becomes the norm in the 100 countries it covers, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has revealed survey data showing increasing demand for broadband technologies, such as fibre and 5G mobile networks that help “future-proof” networks.

The Broadband statistics study found that since Covid, total fibre broadband connections in OECD countries have surged by 73%, growing from 122 million in December 2019 to 211 million at year-end 2023. In addition, fibre broadband connections accounted for 42% of all fixed broadband subscriptions by the end of 2023, compared with 38% a year earlier, while 5G comprised 28% of mobile broadband subscriptions, a 9% increase compared with the end of 2022.

The countries with the highest share of fibre connections in total fixed broadband are Korea (89.6%), followed by Iceland (89%), Spain (86%), Lithuania (80%) and Japan (79%). Fibre is crucial to future-proof networks that support digital transformation as it offers symmetrical upload and download speeds, provides scalability and helps support 5G mobile networks.

With a consequence of transitioning to future-proof broadband access being the shutdown of legacy DSL copper networks, across the OECD, the share of DSL subscriptions has decreased significantly in four years, from 33% of total fixed broadband subscriptions in 2019 to 20% by the end of 2023.

The pace of making a transition to future-proof fibre networks was seen as most apparent in OECD member countries in Latin America – notably Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Costa Rica. Over the past four years, these countries have experienced a 258% increase in fibre connections while legacy DSL subscriptions declined by 66%. OECD Nordic members such as Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden that initiated this technological shift approximately eight years ago experienced a growth rate of 36% in fibre and a 77% decline in DSL over the same period (2019-23).

Fixed broadband subscriptions are still growing in OECD countries, totalling 496.5 million by December 2023, with an average of 36 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants. This marks an increase of 63 million, or 15% since the end of 2019. France leads in penetration rates with 47 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants, followed closely by Korea (46.6), Switzerland (46.2) and Norway (46). 

Despite what it regarded as already high penetration rates, the OECD report showed mobile broadband subscriptions have also grown, increasing by 19% between 2019 and 2023, reaching 1.86 billion subscriptions by December 2023, up from 1.56 billion four years earlier. Japan and the US led mobile broadband penetration, with 203.5 and 190 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants respectively, followed closely by Estonia and Finland, with 176 and 160 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants respectively.

The report also discovered growing demand for high-quality broadband offers across OECD countries, with the share of gigabit offers more than tripling in four years, reaching 14% of fixed broadband subscriptions in December 2023. This is a rise of 4% since the end of 2019. This demand was also mirrored in mobile data usage. The average monthly data consumption per mobile broadband subscription in OECD increased by 20% in just one year, and more than doubled over the past four years (2019-23), climbing from 6 to 13 GB. 

Fixed wireless access (FWA) was found to be emerging as a connectivity offering in sparsely populated and remote areas due to its lower deployment costs. Although FWA subscriptions accounted for just 5% of the total fixed broadband subscriptions in OECD countries, certain countries had notably high adoption rates by the end of 2023. Specifically, Czechia at 39%, the Slovak Republic at 23%, New Zealand at 19% and Estonia at 18%.

Machine-to-machine SIM cards were experiencing the highest growth rates among all indicators, with a 15% increase in just one year.