OECD says fibre broadband accounts for 12% of fixed subscriptions

Fibre optic broadband services now account for around one in eight fixed-line subscriptions across the world, new figures have revealed.

The statistics, published by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), show the popularity of fibre broadband is continuing to grow, with the technology now constituting 12.3 per cent of fixed lines.

Japan is the world's leading nation in terms of fibre broadband prevalence, as the next-generation service represents 58 per cent of the Far Eastern country's subscriptions.

Despite the rise in global uptake, DSL is still the most widely-used broadband solution, accounting for 57.6 per cent of the market. Cable services are ranked in second place with a 29.4 per cent share.

The OECD's report comes shortly after ABI Research predicted that the number of homes and businesses connected to a fibre broadband service will reach 71 billion by the end of the year.

Fibre has now become the "technology of choice" for many advanced online applications, the analyst claimed.