FCC: High-Speed Internet Subscriptions Skyrocket 

Lured by improved access, attractive prices and special promotions, Americans flocked in record numbers to sign up for high-speed Internet access last year, according to a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) study released Tuesday. 

The FCC study found an 80.3 percent jump in 2001, to 12.8 million lines, from 7.1 million lines in 2000, representing the number of homes and business that were wired with Internet cable services, DSL, fiber optic lines and high-speed satellite connections. 


A D V E R T I S E M E N T

Advanced Services 

Of the total number, nearly 7.4 million lines were considered "advanced services" -- having the ability to transmit data at a minimum of 200 Kbps (kilobits per second) during the upload and download process. 

There was a 71 percent increase in such lines from 2000 to 2001. Of those, about 5.8 million were wired into homes and small businesses. 

Cable Internet subscriptions continued a lead in subscribers in 2001, with 7.1 million users, while DSL trailed at 3.9 million. However, growth rates were similar, with 97 and 95 percent jumps from 2000, respectively. 

Availability Increase 

While high-speed Internet service was found in all but 2 percent of the most densely populated areas of the U.S., and went unchanged between 2000 and 2001, broadband access in the least populated areas -- though not necessarily broadband use -- rose to 43 percent in 2001, from 28 percent a year earlier. 

Matthew Davis, director of broadband access technologies for the Yankee Group, told NewsFactor that the growth can be explained by improved broadband deployment. 

"The thing with broadband early on was that there wasn't good availability," he said. "As it has become more available, growth has been very steady." 

Price Factor 

Davis also said he believed that once broadband deployment reached a critical mass, the public would then begin to see major price cuts. He predicted that prices would go from the current US$40 to $50 range to below $30 per month. 

"Once you saturate those markets -- and we've seen it in some of the early markets that got it -- after those early adopters take, then you have to get into better marketing, more price elasticity," said Davis. 

"Then, after lower pricing, they're really going to have to make it a part of bundles," he noted. 

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