Need for speed to drive fibre optic broadband growth?

Desire for faster web access could lead to a surge in fibre optic broadband lines in the coming years.

The biggest driver of broadband subscription growth is the ability to browse the web, download and upload via a high-speed connection, according to market intelligence firm In-Stat.

Bandwidth-heavy services such as internet protocol-based telephony, music downloads and online videos are "directly spurring" this demand for faster web access, the organisation claimed.

It insisted this desire is behind the continued growth in the number of global broadband subscribers, with this figure standing at 763 million at the end of 2010.

At present, the Asia-Pacific region is a hotspot for fibre optic cable broadband, In-Stat added, with 76 per cent of all fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) connections found in this part of the world.

However, some UK providers are currently trialling the technology, with Plusnet stating the service offers download speeds of up to 100Mbps, along with a maximum upload capacity of 15Mbps.