Mobile Broadband’s Boom
Are wired data connections going the way of phone landlines?
Throughout much of the world, growth in wired broadband connections is slowing. In some countries the market appears to be saturated at around 30 to 35 subscriptions per 100 people. In other countries the number of wired broadband subscriptions has even declined. Not so with wireless broadband, according to the latest figures released by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which include data collected through June 2012.
This article originally appeared in print as “It’s a Mobile, Mobile World.”
Stephen Cass is the special projects editor at IEEE Spectrum. He currently helms Spectrum's Hands On column, and is also responsible for interactive projects such as the Top Programming Languages app. He has a bachelor's degree in experimental physics from Trinity College Dublin.