OECD Broadband Penetration Reaches 25.66%, Experts Say China's Rate Is Only Half

On May 15 at noon (Yang Xiao), at the "2013 Broadband Communications and IoT High-Level Forum" held this morning, Liu Duo, Deputy Director of the Telecommunications Research Institute under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, pointed out that OECD broadband penetration is 25.66%, while China's broadband penetration is only half of the OECD average, and it is expected to take 5-7 years to catch up.

According to Liu Duo, China's broadband development is in the accelerated diffusion phase of the "S" curve, and the gap with OECD penetration levels has been narrowing for four consecutive years, "from a 15.5% gap in 2008 to a 13% gap in 2012. However, overall, there is still a risk of the gap widening."

Meanwhile, Liu Duo also stated that the regional broadband penetration gap in China is showing a widening trend. "By the end of 2012, rural broadband users in China reached 40.76 million, accounting for only 23.3% of the national total, with a population penetration rate of only 6.3%, lagging behind urban areas by 12.6%, and the gap risks further expansion. Broadband users in the central and western regions were 44.24 million and 35.98 million respectively, with population penetration rates lagging behind the eastern region by 6.7% and 7.3% respectively, and the gap has not narrowed."

Additionally, Liu Duo pointed out that the overall broadband access speed for Chinese users is relatively low. "Although China's broadband access network is growing at a relatively fast pace, the overall speed remains significantly lower than that of developed countries. Nearly 40% of users still use broadband access below 4Mbps, far lower than the mainstream access speed of 10Mbps in developed countries."

"Although test results vary significantly due to different testing methods, China's actual speed ranks in the middle-to-lower range globally, still showing a considerable gap compared with developed countries such as Japan, South Korea, and Europe," Liu Duo said.