BROADBAND'S RISE TO DOMINANCE, INCREASING FROM 32 MILLION U.S. HOUSEHOLDS IN 2004 TO 69 MILLION IN 2010

US

JupiterResearch: The overall online population in the United States is maturing and will grow relatively modestly over the next five years, from 75 million households at the end of 2004 to 88 million by the end of 2010. Residential broadband adoption, however, will increase dramatically from slightly under half of online households in 2004 to 78% of online households by the end of 2010. As broadband surpasses half of U.S. online households, the revolution everyone has expected for so long is finally here. With a clearer value proposition and increasingly reasonable prices, the question people ask themselves is shifting from 'why would I get broadband?' to 'why wouldn't I get broadband?.

The U.S. broadband market will remain a closely contested race between cable modem and phone line-based DSL services, with other technologies relegated to relatively minor roles. The greater availability of cable modems, and cables earlier start offering service means that cable modems will remain the leading residential broadband technology in the U.S.. DSL providers can neither rest on their laurels nor delay deployments to encourage regulatory concessions without risking losing even more ground to the cable operators."

• A digital divide still exists amongst seniors, kids, African-Americans, Hispanics and low-income households but this gap will narrow over time.

• The Internet gets a little grayer. Online seniors will grow the fastest of any age group, doubling from nearly 10 million in 2004 to just over 20 million by 2010.

• Nearly one-half of online users will access the Internet from multiple locations, with 65 million online adults having access from both work and home in 2010.

Portrait of the Online Population: 2004-2010 Publ 20050602