Washington, Dec 03: Global broadband subscribers will touch the 100 million mark by the end of 2003, according to new research by telecommunications analyst firm RHK. Global broadband subscribers reached 87.7 million during third quarter 2003, representing a quarter-over-quarter growth rate of 15 per cent.

DSL subscribers grew by 20 per cent versus global cable-modem growth of 7 per cent.

''DSL continues to dominate the global broadband subscriber base,'' says broadband access networks program director Teresa Mastrangelo.

''Other broadband technologies, such as two-way satellite and fixed broadband wireless, have been insignificant, contributing less than one per cent to the overall total.'' North America saw the lowest regional growth rate for the quarter at eight per cent. Asia-pacific continued to demonstrate strong broadband demand with its subscriber base, which grew by 23 per cent.

In the third quarter, Japan passed Korea as the leading broadband country in Asia, with 11.6 million subscribers. Korea is now in second with 11.2 million.

Korea continues down a strong VDSL path, now supporting 1.13 million VDSL subscribers. Korea telecom leads the VDSL charge with 1.1 million. Quickly catching up with the rest of the Asia-Pacific region, China's broadband subscriber base now reaches 9.4 million and will likely surpass Korea and Japan within the next two quarters, RHK said.

Bureau Report