Korea, Iceland, Spain, Finland, and Lithuania lead the OECD with greater than 80% of mounted broadband delivered by way of fiber
In sum – what to know:
Fiber dominates – Fiber penetration throughout OECD international locations surged to 47%, changing into the spine of digital economies and overtaking legacy DSL and cable connections.
5G reshapes cellular connectivity – 5G now represents 37% of cellular broadband subscriptions, led by sturdy adoption in Korea, Denmark and Hungary.
Affordability and IoT growth – Broadband costs fell as much as 34% as M2M connections almost doubled, highlighting a shift towards linked industries and inexpensive, high-quality networks.
OECD economies have undergone speedy digital transformation between 2019 and 2024, pushed by fiber, 5G, mounted wi-fi entry (FWA) and satellite tv for pc broadband, OECD mentioned in a launch.
The entity famous that the COVID-19 pandemic underscored digital connectivity as crucial infrastructure, spurring demand for dependable, high-capacity broadband.
Over 5 years, gigabit broadband presents grew 4.5 occasions — from 4% in 2019 to 19% in 2024 — whereas cellular information utilization greater than doubled to fifteen GB per subscription per thirty days, in response to the OECD report. Fiber now accounts for 47% of all mounted broadband subscriptions, up from 28% in 2019, and has overtaken legacy copper and cable applied sciences, it added.
Korea, Iceland, Spain, Finland and Lithuania lead the OECD with greater than 80% of mounted broadband delivered by way of fiber. In the meantime, 5G adoption continues to speed up, reaching 37% of all cellular broadband subscriptions, led by Denmark, Hungary and Korea.
The report additionally famous that broadband providers have turn into extra inexpensive, with cellular costs down 34% and stuck broadband down 20% between 2020 and 2025. Whereas mounted broadband progress has slowed in mature markets, it stays sturdy in rising ones comparable to Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Türkiye, the place fiber deployment continues to exchange older networks.
Cell broadband subscriptions have continued to develop steadily throughout OECD, increasing by 4.6% per yr on between 2019 and 2024. Japan and the USA maintained the very best cellular broadband penetration charges, with 210 and 200 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants respectively, adopted by Estonia (177), Israel (167) and Finland (157), above the OECD common of 140.
“Mounted Wi-fi Entry and satellite tv for pc broadband are serving to shut last-mile connectivity gaps, whereas M2M connectivity almost doubled to 642 million energetic SIMs, powering IoT growth in transport, vitality and manufacturing. The OECD notes that post-pandemic digital transformation is shifting from entry to the standard, resilience and affordability of broadband providers.
“Mounted Wi-fi Entry (FWA) has turn into an necessary driver in narrowing spatial connectivity gaps, offering a flexible and quickly implementable complementary mounted broadband entry know-how,” the report said, including that the share of FWA subscriptions in whole mounted broadband tripled in 5 years, reaching 6% of whole mounted broadband subscriptions inside OECD international locations on the finish of 2024, up from 2% in 2019.
“Satellite tv for pc broadband can be a necessary technique of increasing broadband entry in distant areas. Whereas it continues to signify a comparatively modest phase of the market, accounting for simply 1% of mounted broadband subscriptions throughout OECD international locations on the finish 2024, the know-how has demonstrated constant momentum, particularly with developments in low earth orbit (LEO) constellations and direct-to-device tendencies,” the report added.