OECD stats: The US has the most broadband subscribers, but still has some work to do

The US is number one when it comes to the number of broadband subscribers: we have 93 million -- far and away the most of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries (which does not include India and China). Of course, with the largest population of any of the OECD countries, this metric is unsurprising -- and somewhat useless.

Most of the OECD broadband subscriptions are still DSL-based, but fiber subscriptions are growing, albeit fairly slowly. The US is in the lower part of the pack and below the OECD average when it comes to growth in fiber subscriptions year over year with a 11.8 percent growth rate. We also rank 14th in the percentage of fiber connections overall at 7.72 percent, so it’s not like our growth is slowing because we’ve already connected so many neighborhoods with fiber to the premise. But that is changing with new installations by Google, AT&T, CenturyLink and others. So, when it comes to the next generation broadband technology that will help secure our place at the top of the OECD charts in more meaningful broadband stats, the US should probably get a move on with fiber to the home installs.

We are faring well on wireless broadband penetration with almost everyone having a phone (we’re No. 2 to Japan’s No. 1) and most of us have data integrated into our phone plans and devices as opposed to relying on separate dongles.