AUSTIN, Texas -- As the demand for streaming video and video-on-demand services over broadband connections remain strong, IMS Research predicts that Very High Speed DSL, or VDSL, connections will continue to grow, especially in areas where operators are planning extensive Fiber-to-the-Neighborhood (FTTN) roll-out. IMS Research predicts global VDSL usage will increase substantially in 2005, reaching nearly seven million broadband subscribers by the end of the year, a 90% year-on-year increase from 2004.

According to broadband analyst Melissa Yocom, “The growing demand for video, voice, and data services via broadband is providing a key opportunity for VDSL to penetrate broadband homes. There will be a substantial time lag before operators are able to deploy fiber-optics all the way to the premise, leaving VDSL as one of the best alternatives to enable high-bandwidth applications such as streaming video and voice solutions.”

The distance reach limitation of VDSL technology has historically hindered progressive deployments in areas outside of densely populated, fiber-optic rich areas such as South Korea and Japan. However, plans by operators to extend FTTN networks has rejuvenated the potential for VDSL, giving the technology an opportunity to penetrate an ADSL saturated market.

VDSL market data can be found in the IMS Research study entitled The Broadband Yearbook. The report provides market forecasts and analysis of the worldwide market for broadband subscribers in over 30 countries in 3 regions, with segmentation by subscriber type and technology type, to the year 2009. Statistics of global DSL and Cable CPE equipment is also present in terms of both revenue and unit shipments.

IMS Research