Wireless broadband penetration has grown to 68.4% in the OECD area, according to June 2013 data, meaning there are now more than two wireless subscriptions for every three inhabitants.

Wireless broadband subscriptions in the 34-country group were up 16.63% from a year earlier to a total of 851 million, driven by continuing strong demand for smartphones and tablets.

Six countries (Australia, Denmark, Finland, Korea, Japan and Sweden) now lie above the 100% penetration threshold and Australia has edged into first place after a 13% surge in smartphone subscriptions in the first half of 2013.

 Fixed wired broadband subscriptions in the OECD area reached 332 million as of June 2013, making an average penetration of 26.7%. Switzerland, the Netherlands and Denmark remained at the top of the table with 43.8%, 40.0% and 39.7% respectively.

DSL is still the prevalent technology, making up 52.69% of fixed broadband subscriptions, but it continues to be gradually replaced by fibre, now at 15.75% of subscriptions. Cable (30.91%) accounted for most of the remaining subscriptions.

Two-digit annual growth in fibre was sustained thanks to increases in large OECD economies with low penetration levels such as France (32% in 6 months), Spain (34%), Turkey (33%) and the United Kingdom (47%). Japan and Korea remain the OECD leaders, with fibre making up 68.45% and 62.76% of fixed broadband connections.

Data and charts for the June 2013 broadband statistics are available at the OECD Broadband Portal (http://www.oecd.org/sti/ict/broadband). The Portal now includes a webpage with links to national broadband maps in OECD countries.