Q1 2026 Broadband Subscribers: Growth Rebounds to 1.1% as China Reverses Q4 Decline

Global fixed broadband subscribers across 124 countries and territories, Q4 2024–Q1 2026

Global fixed broadband subscribers reached 1.591 billion in the first quarter of 2026, up 1.06% on the previous quarter and 4.15% year-on-year. Growth returned to something closer to the pace seen through most of 2025, following a sharp slowdown to 0.46% in Q4 2025. The rebound was concentrated in South and East Asia, which supplied 62.6% of the quarter's net additions, largely because China's subscriber base grew again after contracting in the previous quarter. India remained the fastest-growing large market by some distance, adding 5.91% quarter-on-quarter and 28.33% year-on-year. Fibre[1] extended its lead over other technologies, edging past 73.9% of global subscribers, while cable, copper and partial-fibre connections all continued to contract.

Key points

• Global subscribers: 1.591bn, +1.06% quarter-on-quarter, +4.15% year-on-year — a rebound from Q4 2025's 0.46% slowdown.

• South and East Asia accounted for 62.6% of net adds this quarter, driven mainly by China's return to growth (+0.89% QoQ) after a Q4 decline.

• India (+5.91% QoQ, +28.33% YoY) and Argentina (+4.71% QoQ, +12.5% YoY) were the standout large-market growers.

• Fibre (FTTP) reached 73.93% share of global subscribers, up 0.6 percentage points on the quarter, while cable, copper and FTTx all lost share. Several US operators stopped reporting legacy copper subscriber figures.

• Wireless (mainly FWA) and satellite subscribers grew fastest of all technologies in percentage terms (+6.61% and +11.02% QoQ respectively), though both remain a small fraction of the global base.

Our new interactive tool, available to subscribing customers, brings these figures to life.

South and East Asia Drives the Rebound as Western Europe Nears a Standstill

The global subscriber base grew 1.06% quarter-on-quarter in Q1 2026, adding 16.7 million net subscribers and taking the total to 1.591 billion (Figure 1). That is more than double the 0.46% rate recorded in Q4 2025, though it sits within the 0.46%–1.47% range seen across the six quarters in this dataset, so we would characterise it as a return to trend rather than an acceleration. Year-on-year growth stood at 4.15%, adding 63.5 million subscribers since Q1 2025.

Figure 1. Global fixed broadband subscribers, 2024 Q4–2026 Q1. Source: Point Topic.

Table 1 sets out subscriber shares and net-adds shares by region for the latest two quarters. South and East Asia remains comfortably the largest region, with 50.82% of global subscribers, and it supplied 62.6% of the quarter's net additions. Latin America grew fastest of any region in percentage terms (+1.78% QoQ), followed by the Middle East and Africa (+1.56%), both still some way behind South and East Asia in absolute additions given the difference in market size. Western Europe was the weakest performer, growing just 0.19% QoQ, which continued a gradual loss of global share from 11.38% in Q4 2025 to 11.28% in Q1 2026.

Table 1. Regional subscriber share and net-adds share, Q1 2026 vs Q4 2025. Source: Point Topic.

Figure 2 plots population penetration against quarterly growth for each region, with bubble size indicating subscriber base. The pattern is a familiar one: Western Europe and North America combine the highest penetration (42.6% and 40.5% of population respectively) with the slowest growth, consistent with largely saturated markets, while the Middle East and Africa combines the lowest penetration (9.2%) with growth among the fastest of any region. South and East Asia sits apart from this pattern — its population penetration is modest at 23.9%, reflecting the sheer size of the underlying population in China and India — but it still supplies the bulk of the world's net additions by virtue of scale.

Figure 2. Population penetration vs quarterly subscriber growth by region, Q1 2026. Bubble size proportional to regional subscriber base. Source: Point Topic.

India and Argentina Lead Among Large Broadband Markets, While the UK and Peru Slip

China remains the largest market by a wide margin, with nearly 700 million subscribers at the end of Q1 2026 (Table 2), followed by the United States and India. Together, the twenty largest markets account for 85% of the global subscriber base[2]. China's own quarterly growth of 0.89% marks a recovery from the 0.56% contraction it reported in Q4 2025, which we flagged as churn in our previous report. Whether this quarter's rebound signals a genuine return to growth, or simply reflects a one-off adjustment in the prior quarter's figures, isn't something the data can settle on its own; a further quarter or two should clarify which is the case.

Table 2. Growth in twenty largest markets by fixed broadband subscribers, Q1 2026. Source: Point Topic.

India was the fastest-growing of the twenty largest markets by some distance, up 5.91% quarter-on-quarter and 28.33% year-on-year. Fixed wireless access accounted for the majority of this growth: 5G FWA and FWA combined accounted for 57% of India's broadband subscriber additions this quarter, with the balance split between FTTH and FTTx. Argentina (+4.71% QoQ, +12.5% YoY) was the other large market to stand out, continuing a run of double-digit annual growth. At the other end, only two of the twenty largest markets shrank this quarter: the United Kingdom (−0.11%) and Iran (−0.55%), both showing slight declines. In the UK's case, a gain of 751,000 FTTP subscribers was more than offset by losses across FTTx, cable and copper.

In the US, market consolidation is underway not only in the cable sector, reported in our previous updates. The two giant operators AT&T and Verizon completed significant fibre and fixed wireless focused acquisitions in Q1 2026. AT&T purchased Lumen’s consumer FTTH business in 11 states, including more than 1 million fibre subscribers across more than 4 million fibre locations. AT&T also gained access to Lumen’s substantial fibre construction capabilities in these states. As a result, AT&T expects to accelerate the pace of fibre rollout in these territories, supporting its plans to reach more than 60 million total fibre locations by the end of 2030.

Verizon acquired Frontier, which had almost 30 million homes and businesses passed with FTTH in 31 states as well as a 5G network. The deal is expected to unlock cross-sell opportunities with access to customer base in markets that are complementary to Verizon’s existing fibre areas. Reflecting the growing popularity of FWA, Verizon also acquired Starry, a FWA broadband provider serving MDUs in five US markets. Through these acquisitions, both giants aim to increase their sales of converged 5G/FTTH services.

Focusing the lens on the markets with more than 2 million broadband subscribers, Figure 3 shows the ten fastest-growing countries this quarter. Pakistan (+6.40%) and Kenya (+6.02%) led; Kenya also posted the fastest year-on-year growth of any market this size, at 42.06%, driven mainly by FTTP and FWA. Sri Lanka's 5.86% quarterly growth appears in this list too, but it needs a caveat — it is a partial rebound from a prior-quarter drop due to an error in reporting by one of the operators, not new organic growth.

Figure 3. Ten fastest-growing markets by quarterly subscriber growth, Q1 2026 (markets with over 2 million subscribers). Source: Point Topic.

Growth in South Africa was mainly driven by FTTH, while Argentina also saw a significant increase in satellite broadband subscribers.

Fibre Approaches Three-Quarters of Global Broadband Subscribers as Legacy Technologies Continue to Fade

Table 3 shows global market share by technology group for the latest two quarters. FTTP extended its lead, rising from 73.34% to 73.93% of global subscribers — a gain of 0.60 percentage points in a single quarter, and now closing in on three-quarters of the entire global base. FTTP grew 1.88% quarter-on-quarter and 6.43% year-on-year, adding 21.7 million subscribers globally, of which China alone contributed 10.8 million — roughly half the world total, with India a distant second at 1.15 million, an order of magnitude smaller. Every other technology group either declined or remained a small share of the total.

Table 3. Global market share by technology group, Q4 2025 vs Q1 2026. Source: Point Topic.

Cable declined a modest 0.96% QoQ (−3.81% YoY), a loss led by North America, where cable/DOCSIS subscribers fell by 518,000 in the quarter — consistent with the region's continued shift toward fibre. FTTx declined faster, down 4.48% QoQ and 7.29% YoY, the steepest quarterly fall of any technology group. Most of this came from South and East Asia, where FTTx fell by 4.31 million subscribers in the quarter alone; in China specifically, FTTx-classified lines fell by 4.64 million as FTTP gained 10.83 million over the same period, which suggests the FTTx decline substantially reflects reclassification toward fibre rather than churn.

Legacy copper recorded the sharpest year-on-year decline of any technology group, down 15.72%, with Western Europe (−962,000 this quarter) and the Middle East and Africa (−480,000, from a base of 29 million) the largest contributors. Reflecting the demise of this technology, several large US operators stopped including DSL subscriptions in their total broadband subscriber figures.

Figure 4. Quarterly and annual subscriber growth by technology group, Q1 2026. Source: Point Topic.

Fixed wireless access (FWA) and satellite grew fastest of all in percentage terms, though from a much lower base than fibre or cable. FWA, including 5G FWA, reached 51.3 million subscribers, up 7.48% QoQ and 41.07% YoY, with India and the US continuing to lead the way in terms of the number of subscribers.

Satellite broadband subscribers have reached 10.2 million, up 11.02% QoQ and 48.91% YoY mainly as a result of expansion by Starlink. We noted that more country regulators are now reporting Starlink subscriber figures, with the global total for the operator now estimated to be more than 10 million subscribers. Wireless technologies collectively (which also include LTE fixed, WiFi and WiMAX) hold a 3.64% share of the global base, and satellite a further 0.64%.

Figure 5 shows the ten fastest-growing FTTP markets this quarter among countries with at least 500,000 FTTP subscribers. Egypt (+13.81%) and Algeria (+12.45%) led; the United Kingdom (+6.04%) also appears in this list, underlining that its overall decline this quarter (discussed above) was a legacy-technology story rather than a fibre one. Sri Lanka's FTTP growth of 9.10% appears here too — however, this is the rebound half of the restatement discussed in the previous section, not new organic growth.

Figure 5. Ten fastest-growing FTTP markets by quarterly subscriber growth, Q1 2026 (markets with at least 500,000 FTTP subscribers). Source: Point Topic.

Figure 6 maps FTTP year-on-year growth across all countries in the dataset[3]. Growth was fastest, in percentage terms, in markets where fibre is still being built out from a small base — Uganda (+126.5%), Tunisia (+98.9%) and Egypt (+88.4%) lead — while Sri Lanka is the only market with a double-digit FTTP decline (−22.3%), reflecting the restatement already discussed.

Figure 6. FTTP subscriber growth by country, Q1 2025–Q1 2026. Source: Point Topic.

Conclusion

Global fixed broadband subscribers grew 1.06% quarter-on-quarter in Q1 2026, to 1.591 billion, recovering from Q4 2025's 0.46% slowdown as China returned to growth. South and East Asia supplied almost two-thirds of the quarter's net additions, India remained the fastest-growing large market, and fibre extended its lead to 73.93% of global subscribers as cable, copper and FTTx all continued to lose ground.

Whether Q4's China-led slowdown proves to have been a one-off, as this quarter's rebound suggests, or the first sign of a more volatile pattern, is something only the next couple of quarters of data can confirm. What looks more settled is the technology story: with fibre now approaching three-quarters of the global base and legacy technologies declining across every major region we examined, the shift away from copper, cable and partial-fibre connections appears to be broadening rather than concentrated in a handful of markets. Meanwhile, satellite and FWA are shifting from niche, supplementary technologies to mainstream alternatives for many consumers.

Further information

This report draws on six quarters of data (Q4 2024 – Q1 2026) covering 124 countries and territories across seven regions, split by technology in the underlying dataset. Country and technology level detail behind every chart and table in this report as well as our new interactive tool is available to our subscribing customers. Please contact isabelle.anderson@point-topic.com for access.

[1] Technology groups follow the following classification: FTTP (including FTTH and FTTB) is end-to-end fibre; FTTx covers partial-fibre technologies such as FTTN/FTTC/VDSL and G.fast, where copper or coaxial cable completes the final connection; Cable covers HFC/DOCSIS; Copper covers ADSL/DSL; Wireless covers FWA (fixed wireless access, including 5G FWA), LTE fixed, WiFi and WiMAX; Satellite and Others are reported separately.

[2] Growth-rate rankings in Figure 3 and Figure 5 are restricted to markets above a minimum size (2 million total subscribers for Figure 3; 500,000 FTTP subscribers for Figure 5) to avoid small markets dominating on volatile percentage moves. Table 2 ranks markets by Q1 2026 subscribers without a size floor.

[3] Figure 6's colour scale is capped at 60% growth for visual comparability; several markets, including Uganda at 126.5%, exceed this cap. Sixteen countries with no recorded subscribers over the period are shown uncoloured.