Internet and Broadbank Infrastructure

At the end of 2001, there were around 213 million subscribers to fixed Internet connections in OECD countries. There is also an increasing number of mobile Internet users. Broadband access is becoming more common, with more than 50 million subscribers using broadband access networks by the end of 2002. Both the pattern of growth in overall subscriber numbers and rapid adoption of broadband access among the more advanced countries suggest that even among OECD countries there continues to be a digital divide, in terms of both ability to access and the quality of access available. This chapter examines the Internet infrastructure and provides information on subscribers to fixed Internet and broadband connections, Internet hosts, and statistics on Web sites, secure servers and domain names.