US might have been the engine of growth for consumer broadband thus far, but from the looks of it the momentum is shifting away to non-US markets, according to data collected by Point Topic, a research firm. US has about 38 million subscribers, and as I had noted earlier, the recent slowdown in US broadband subscriber additions should not come as a surprise. A new Pew Internet & American Life Project says that the early adopters have now adopted broadband. (Duh!) (PDF here)

At the end of second quarter 2005, there were 176 million broadband lines on the planet, up 16% from 2004 total of 152 million. The rate of addition has slowed down in recent times, the research firm says. The future growth depends on countries collectively dubbed BRIC: Brazil, Russia, India, China. China is inching up on US, while Brazil has zoomed and now has 2.5m broadband lines. Russia and India have lagged, but things are looking better for broadband in those economies. Russia has now 1.24 million lines while India’s broadband connections are now up to 440,000.

Press release from Point Topic