Worldwide broadband subscriptions are set to exceed 536 million by 2011, it has been predicted.

The figure represents a compound annual growth rate of 13 per cent for broadband take-up, with the majority of the growth in demand coming from territories in Europe, South East Asia and North America.

The predictions of changes in the broadband market are courtesy of research group Strategic Analytics.

Analysts from the group also revealed that it expects that ADSL and cable broadband will represent 50 per cent of the market within three years.

Meanwhile, fibre and WiMax are set to be the fastest growing technologies over the next half-decade.

David Mercer, vice president of the Strategy Analytics Digital Consumer Practice, said: "Service providers cannot afford to stand still with current access technologies.

"Fibre-to-the-home will eventually provide the ultimate broadband experience for many users, including high definition TV and lightning-fast interactive web-based services."

Fibre rollouts in the US are expected to bring total FTT (x) subscriptions to 64 million by 2011, according to the report's projections.