The worldwide IPTV subscriber base has doubled for the second year, running with a surge of 53.14 percent, as it hit a record 15.5 million customers in the 12 months upto 31 March 2008, revealed a report prepared for the Broadband Forum by market analysts at Point Topic.

The study also showed that the worldwide broadband subscribers have reached over 370 million with DSL remaining the most dominant access technology with 65 percent of the world’s subscribers.

However, fiber subscriptions have risen by 33 percent since beginning of 2007 with over 10 million people connected to a fiber network.

Nearly 15.5 million people now subscribe to an IPTV service with Europe hanging over 8.4 million subscribers making it the strongest market in terms of growth and total subscriber numbers.

“This report shows that although DSL remains the key vehicle for delivering broadband associated services, alternative access technologies, such as fibre, are increasing their footprints and their requirements need to be considered in our work,” said George Dobrowski, Chairman and President of the Broadband Forum.