Broadband Internet use in Japan jumped 21.6 percentage points from a year ago to 37.1 per cent of the population, thanks to the increasing use of asymmetric digital subscriber lines (ADSL), a survey said today.
The study conducted in September by Nomura Research Institute said low-cost, high-speed ADSL broadband helped drive use among the 1,703 survey respondents aged 15 to 59 years old.
"The big driver of the rapid growth is ADSL," the study said.
Among the 37.1 per cent of those polled who used broadband, 22.1 per cent were ADSL users, while 13.0 per cent were cable modem users and 2.1 per cent fibre optic cable users.
Broadband users also increased their time on the Net to 17.2 hours a month, up from 13.8 hours just half a year earlier.
Some 27.3 per cent of broadband users even said they cut back on sleep to use the Net more.
The private think-tank said Internet use by Japanese grew 10.6 per cent from a year ago to 67.2 per cent.