• by May 15, 2001

The April 2001 Nielsen//NetRatings ratings report reveals that New York dominates high-speed access with more than 10% of the country's broadband population living in the city and the surrounding metropolitan area.

Nearly 6% of the country's high-speed Internet users reside in Los Angeles, while San Francisco and its surrounding high-tech region followed closely with 5.7%. Taking the No. 4 spot was Boston, with 4.7% and Seattle rounded out the top five with 3.6%. Of the top ten local markets, more than 30% of all U.S. broadband users live in the top five metropolitan areas of New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston and Seattle.

"In the past, high-speed providers focused the roll-out of their services to the top local market regions, like New York," said T.S. Kelly, director of Internet Media Strategies at NetRatings. "New York's building unit density has allowed for higher broadband usage growth, compared to the rest of the top local markets. The city's apartment dwellings provide a much bigger consumer target than regions that have predominantly single-family units."

Broadband Speeds to New Heights

Broadband access soared 134% in the past year. Nearly 16 million users accessed the Internet from home last month via cable modem, DSL, ISDN or LAN, compared to only 6.8 million in April 2000.

"Broadband serves as the perfect platform for rich media and the 'always on' allure could help legitimize the Internet as a mainstream medium for content and advertising, allowing for faster and convenient access to news and entertainment on the Web," Kelly added.

"As local telcos and cable companies expand their high-speed offerings, the increased availability of services for the rest of the U.S., coupled with competitive pricing and dynamic content can further increase the growth of broadband."