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According to Ovum research, there were 45 million broadband subscribers in China at the end of June 2006. This represents a year- on-year growth rate of 79 percent over the last three years - a rate that will soon see the country surpass the US to become the world's biggest broadband market.

Buoyed by higher income levels and a thriving economy, the Chinese have been flocking to get online. China has an increasingly computer-literate population, with around 20 percent of households possessing their own computer, and this has led to a desire for more sophisticated applications and services.

Anders Larsson, Ericsson's director of Wireline Product Management in China, says the perception that the market is only about volume is outdated. "In reality, the market is very advanced," he says. "It is at the cutting-edge of technology and applications such as IPTV are becoming more and more popular."

Although the broadband market is still dominated by two players - China Telecom and China Netcom - they now target the whole country rather than focusing on separate geographical areas. There are also a number of smaller broadband providers. Greater competition has led to a fall in prices and operators are turning to new revenue sources, such as content development and IPTV, to maintain growth.

Larsson says Ericsson is well placed to help operators react to the fast-changing environment. "Ericsson was the first to offer an IP/Ethernet based DSL platform and now we offering a very competitive IP/Ethernet access-node portfolio on the market for Multi Service Access Node, DSL and fiber" he says. "It is optimized for high capacities for delivery of IPTV, telephony-over-IP and gaming applications."

Ericsson's industry-leading Ethernet DSL Access solution has been supporting high-bandwidth-demanding services since 2002. It allows operators to develop their businesses beyond basic IP connectivity, ensuring the ability to offer triple-play services in a way that is both flexible and cost efficient.

The recent acquisition of Marconi has further strengthened Ericsson's broadband offering. "The integration of Marconi has extended our technology and product portfolio so as to provide customers with an even more complete end-to-end offering," Larsson says.

China's fast-paced growth is set to continue as the country gears up to show the world it is at the forefront of telecommunications when it hosts the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008. All the venues will have fixed and wireless broadband connections and interconnection between sites. The country has put a lot of focus on the Olympics and it has served as an important driver for the adoption of broadband.

Locally-developed internet content is also becoming more prevalent and as the population becomes more tech-savvy, further barriers are being broken down. China's internet-based businesses are already reaping the rewards.

Despite having a very cash-oriented economy - very few people have credit cards in China - there is a flourishing online shopping market. Heavy overseas investment in Alibaba, China's largest e-commerce firm, and SouFun, China's largest real estate and home improvement website, shows that the rest of the world is taking notice.

The potential for further broadband growth is enormous. Subscribers currently account for only 4.3 percent of China's 1.3 billion population and Ovum predicts that the broadband market will reach 139 million subscribers by 2010.