KARACHI - Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) expects that broadband users to rise to 4.35 million by 2013. On the other hand cellular growth is expected to slow down since it is getting tougher to add new subscribers, broadband offers tremendous growth potential. According to the PTAs recently released subscriber data for the month of December 2009, it has been disclosed that broadband subscribers grew by an impressive 42 per cent in the first five months of the current fiscal year, up to 587K as of November 2009 from 414K as of end June. DSL technology continued to be the preferred option, accounting for 59 percent of the total connections. Wimax connections grew by an impressive 88 percent in the five months till Nov 09, with Wateen and Mobilink being major operators. Moreover, the popularity of the recently launched EvDo technology has escalated, which is evident from the increasing subscribers, which have jumped to 38k as of Nov 09. Similarly, Wireless Local Loop (WLL) subscribers also continued northwards, as the total subscribers rose by 15 percent to 2.7mn, up from 2.3mn at the start of the calendar year, and the growth is somewhat reflective of the increasing preference of users to switch to WLL from Fixed LL- where the subs display a downward trend. As far as market share is concerned, Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) continued to lead the way with a 46 percent cut in the pie, and Telecard and Worldcall following with 24 percent and 21 percent of the shares, respectively. In addition the telecom sector continued to show impressive growth as total teledensity climbed to 63.5 percent, mainly led by cellular growth. WLL also continued to add to its base with users jumping by 15 percent in the calendar year, while cumulative broadband subscribers reached 587k as of Nov 2009. China mobile led the way in the outgoing year, with subs growing 26 percent from last year, followed by Telenor 16 percent and Warid Telecom 11 percent. In absolute terms, Telenor came at top with cumulative additions of 3.1mn subscribers, followed by Mobilink with 2.3mn, and Warid with 2mn additions. Overall, 2009 fared well, with total additions of 7.7mn subscribers, pushing the cellular teledensity level to 59.6 percent. As far as market shares are concerned, Mobilink remained at the top spot with 32 percent while Telenor closed in the gap, with a 23 percent market share.