Iceland has edged ahead of South Korea in broadband usage, leading the 30 countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the organization reported Tuesday.

Iceland now has a broadband penetration rate of 26.7 subscribers per 100 inhabitants—26.7 percent, the report said. South Korea came in second, with the Netherlands and Denmark close behind. All three countries had more than 25 subscribers per 100 inhabitants.

The findings underscore that Europe is catching up on broadband, said the report’s author, OECD analyst Taylor Reynolds. In addition to Iceland, seven European countries are in the top 10 OECD countries for broadband penetration, with South Korea and Canada representing the other two countries.Japan ranked No. 11 and the U.S. came in 12th.

The strongest per-capita subscriber growth in 2005 came from Iceland, Finland, Norway, the Netherlands, and Australia, according to the report. Each country added more than six subscribers per 100 inhabitants during 2005.

The reason South Korea slipped from the top spot is that, instead of adding new subscribers, existing subscribers are switching platforms to get increased bandwidth, Mr. Reynolds said.

In Korea, fiber-based broadband connections grew 52.4 percent during 2005. This switchover effect is evident by a net loss of 3.3 percent in DSL connections and a net loss of 1.7 percent cable subscribers during the year, the report said.

The United States has the largest number of broadband subscribers in the OECD at 49 million. U.S. broadband subscribers represented 31 percent of all broadband connections in the OECD.

Japan led the OECD in fiber subscribers, with 4.6 million at the end of 2005. Fiber subscribers in Japan outnumber total broadband subscribers in 21 of the 30 OECD countries.

The number of broadband subscriptions throughout the OECD rose to 158 million by December from 136 million last June, the report said.

Broadband penetration growth in the OECD held steady at 15 percent in the second half of the year reaching 13.6 subscribers per 100 inhabitants in December.  

DSL is still the leading platform in 28 OECD countries, but cable subscribers outnumber those with DSL in Canada and the United States.