Tuesday, March 4, 2008

U.S. Fiber to the Home (FTTH) Ranking = Eighth in World

Last week, the FTTH Council North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific released a world rankings document titled Fiber to the Home Deployment Spreads Globally As More Economies Show Market Growth.
The report lists 14 economies in the world that currently have more than 1 percent of households directly into fiber networks. According to the release:

The global ranking follows the unified definition of FTTH terms announced by the three councils last year, and which has formed the basis for recent market research by each council. For completeness and accuracy the ranking includes both FTTH and FTTB (fiber-to-the-building) figures, while copper-based broadband access technologies (DSL, FTT-Curb, FTT-Node) are not included.

The United States has doubled it's penetration rate to 2.3 percent over the past year, moving us up three places to eighth position. This doubling is no doubt based on the Verizon FiOS rollout in this country. [Click diagram to right for larger view]

Joe Savage, President of the FTTH Council North America, is quoted as follows:

“We’re delighted to see the U.S. moving up the global ranking, indicating a good beginning is underway. FTTH leadership, demonstrated by those leading countries, shows full national deployment is achievable. The future belongs to those countries that satisfy the broadband consumer’s need for speed. Our members – the FTTH equipment vendors and the service providers – are ready to help make it happen on a wide scale across North America.”

Here's a quote from Schoichi Hanatani, President of the FTTH Council Asia-Pacific:

"It is no accident that Asia-Pac continues to be the fastest growing region for FTTH in the world, with more subscribers connected on fiber than all other regions combined. The rollout of FTTH has been encouraged by forward-looking governments and regulators in the Asia-Pac region for several years now. They understand that FTTH is a key strategic national infrastructure."

Read the full release and get more information on the FTTH Council web site at www.ftthcouncil.org

No comments: