More than 970,000 U.S. homes were passed with fiber-to-the-premise (FTTP) technologies as of October, reports Render Vanderslice & Associates LLC (RVA).
RVA added that the number of FTTP homes marketed stands at about 413,000, and homes connected at 146,500. The research firm expects the number of homes connected to FTTP to surge by more than 400 percent in 2005.
On the technology front, RVA said it expects Ethernet- and ATM-based FTTP technologies to the market of homes passed going forward.
While BPON, a technology Verizon is using for its FTTP deployments, “will clearly grow a great deal in 2005 because of RBOC involvement, there is also an underlying trend toward higher-end technologies such as EPON, GPON, and point-to-point Ethernet,” said RVA Principal Michael Render, referring to a surge in FTTP deployments by municipals, housing developers and independent telcos. (To learn more about the PON and “active” FTTP sectors, please see CED’s October feature story.)
RVA’s study also showed that 80 percent of FTTP deployments offer the triple play of voice, video and data. Analog/RF remains the most common platform for video, though trends indicate a shift toward more IP-based delivery, according to the RVA study (“Fiber-To-The-Home: The Third Network FTTP/FTTH 2004/2005”).