Last year was the best yet for fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) deployments, according to an updated global ranking issued this week by the FTTH Councils of Asia-Pacific, Europe and North America.
New FTTH subscribers in Japan, China and the U.S. were primarily responsible for driving the new FTTH deployments. A total of six million new FTTH households were added last year in China, Japan and the U.S.
“What this indicates is the unrelenting vigor of the FTTH industry here in Europe – where we surpassed one million connections – and worldwide,” said Joeri Van Bogaert, president of the FTTH Council Europe. “This phenomenon is driven by something that never slows down, and that is the consumer appetite for ever-higher bandwidth.”
The updated rankings show that Asian economies continue to outpace the rest of the world in terms of FTTH market penetration – with South Korea moving into the top slot with 31.4 percent of households connected, followed by Hong Kong at 23.4 percent and Japan at 21.3 percent.
A large gap separates third-place Japan from fourth-place Sweden – where 7.1 percent of homes are wired with FTTH – followed closely by Taiwan with 6.8 percent and Norway with 6 percent. Denmark, with 2.5 percent, occupies the seventh position on the chart.
The U.S., by more than doubling its penetration rate to 2.3 percent, moved up three places to the eighth position, followed by two of the three countries making their first appearance on the chart – Slovenia with 1.8 percent and Iceland with 1.5 percent.
The People’s Republic of China moved from 10th to 11th place, as direct fiber connections in that country moved up slightly to 1.5 percent. The Netherlands, Italy and Singapore rounded out the list with market penetration rates ranging from 1.1 percent to 1.4 percent.
More Broadband Direct:
• FCC to consider phasing in DTV transition
• Analyst downgrades Cablevision due to acquisition strategy
• Insight bulks up digital tier with more HD, digital music offerings
• NCTA, cable entities come together on scheduling industry events
• Brophy, Campbell join ACA’s executive committee
• AT&T, Sprint upgrade networks in select markets
• Clearwire ups sub count, operating loss in Q4
• New Cisco router based on new chip
• Japan, China, U.S. drive 2007 fiber deployments