Ten facts about Fibre to the Home
We present 10 FTTH facts guaranteed to impress
Fibre to the Home (FTTH) is acknowledged as the best possible way for broadband services to be delivered to homes and businesses. It’s the endgame access solution, offering bandwidth for all present and future needs. And here’s 10 reasons why it matters:
- Asia Pacific leads the world in adoption of FTTH, with around 38 million households already connected as of the beginning of 2010.
- The US currently has around 7.6 million FTTH users, while Europe lags with only 2.5 million subscriptions – 3.5 million if Russia is counted as European.
- South Korea is number one in the FTTH Council’s Global Ranking of adopting economies, the first country in the world where more than 50% of households use direct fibre connections.
- Between them, Japan, China, South Korea, the USA and Taiwan represent more than 90% of all FTTH subscribers, according to the FTTH Council Global Ranking.
- The above five countries are also the only countries in the world with more than one million households connected to FTTH.
- According to market research firm IDATE, there are nine European countries with more than 20% FTTH penetration.
- IDATE says seven countries account for more than 70% of all European fibre subscriptions.
- Consulting firm McKinsey estimates that Euro300bn needs to be invested in Europe to upgrade existing access networks – just to catch up with Asia Pacific.
- The total of all FTTH projects presently underway in Europe is currently worth around Euro15bn, which – at current rates – means it will take 20 years to catch up with Asia.
- Swisscom has won an award from the FTTH Council Europe for a remotely operated robot that can pass T-junctions and right-angled bends in underground duct systems, pulling fibre optic cable to a convenient location, and reducing the overall cost of FTTH infrastructure deployment by up to 50%.
* Information courtesy of the FTTH Council Europe, gathered at its annual conference in Lisbon on Feb 24 and 25.
