Telco Fiber Builds to Stay Strong

Despite the worldwide economic downturn, telcos will continue to build out new fiber access networks to compete more effectively for next-gen services business, according to a new report from Pyramid Research. The deployments of FTTx networks in Asia-Pacific, North America and Western Europe, have now passed the stage of early adopters and are led by both telecom incumbents and competitive broadband network operators, the report says. As many as 98 million homes - 6 percent of all households worldwide - are now passed by FTTB/FTTH networks globally, and another 74 million homes by VDSL2 networks. Of the 98 million homes passed, 70 percent are located in Asia-Pacific, where NTT in Japan was among the first to pioneer large-scale FTTH upgrades in 2000. Europe and North America each account for 15 percent of the homes passed, and both have plenty of catching up to do in the next five years. "We found that telcos' need for fiber to the home remains strong, especially in developed markets, where deployments are driven by the maturity of the broadband markets and a proliferation of IP-based video, TV, and interactive applications," said Özgür Aytar, senior research manager at Pyramid Research and co-author of the report. The report also finds that with mobile operators offering broadband at speeds and prices equivalent to entry-level ADSL subscriptions, telcos have little time to procrastinate.