China Shames U.S. With Plan to Speed ‘Last Mile’ Internet

The Chinese government will soon require all new homes constructed where public fiber-optic telecom networks are available to be equipped for access to those networks.

Residents will be required to have equal access to services from available telecom companies. The new policy from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will go into effect April 1, 2013. The Chinese government wants to connect 40 million families to fiber networks by 2015 — according to the Economic Information Daily Journal, as cited by China Daily — and fiber connections grew by 10 million families in 2012. The cost of deploying fiber networks is driven in large part by the “last mile” phase — the process of actually connecting homes and businesses to the fiber network. China’s policy puts the onus on builders to deal with the last mile.