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Fiber Growth Strong in 2008;
Expected to Slow a Bit in 2009
As broadband connections pass the 400 million mark worldwide, market
research firms are reporting strong 3Q08 numbers; those venturing a
prediction say the pace will slow in 2009 but growth will continue both
in deployments and in revenue – especially for FTTH.
To Succeed with Fiber,
Offer Fiber-Grade Services
Is the walled garden dead A key to FTTH success is the
emergence of fiber-grade services beyond the current triple
play, according to a new report from Yankee Group (www.
yankeegroup.com). A reliable and future-proof connection into
the home can be leveraged to remotely offer services – health
care, education, software as a service – that until now could be
offered only in person or on a business-grade broadband connection.
But to tap into those potential revenue sources, telcos
need to engage other ecosystem players outside their comfort
zone and find the win-win business models that will not only
recoup the investment for costly infrastructure but also form
the basis of their future revenue.
Yankee Group says that a truly next-generation fixed access
network in mature markets requires fiber to the home. Telcos
that are trying to deliver more bandwidth without FTTH
are “making dangerous technology bets that will haunt them
for years,” Yankee Group believes. The report concludes that
ubiquitous connectivity and the collision of communications,
Internet, media, mobility and machine dictate an IP data highway
into every home to support advanced applications. For
broadband to be a game-changer, fiber must be delivered as
close as possible to the home to overcome the current limitations
of the copper network.
In fiber deployments around the world:
• Asia-Pacific has been leading FTTx developments, and millions
of customers (especially in Japan and South Korea) already
have access to next-generation access, but the service
ecosystem has not yet truly adapted to capabilities of the
new infrastructure.
• Europe is trying to catch up, although some countries –
especially in Scandinavia – already have significant deployments
and are accelerating rollouts boosted in part by
municipal and utility-driven projects. The rest of Europe is
still struggling with finding the right regulatory model to
incentivize telcos to invest while avoiding the development
of new broadband monopolies.
• In North America, a single broadband provider, Verizon,
represents three-quarters of the homes passed, leaving the
rest of the country devoid of next-generation access.
Deployments may be undertaken as part of an offensive
strategy – as when telcos pursue cable or satellite TV markets
10 | BROADBAND PROPERTIES | www.broadbandproperties.com | January/February 2009