An industry-sponsored group that promotes fiber-to-the-home
countries.
The group, called Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) Council Asia-Pacific, joins its North American and European counterparts as an affiliated chapter of the FTTH Council organization. The goal is to educate, promote and accelerate
fiber in Greater China, Korea, Japan, Southeast Asia, India, Australia and New
Zealand.
The new council is made up of leading telecom, networking,
infrastructure and communications-related companies, including Alcatel,
Tyco Electronics, Cisco, Hitachi, Lucent, HP, IBM, Intel, Ericsson,
Juniper Networks and Siemens.
The FTTH Council says the benefit of fiber access is that it provides a large
capacity that can let businesses and residents fit all Internet,
telephone and television/video services on a single access cable.
That, according to Shoichi Hanatani, president of the FTTH Council
Asia-Pacific and senior director at Hitachi, can cut costs and further
encourage the creation of new services.
“History will show that the creation of the FTTH Council Asia-Pacific
marked the transition of telecommunications in our region, from the
constraint of copper loops to the enormous capacity and rich services
that are only possible on optical fiber-to-the-home networks,” Hanatani
said in a statement. “We see the introduction of FTTH as a global
phenomenon.”
In recent years, broadband industry watchers have included FTTP among
a litany of emerging technologies that could one day replace
copper-based DSL and cable modems.
A small number of independent carriers, housing developers and
public/private partnerships have led the pack, especially in the United
States. Large carriers, wary of the costs of buying and installing miles
of fiber-optic cable, have proceeded cautiously.
Surveys of FTTH activity around the world, however, show that there
are over a million subscribers connected with optical fiber access. The
Asia-Pacific region leads the way with speed of deployment and numbers
of deployments.
According to market research and consulting firm Dittberner Associates, the worldwide capital expenditures related to FTTH access
technology will reach $22.8 billion in 2013, from an estimated $3.7
billion in 2004.
It predicts that the Asia-Pacific region will be the
largest market for FTTH access technology with 52.8 percent of the
total, or 12 billion dollars. China alone will account for a third of
the region, with nearly 24 percent of the total market.
“FTTH access networks are a strategic infrastructure for a region,
just as much as roads and airports,” Colin Goodwin, a founding member of
the board and broadband product manager for Ericsson, said in a
statement. “Our studies show that regions equipped with True Broadband
Internet access — speeds of tens to hundreds of Mbps — enjoy improved
business performance and economic advantage.”
The Asia-Pacific Council said it has already established teams of
members that will work with governments, regulators, carriers and the
telecommunications industry throughout the region, but it is always
looking for new members.
