APRIL 19, 2007 -- While Europeans have long been used to being a bandwidth first world continent that status is about to be downgraded, according to one industry analyst.

"The next-generation digital divide is becoming a real and global phenomenon," says Vince Chook, Point Topic (search for Point Topic) analyst and author of the report "World broadband statistics: Q4 2006."

In global terms by the end of of 2006, the world FTTx subscriber base had reached 30 million lines, with a year-on-year growth of 54.8%.

"South Korea added close to 2 million FTTx subscribers, the US grew by over 150%, and China now has more than a third of all fiber subscriptions in the world," says Chook.

The whole of Europe, meanwhile, added roughly half the number of new subscribers as North America -- and more than three-quarters of those adds were in Russia.

"Value-added services, like HDTV over broadband, are driving the demand for ever-faster networks," continues Chook, "and as a result consumers are starting to shift from DSL to fiber where it is available."

DSL subscriber numbers in Japan actually dropped by 0.18% in from Q1-Q2 2006; FTTX subscriptions grew by 15.6% in the same period.

European operators have announced a number of investment plans to upgrade their networks. BT will spend around �15 billion on its 21st Century Network project, which will support ADSL2+ (up to 24 Mbits/sec) to be delivered to UK consumers by 2010.

However this doesn't bode well in terms of closing the-next generation divide, Chook asserts. For example, NTT Japan alone will spend �40 billion in the same period on a network capable of delivering 100 Mbits/sec.

"Without fiber Europe will rapidly become the digital slowcoach on the 'information super highway,'" concludes Chook.

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