FTTH Council lauds intro of resolution in U.S. House

June 25, 2008
JUNE 25, 2008 -- H. Res.1292 in the U.S. House of Representatives calls for universal availability of next-generation broadband networks with transmission speeds of 100 Mbits/sec by 2015.

JUNE 25, 2008 -- The Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) Council, (search for FTTH Council) representing more than 170 companies and organizations involved in connecting American homes directly into fiber-optic networks and delivering next-generation broadband services over them, says it welcomes the introduction of H. Res.1292, a resolution in the U.S. House of Representatives calling for universal availability of next-generation broadband networks with transmission speeds of 100 Mbits/sec by 2015.

The resolution was introduced by U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and is cosponsored by U.S. Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA), the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, and U.S. Rep Mike Doyle (D-PA). It is the companion bill to S. Res. 191, introduced in the U.S. Senate last year by Senator John D. Rockefeller IV (D-WV) and cosponsored by Senator Barack Obama (D-IL).

"This resolution recognizes that America needs a strategy -- a 100 Megabit Nation strategy -- to ensure that our citizens keep pace with the advancements of the Information Age," said Joe Savage, president of the FTTH Council. "Online applications that are revolutionizing education, telecommuting, and health care are requiring that households use more bandwidth than is generally available."

Savage noted that with currently available equipment, optical fiber can easily carry 100-Mbit/sec symmetrical service to households and small businesses, and that commercial gigabit service is on the way. FTTH networks now pass more than 10 percent of U.S. households, with more than 3 million homes connected -- a figure that has doubled in each of the past two years.

But Savage noted that there is much work to be done to reach the remaining 90 percent of households in order to achieve the universal 100-megabit service envisioned in the congressional resolution.

"Technologists are predicting that by 2015 the average American home will need 100-Mbit/sec service to access available online applications and video services, and that many times that bandwidth will be needed in the decade that follows," said Savage. "The fiber we put in today can deliver that and much more, so it is essential we get on with the task of fibering every home for the future."

In March 2007, the FTTH Council called on the government to adopt a "100 Megabit Nation" policy as a means of ensuring that a majority of Americans can access next-generation broadband connections by 2010, with universal availability by 2015. The council noted that some Asian and European nations are already well ahead of the United States in deploying high-bandwidth FTTH networks.

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