FTTH Council Asia-Pacific formed to promote fiber broadband access

April 6, 2005 Singapore -- A group of telecom, networking, infrastructure, and communications-related companies today announced the formation of the "Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) Council Asia-Pacific," with a mandate to promote the extension of fiber access across the Asia-Pacific region, including Greater China, Korea, Japan, SE Asia, India, and Australia/New Zealand.

According to a press release, the FTTH Council Asia-Pacific is a non-profit organization whose mission is to educate, promote, and accelerate FTTH and its resulting economic and quality-of-life enhancements across the Asia-Pacific region. The council's members represent all areas of broadband services industries, including telecommunications, computing, networking, system integration, engineering, and content-provider companies, as well as traditional telecommunications service providers, utilities, and municipalities.

"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," remarks Shoichi Hanatani, president of the FTTH Council Asia-Pacific, and senior director at Hitachi Communication Technologies. "We see the introduction of FTTH as a global phenomenon. Our new organization will maintain close working links with the existing FTTH Council organizations in North America and Europe."

"2005 is certainly going to be remembered as the year of FTTH, the birth of 'real' broadband," adds Leonard Ray, president of the FTTH Council North America.

According to the release, surveys of FTTH activity around the world show that there are over a million subscribers connected with optical fiber access, with the Asia-Pacific region leading the way with speed of deployment and numbers of deployments. According to Dittberner Associates, an industry research firm, global capital expenditures related to FTTH access technology will reach $22.8 billion in 2013, from an estimated $3.7 billion in 2004. The firm further predicts that the Asia-Pacific region will be the largest market for FTTH access technology with 52.8% of the total, or $12 billion, with China alone accounting for a third of the region, with nearly 24% of the total market.

"FTTH access networks are a strategic infrastructure for a region, just as much as roads and airports," notes Colin Goodwin, a founding member of the council, and broadband product manager for Ericsson. "Our studies show that regions equipped with true broadband Internet access (speeds of tens to hundreds of Mbits per second) enjoy improved business performance and economic advantage."

According to the release, the FTTH Council Asia-Pacific has already established teams of members who will engage governments, regulators, carriers, and the telecommunications industry throughout the region, to ensure that the drive towards FTTH is understood and accelerated.