ABI: Fiber-to-the-Home to Expand Reach in Asia-Pacific
January 17, 2008 // Published as a news service by IHS
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Broadband access in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region experienced significant growth in the past decade, according to ABI Research, as operators upgraded their networks in anticipation of future demand for high bandwidth services.
Now, different markets within the region are in very different stages of broadband growth. "While broadband adoption is increasing within APAC, growth is not homogeneous across all countries in the region," said ABI Research analyst Serene Fong.
"For instance, Hong Kong is one of the early adopters of FTTH [fiber-to-the-home] and has the largest FTTH household penetration, currently 21%. On the other hand, countries such as China and India are still struggling to encourage greater broadband usage."
Analysts said most FTTH activity today still in the more developed countries within the region: Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea.
Broadband penetration in the APAC region is still relatively low compared to the rest of the world, Fong said. "Demand is largely determined by CPE [customer premises equipment] and infrastructure costs. Consumers are also looking out for sufficiently rich multimedia content to justify their subscriptions.
"But the irony is that carriers are also waiting to ride on economies of scale in order to offer more attractive and affordable packages."
Fiber installation is a major investment that requires a strong business case and definite objectives to be justifiable. "Uses of the Internet are multiplying at a rapid pace, including many bandwidth-hungry services," Fong said. "There are compelling trends leading us to believe that IPTV [Internet protocol television] and related content applications will drive demand for FTTH."
Source: ABI Research.