sorted by: recent | see :
popular
Content Tagged fiber
[from amaah] An overview of Fiber Deployments (pdf)
User:jeyrb: del.icio.us/network/jey
infrastructure
statistics
strategy
technology
networks
deployment
fiber
[from amaah] The Wiring Ghana Project
User:jeyrb: del.icio.us/network/jey
Development
communication
China
fiber
telecom
ghana
User:jeyrb
[from amaah] The Bright Picture at Corning
User:jeyrb: del.icio.us/network/jey
business
electronics
strategy
technology
fiber
glass
manufacturing
U.S. Drops Broadband Rank
For those of us in the U.S. who have been harboring broadband envy of leading connected countries like Denmark and South Korea, things just got a bit worse. The latest stats from the Organization for Economic Co-Operation & Development (OECD) for December 2006 show that the U.S. dropped from 12th to 15th in broadband subscribers per 100 inhabitants.
Luxembourg, France and Japan are the countries that moved ahead of the U.S. in terms of broadband penetration, joining the other 11. Though we still have the most overall subscribers with 58.1 million, the OECD says the U.S. ranks 21 out of 30 in growth rate of broadband penetration. So it doesn’t look like we’ll move up in rank anytime soon. I wonder if WiMAX will change anything over the next 12 to 24 months.
The Free Press has already released a statement calling for a U.S. broadband policy change, with some harsh words:
“We are failing to bring the benefits of broadband to all our citizens, and the consequences will resonate for generations. There is no justification for America’s declining status as a global Internet leader. Instead of more excuses, it’s time for true national broadband policy that will put America’s digital future back on track.” said Ben Scott, policy of director of Free Press. [via broadband reports]
Scott is scheduled to give the Senate Commerce Committee an earful Tuesday, during a full committee hearing titled “Communications, Broadband and Competitiveness: How Does the U.S. Measure Up?”
Some other interesting data:
- Denmark and the Netherlands are the first two countries in the OECD to surpass 30 subscribers per 100 inhabitants. Dope. They lead a group of 8 European countries that top the ranks.
- DSL is the leading technology for 28 of the 30 OECD countries, though cable subscribers outnumber DSL in Canada and the United States. DSL : 62%, Cable modem : 29%, FTTH/FTTB : 7%, and other (e.g. satellite, fixed wireless, powerline communication) : 2%
- Japan has the most fiber connections, with 7.9 million subscribers. The OECD says fiber connections in Japan outnumber total broadband subscribers in 23 of the 30 OECD countries.
100 Megabits to the home by 2015?
Can Americans dream about a day when they get a 100-megabit-per-second broadband connection, delivered over fiber? FTTH Council, says yes, and is pushing the US government to adopt a 100 Megabit Nation policy. The Council says that we have the technology, and the carriers (and cable providers) have the networks to make it all a reality - with a little pressure from Washington D.C.
The FTTH Council’s recommendation included the goal of extending, through both private and public sector initiatives, affordable next-generation broadband to a majority of Americans by 2010, with universal availability by 2015.
The Council wants Congress and the President to act fast on this - otherwise we will be stuck in the slow lane, of sub-10 megabit per second speeds. Every day we twiddle our thumbs, we lose some of the edge when it comes to developing clever ways to use the bandwidth. My simple argument is that what x86 was to the PC era, bandwidth is to the broadband era. The more bandwidth we have, the more innovative ways we will find to use it, thus creating another cycle of innovation.
The State of Broadband 2006: DSL rules for now
Three months after the clocks said goodbye to 2006, the final polls are in: 2006 was a blockbuster of a year for the broadband business worldwide, including US, but from going forward, the gallop is going to turn into a trot.
- At the end of 2006, there were 281 million broadband subscribers world wide, up by 67 million according to London-based Point-Topic.
- DSL subscribers total 185 million, making it the most popular access technology for now, with a 65.7% market share, according to DSL Forum.
- In the US, however, DSL trails, and accounts for 24 million connections versus cable companies have 55% of the total market, with 29.3 million.
- Fiber to the home (and related technologies) now account for 10% of total global broadband connections. We suspect this is a percentage that is only going to grow bigger, especially as Japan, France, US (Verizon) and others aggressively push their FTTx offerings.
- United States is the largest broadband market, with 57 million broadband lines, while China is second with 51.9 million. (They might be bigger than US by now… this is year-end data.)
- US added 10.2 million new broadband subscribers in 2006, according to Leichtman Research Group. Phone companies added 5.5 million, and cable providers added 4.7 million.
