Fibre connections on the increase
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) recently released its June 2009 statistics on broadband in OECD countries. The average number of broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants in the OECD countries increased to 22.8 while half of OECD countries have reached 25 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants.
The statistics also show that future growth in super fast broadband is likely to come from fibre-optic networks, rather than DSL or cable. Nearly one in ten OECD subscribers currently accesses the internet over fibre. In Japan and Korea most people use fibre connections while fibre access is growing fast in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and the United States.
In Japan 51% of all broadband subscribers make use of fibre connections while 46% of Koreans access the internet via Fibre. This figure sits at 21% for Sweden and the Slovak Republic while 10% of people in Denmark and Norway enjoy fibre based connectivity.
In countries like Australia, Finland, the UK, New Zealand, Germany and France fibre connections remain nearly non-existent, something that does not bode well for these economies. According to the OECD report the upgrade for fibre is important because high-speed broadband networks are increasingly seen as a fundamental infrastructure for the economy, like roads, water and electricity.
In South Africa Fibre to the Premise (FTTX) is slowly starting to make an appearance in office parks and gated villages, but it is unlikely to reach traditional neighborhoods any time soon. Neotel has indicated that Fibre to the Home (FTTH) is on the cards, but the cost involved in rolling out fibre to every home is likely to stall the process.
According to the OECD the economic crisis has threatened to halt the investment in fibre worldwide, just as consumers and businesses are using more Internet bandwidth. “Many governments have stepped in to fill the gap using stimulus funds to pay for new broadband networks, but there is still a lot of debate about whether these investments make economic sense, particularly as governments are wading into an area which has recently been entrusted to the private sector.”
In South Africa initiatives like the state-owned Broadband Infraco will provide wholesale national fibre access to service providers, but there are no immediate plans from Government to invest in last mile fibre access.
Fibre broadband access – discussion
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