Hong Kong, South Korea and Japan are the world leaders in the percentage of homes that receive broadband communications services over direct fiber optic connections, according to a new global ranking of fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) market penetration issued jointly by the FTTH Councils of Asia-Pacific, Europe and North America.
According to the report, published in mid-July, 21.2% of homes in Hong Kong are wired with FTTH, followed by South Korea at 19.6% and Japan at 16.3%. Scandinavian countries occupy the next three positions, with Sweden having 7.2% of its households connected to FTTH, Denmark at 2.9% and Norway at 2.5%.
Taiwan, Italy, China, The Netherlands, the US and Singapore round out the top 12 economies, with FTTH penetration rates of between 1.4 and 0.8% of households.
The three regional FTTH Councils combined resources to create this first official global FTTH ranking in order to provide the telecommunications industry, governments and regulators with a snapshot of international fiber access penetration. The councils will update and re-issue the rankings on an annual basis, as well as working together to further refine the research methods and provide more in-depth information.
Shoichi Hanatani, President of the FTTH Council Asia-Pac said, "For the first time we have a tool to monitor the transition that is now occurring around the world, from legacy copper loops to powerful new optical fiber access networks."
The global ranking follows the unified definition of FTTH terms announced by the three councils last year, and which has formed the basis for recent market research by each council. For completeness and accuracy the ranking includes both FTTH and FTTB (building) figures, while copper-based broadband access technologies are not included.
Joeri Van Bogaert, president of the FTTH Council Europe, added, "The compiled information is a dedicated resource for global telecommunications professionals to compare industry research from different regions of the world, and open some eyes to the wider FTTH picture. This will be useful in monitoring the success of government and regulatory policy in supporting the historical transition to fiber-based broadband."
"With this global ranking, it is now evident which countries are FTTH leaders and which are FTTH laggards," said Joe Savage, president of the FTTH Council North America. "But, from a global perspective, this industry is still in its early stages. As more people and more nations discover the superior capabilities of fiber-to-the-home, I'm sure we'll see some interesting changes and trends when we update these rankings in the future."