“The future of broadband is clearly in fiber,” according to analyst, Ben Piper, Director of the Strategy Analytics Multiplay Market Dynamics service. “The existing Telco xDSL infrastructure is reaching the end of its useful life. Soon it will no longer be able to support increasingly bandwidth-heavy consumer applications.”

Rankings just released by Strategy Analytics show that eight of the world’s top ten most fiber broadband-enabled countries are Asian and Eastern European. At the end of 2009, 51% of South Korean households will have a fiber connection, making it the most fiber-connected country worldwide. Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Lithuania round out the top five in the firm’s rankings.

Singapore will overtake South Korea for the number one position by 2013, according to Strategy Analytics. Part of the Singaporean government's “iN2015” initiative is the construction of a 1 Gbps Fiber-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network, currently underway, with mandated 100% coverage by January 1, 2013.

Likewise, Australia, which this year launched its $31 billion National Broadband Network (NBN), will catapult from 21^st to 8^th place worldwide by 2013, according to Strategy Analytics. The government-backed FTTP based solution aims to deliver 100 Mbps FTTP service to 90% of Australian households, schools, and businesses over the next eight years.

Strategy Analytics’ Global Broadband Forecast: 1H’09 provides coverage 60 countries in five discrete regions, and provides history and forecasts for key metrics including: Households, PC Penetration, Internet Access Subscriptions, Household Internet Access Penetration, Broadband Subscriptions, Household Broadband Access Penetration, Broadband Users, Dial-up vs Broadband splits, Service Revenues, ARPU, and Subscriptions by Technology Platform (xDSL, Cable,FTTx, and FWA / WiMax).

Fiber Broadband-Enabled Countries 2009

Source: Strategy Analytics, Inc.

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