FTTH a growing trend in North America

Fiber to the home is rapidly becoming more popular in North America.

By Max Burkhalter
June 29, 2011
Fiber-to-the-home is rapidly becoming a more popular and prevalent internet connectivity format among telecom service providers in North America. Overall, approximately 19 percent of all homes on the continent are connected through fiber-to-the-home technology, according to a recent RVA study.

The RVA study found FTTH technology is rapidly growing on the continent and more telecom service providers are offering FTTH in an effort to expand their service offerings and provide such technologies as high-definition television and high-performance internet speeds.

RVA found approximately 170,000 homes in North America boast access to FTTH infrastructure that provides internet at speeds as high as 100 megabits per second. The study also found approximately 500,000 homes with FTTH access boast connections speeds over 50 megabits per second. The average speed of all FTTH subscribers is 19.7 megabits per second, according to the RVA study.

The results of RVA's study also point to a significantly larger base of FTTH users than in previous years. The RVA said this year's study found overall FTTH use doubled compared to 2010's findings.

The RVA also evaluated how happy consumers are with their FTTH services compared to those using other forms of connections. Almost 75 percent of FTTH users said they are very satisfied with the speed, stability and other major aspects of their FTTH telecom services. However, just 54 percent of cable internet subscribers and 51 percent of DSL users have the same sense of satisfaction with their telecom services.

Dan O’Connell, president of the FTTH Council, said the survey's results indicate the growing demand for FTTH deployment.

"This year's survey shows that end-to-end fiber services are extending their lead over other broadband technologies in speed, value and customer satisfaction," said O'Connell. "We expect this trend will continue as bandwidth requirements for the latest video and other applications continue to accelerate, and growing numbers of consumers expect to be able to access them through their telecommunications providers."

In a recent interview with IT Business Edge, Michael Render, president for RVA, provided more insight on the study. He said the survey uncovered FTTH connections to not only provide the best overall performance, but the lowest cost-per-megabit ration, making it the most valuable solution available. He also said service providers are providing fewer usage caps on FTTH connections compared to other internet services. The lack of usage caps stem from the fact that most respondents believe fiber connections have fewer limitations.

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