FTTH Deployments to Grow More Than 40% in 2008, New Report Finds

The number of fiber-connected households will grow steadily over the next five years to reach nearly 90 million worldwide at the end of 2012, according to CMP's Heavy Reading

PRNewswire
NEW YORK
Feb 8, 2008

NEW YORK, Feb. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- The number of households with fiber-optic network connections will grow by nearly 43% worldwide in 2008 and will continue to grow at rates above 30% a year through 2012, when the number of fiber-connected households will reach nearly 90 million globally, according to a major new report from CMP's Heavy Reading (http://www.heavyreading.com/), the market research division of Light Reading (http://www.lightreading.com/).

FTTH Worldwide Technology Update & Market Forecast delivers a comprehensive global view of the fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) market, focusing on key developments in the underlying technology, as well as vendor positioning in this important emerging market segment. Key features of the report include:

-- A concise review of the advantages and disadvantages of major FTTH
     technologies, specifically Ethernet passive optical networking (GEPON),
     Gigabit passive optical networking (GPON), and active Ethernet

  -- An independent assessment of likely future technology developments in
     FTTH networking

  -- An overview of important FTTH projects and developments over the past
     12 months in all geographic areas, including North America,
     Asia/Pacific, and Europe, as well as key national markets within those
     regions

  -- A forecast for households connected via FTTH from 2007-2012, breaking
     down market growth by region, type of technology, and type of network
     builder

  -- A review of the optical network terminal (ONT) and optical line
     terminal (OLT) product strategies of 19 vendors, evaluating their
     strengths and weaknesses, and analyzing the key differentiators in
     their offerings

"The transition to FTTH is now well underway in many countries, including Denmark, France, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Sweden, Taiwan, and the U.S.," notes Graham Finnie, Chief Analyst with Heavy Reading and author of the report. "Over the next five years, we expect most other developed countries to join that list, and fiber will also have a significant impact in relatively less developed telecom markets, including India, Russia, and the Middle East."

Although the future clearly points toward fiber replacing copper as the conduit into customer homes, there is plenty of uncertainty surrounding which network operators and technology suppliers will lead the transition, Finnie says. "On the telco side, our five-year scenario points to a market that is increasingly dominated by incumbent telco investment, but there is plenty of room for other types of operators, including utilities, municipalities, CLECs, real-estate developers, and others," he explains. "On the vendor side, it is already clear that the winners and losers will not necessarily be the same as those that dominated the DSL market, but again the picture is complicated, in particular by a likely upswing in M&A activity as FTTH deployment grows and smaller vendors are snapped up by the majors."

Key findings of FTTH Worldwide Technology Update & Market Forecast include the following:

The total number of fiber-connected homes will grow from about 20 million at the end of 2007 to 89 million at the end of 2012, representing 5 percent of all households worldwide. This growth will be dominated by deployment in Asia, where the number of connected households will grow to almost 54 million by the end of 2012. About 17 million will be connected in the Americas, with the majority in the U.S., while about 18 million homes will be connected in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA).

Gigabit passive optical network (GPON) technology will dominate FTTH deployments in the U.S., since it is now certain to be used by the major incumbent telcos as well as by many independent telcos. Active Ethernet has some limited support in the U.S., but it will remain a minority technology, taking a declining share of the overall market.

In Europe, initial rollout has been dominated by municipal and utility builders, most of which are using active Ethernet. Active Ethernet will continue to take the largest share of the European market for several more years. While the entry of incumbent telcos will gradually shift the market toward GPON, just as it has in the U.S., active Ethernet will remain important throughout the forecast period.

As bandwidth demands will continue to increase relentlessly, PON supporters and builders need to develop a next-generation PON based on 10- Gbit/s Ethernet or WDM within the next five years. In the absence of successful development, the market could drift toward active optical networking approaches. However, the signs indicate that next-generation PONs will be available commercially from around 2011, extending PON deployment well out into the second decade of the century. Wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) PONs look like the most probable winner in this transition.

FTTH Worldwide Technology Update & Market Forecast is essential reading for a wide range of industry participants, including the following:

-- FTTH technology suppliers: How will demand for FTTH progress in coming
     months and years? Which regions are going to see the most FTTH buildout
     activity, and which network operators will be leading the way? Which
     technology choices are deployers most likely to make? Are your products
     and marketing messages in line with customer plans and expectations?
     Are there significant gaps in your product line coverage that need to
     be addressed to meet future demand for FTTH solutions?

  -- Other equipment suppliers: How will demand for your products be
     affected by FTTH deployment plans? Which technologies are emerging as
     the most likely winners for tomorrow's access networks? Is your company
     in position to take advantage of those anticipated changes?

  -- Network operators: How do your plans for FTTH deployment compare with
     those of your competitors? Does your access strategy deliver the best
     cost-control option for your network, or are there other alternatives
     that will deliver greater efficiency? How do your projected costs for
     FTTH deployment match up with the rest of the industry? What is the
     competitive threat posed by FTTH from other operators?

  -- Investors: Which technologies are emerging as the winning solutions for
     FTTH, and which companies are the leading providers of those solutions?
     How will FTTH affect profitability for the telecom service sector in
     the coming months and years?

FTTH Worldwide Technology Update & Market Forecast costs $3,995 and is published in PDF format. The price includes an enterprise license covering all of the employees at the purchaser's company.

For more information, or to request a free executive summary, contact:

   Dave Williams
   Sales Director, Heavy Reading
   858-485-8870
   dave.williams@heavyreading.com

   Press/analyst contact:
   Dennis Mendyk
   Managing Director, Heavy Reading
   201-587-2154
   mendyk@heavyreading.com

  About Heavy Reading

Heavy Reading is an independent market research organization offering quantitative analysis of telecom technology to service providers, vendors, and investors. Its mandate is to provide the comprehensive competitive analysis needed today for the deployment of profitable networks based on next- generation hardware and software.

About CMP

CMP (http://www.cmp.com/) is a media and marketing solutions company serving the technology industry. With the leading online, event, and print brands in all technology market categories, and with services and tools that reach beyond traditional advertising, CMP shapes and influences the technology industry worldwide. CMP publishes highly respected media brands such as TechWeb, InformationWeek, ChannelWeb, CRN, EE Times, and TechOnline; produces major industry events such as Interop, Web 2.0 Expo, XChange, Game Developer Conference, and the Embedded Systems Conferences; and provides business information and marketing services such as the International Customer Management Institute, Semiconductor Insights, and Second Life consulting for technology marketers. CMP is a subsidiary of United Business Media (http://www.unitedbusinessmedia.com/), a global provider of news distribution and specialist information services with a market capitalization of more than $3 billion. For more CMP news, go to cmp.com/news.

SOURCE: Heavy Reading

CONTACT: Dave Williams, Sales Director, +1-858-485-8870,
dave.williams@heavyreading.com, or press, analyst contact, Dennis Mendyk,
Managing Director, +1-201-587-2154, mendyk@heavyreading.com, both of Heavy
Reading

Web site: http://www.heavyreading.com/
http://www.lightreading.com/
http://www.cmp.com/
http://www.unitedbusinessmedia.com/