April 7, 2009 - Washington, DC - The number of North American fiber to the home (FTTH) subscribers continues to grow at an annual pace of approximately 1.5 million and now stands at more than 4.4 million, according to a study released today by the Fiber-to-the-Home Council.

The report from the FTTH Council, which promotes and tracks the growth of next-generation, fiber-driven networks throughout the continent, also showed healthy growth in the number of homes passed by fiber networks - from 13.8 to 15.2 million - and showed that FTTH networks are now available to more than 13 percent of North American households, with end-to-end fiber connections now being used by nearly four percent of the residential telecommunications market.

Four years after FTTH deployment took off in earnest on the continent, the study conducted by RVA Market Research (www.rvallc.com) pegs the annual growth rate for fiber to the home in North America at 52 percent, down from the initial phases of deployment but still among the highest rates of any country or region in the world.

The study also noted that the number of homes receiving video services over FTTH is up 62 percent over the past year, from 1.6 million in March 2008 to nearly 2.7 million today. Meanwhile, the overall "take rate" - the percentage of those offered FTTH service who decide to subscribe - went up for the sixth straight six-month period, and now stands at nearly 32 percent.

Underlying data from the study can be downloaded by clicking here.

Led by Verizon's massive investment in FTTH technology in the deployment of its FiOS service, the fiber to the home industry in North America also includes hundreds of smaller telephone companies and other network providers, municipalities, planned residential communities and cable television companies that are making the move to end-to-end fiber to deliver next-generation video, internet and voice services. Given the almost unlimited bandwidth of fiber, FTTH technology is seen as an ideal way of "future-proofing" networks in light of the ever increasing consumer and business demand for faster networks and higher-bandwidth applications.

"The strong annual growth rate of this new technology is unsurprising, even with a subscriber base now numbering in the millions," said Joe Savage, President of the FTTH Council. "At a time when some communications providers are treating bandwidth as a scarce commodity, our industry is moving forward to a future of almost unlimited bandwidth delivered over end-to-end fiber networks."

"Once consumers are connected directly into fiber," he added, "they can see and feel the difference in the quality of the internet, video and voice services they receive. That's why we expect demand for FTTH to continue to exhibit robust growth."

About the FTTH Council North America

Now in its eighth year, the Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) Council North America is a non-profit association consisting of companies and organizations that deliver video, Internet and/or voice services over high-bandwidth, next-generation, direct fiber optic connections - as well as those involved in planning and building FTTH networks. The Council works to create a cohesive group to share knowledge and build industry consensus on key issues surrounding fiber to the home. Its mission is to educate the public and government officials about FTTH solutions and to promote and accelerate deployment of fiber to the home and the resulting quality of life enhancements such networks make possible. More information about the Council can be found at www.ftthcouncil.org.