Themes

Lighting the Economy

As North America emerges from recession – and consumers, businesses and their communities look ahead to building their economic future – it is clear that only all-fiber networks are capable of supporting the growth and development that is needed to stay competitive for the rest of the decade and beyond. With emerging services and applications driving an ever-increasing “need for speed,” fiber will be the essential ingredient in propelling a new era of economic growth, business success and consumer lifestyle enhancements.

Smart Grid and Green FTTH

North America is relying on FTTH for more than voice, data and TV – in some cases all-fiber networks are proving their value in energy management and conservation, as well.

What is FTTH?

Fiber to the home (FTTH) is the delivery of a communications signal over optical fiber from the operator’s switching equipment all the way to a home or business, thereby replacing existing copper infrastructure such as telephone wires and coaxial cable. Fiber to the home is a relatively new and fast growing method of providing vastly higher bandwidth to consumers and businesses, and thereby enabling more robust video, internet and voice services.

Fiber for Rural America

Thanks to Verizon's $23 billion investment in its FiOS deployment, fiber to the home is growing robustly in many of the nation's densley populated metropolitan areas. But there is another story, and that is the growing popularity of FTTH among small telephone companies and other entities that are looking to bring next-generation broadband to rural areas, small towns and expanding exurban markets. There are hundreds of companies that are upgrading to FTTH, with an eye toward defending their markets by transforming themselves into 21st century communications companies. FTTH

The Consumer Experience

FTTH networks are now available to more than 15 percent of homes, and more than 5.3 million households across North America are now connected directly into high-speed, high-bandwidth fiber networks. Thousands more connections being made every day. As FTTH service providers continue their deployments and add customers, we are now getting a glimpse of what the new era of next-generation broadband will mean for the consumers who use them.

Toward a "Gigabit Nation"

To compete, to lead, to excel – America needs more speed in its broadband networks. That’s why the FTTH industry is moving forward toward the day when every American community can tap directly into fiber networks offering almost unlimited bandwidth. Many FTTH networks today offer transmission speeds of up to 100 megabits per second downstream – and almost as much upstream - with a few providers now offering speeds of up to a gigabit.