More than 2 million households in North American now have direct connections into high-speed fiber networks, according to a study from the Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) Council and the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA).
Released during the FTTH Council’s 2007 Conference & Expo in Orlando Sept. 20-Oct. 4, the study found 2.14 million homes — or nearly 2 percent of the households on the continent — are now connected to the Internet via end-to-end fiber.
In September 2006, the same figure stood at 1.01 million connections, which translates to an annual growth rate of 112 percent from the 99 percent measured last March. The study also shows fiber to the home networks now passing 9.55 million North American homes, up from 6.1 million a year ago.
The study noted that the number of households that receive video services over their FTTH connections has increased sharply over the past six months to 1.05 million, or an annual growth rate of about 160 percent.
The take rate for fiber to the home services — the percentage of households offered the service that actually subscribe — is rising. While overall FTTH take rates had been suppressed while Verizon was building its FTTH infrastructure faster than it was adding customers, the company is connecting customers more quickly now.
Accordingly, FTTH industry’s overall take rate rose from 22.3 percent to 26.8 percent in the most recent six-month period. The take rate among non-Verizon FTTH providers is nearly 52 percent.
For more information, visit: www.ftthcouncil.org and www.tiaonline.org.
