Two telecommunications industry organizations, the Fiber-to-the-Home Council and the Telecommunications Industry Association, today announced new estimates showing fiber-to-the-home deployments now passing over 3.6 million U.S. homes, an increase of almost 1 million homes in four months.
The new figures, released prior to the FTTH Council's quarterly meeting in Washington, DC next week, show the most rapid growth of fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) deployment to date, with more than 230,000 additional homes passed every month.
"Typically telecom construction slows in winter months," says Michael Render of Render, Vanderslice & Associates, which prepared the estimates. "To see acceleration at this time of year indicates increased preference for FTTH as an infrastructure of choice."
The figures also show acceleration among homes connected by FTTH, which normally lags homes passed by several months. During the last four months, the estimate shows, homes connected with FTTH have increased by 70% - to 548,000 subscribers from 322,000.
"FTTH deployments are increasing across all market segments," says FTTH Council President Joe Savage. "Large communications companies, rural telephone cooperatives, real estate developers, and municipalities - are all turning to FTTH."
TIA President Matthew Flanigan emphasized the importance of next-generation broadband to the United States.
"This is a good sign, but we have to keep it up," Flanigan says. "The nations that build extremely fast networks will gain very significant advantages. The United States must win the bandwidth race."
Both organizations have urged policymakers to reduce barriers to next-generation broadband deployment, such as streamlining cable television franchising processes and allowing municipalities to build broadband networks.
The FTTH Council is based in Washington, DC. For more information visit www.ftthcouncil.org.