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PCCA Journal|2

nd

Quarter 2010

8

H

undreds of small independent

telecoms, broadband service

providers, municipalities, and

cable television companies

have brought gigabit-enabled, all-

fiber service to a total of more than

1.4 million North American homes

(about a quarter of all fiber to the

home connections on the conti-

nent), according to a report released

in April by the Fiber-to-the-Home

(FTTH) Council.

The study found that all-fiber

networks are now available to 16

percent of homes in North America,

with 5.8 million homes now receiv-

ing television, high-speed internet,

and/or phone service over these

networks.

While a large portion of the FTTH

deployment thus far has been due

to Verizon’s $23 billion investment

in overbuilding its wireline service

in many areas, the report noted

that FTTH is now being deployed

by more than 750 service providers

across North America, with most of

those being small, independent tele-

phone companies that are replacing

their copper lines with end-to-end

fiber to ensure their future competi-

tiveness as broadband providers.

The study also found that more

than 65 percent of small indepen-

dent telephone companies that have

not upgraded to FTTH said they

would very likely do so in the future,

with another 11 percent saying they

were somewhat likely. More than 85

percent of those that have already

deployed FTTH said they would be

adding more direct fiber connections

going forward.

“With Verizon approaching the

end of its initial FiOS expansion,

we are seeing a lot of small local

exchange carriers in the U.S. who

are ready to pick up the slack, along

with some cable TV companies de-

ploying RFoG and some larger Cana-

dian companies going FTTH,” said

FTTH Council President Joe Savage.

Savage said he is delighted that

Google’s plan to build gigabit FTTH

networks in several cities has raised

awareness of how many communi-

ties want superfast connections.

“But our survey results show that

many communities aren’t waiting

and are instead taking matters into

their own hands, sometimes through

their local telephone or cable compa-

nies and in some cases by operating

their own FTTH network as a public

utility,” he said.

Survey: Hundreds of Local Telecoms Already

Upgrading to Gigabit-Enabled Fiber Networks

D

espite slowdowns and spending cuts in

many industries, overall spending by all

U.S. businesses on wired and cellular call-

ing is forecasted to exhibit modest growth

over the next five years, according to a new market

research report from Insight Research. The study

predicts that cellular calling will account for nearly

44 percent of the U.S. corporate phone bill for

telecommunication services in 2010 and is the only

enterprise market segment showing substantial

growth.

Insight’s newly released market analysis report,

Telecom Services in Vertical Markets, 2009-2014

,

reveals that wireless service revenues are expected

to grow at a compounded rate of nearly 18.4 per-

cent annually from 2009 to 2014, while growth in

wired services remains essentially flat. The biggest

spenders on cellular services will come from four

market segments: construction; financial, insur-

ance, and real estate; professional business ser-

vices; and transportation. The study analyzed 14

vertical industries categorized by the NAICS and

focused on corporate spending for wireline and

wireless telecommunications services in each of

the 14 industries.

“The year 2009 was all about cutbacks and re-

trenchment in every industry sector we examined,”

Insight President Robert Rosenberg said. “However,

it is continued demand for wireless services that

will keep the telecom industry in the black over

the next five years, and that demand is going to be

uneven across the various business sectors.”

U.S. Business Telecommunications

Spending Expected to Grow

News Briefs

Continued from page 7