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Fiber Networks Drive Economic Development

Coupled with impressive growth in its broadband subscriber base, the Asia-Pacific region is standing at the forefront of the Fiber to the Home/Node/Business (FTTx) evolution, according to In-Stat.

Carriers such as Korea Telecom and NTT have committed to investing heavily to change copper infrastructures to fiber by 2010. Asia-Pacific market leaders now have such a significant head start, when compared to other developed markets, that their strategic economic advantage is already daunting.

"The next-generation broadband access services strategy, as proven in markets like Japan, South Korea, and Hong Kong, is to focus on market proliferation of value-added broadband services, driven by the launch of compelling broadband content (i.e. IPTV and VoIP) and innovative broadband pricing plans," says Bryan Wang, In-Stat analyst.

I believe that it's important to remember that the Asia-Pacific leadership in broadband infrastructure investment is the result of proactive government economic policies that created the right environment. Meaning, this scenario can be attributed to decisive action.

Similar to prior transport infrastructure investment trends -- such as railways and roadways -- where preemptive activity had a direct impact on economic viability, strategic foresight has enabled the current leaders to succeed within the global networked economy.

Recent research by In-Stat found the following:

- The total Asia-Pacific broadband access services market will exceed 225 million subscribers by 2011.

- In 2006 FTTx represented 9.5 percent of the total Asia-Pacific subscriber base.

- Japan and South Korea are the two markets that will see FTTx significantly replacing existing xDSL subscriber connections by 2011.

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