Fiber Optic Broadband Penetration Continues to Grow Rapidly

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Fiber Optic Broadband Penetration Continues to Grow Rapidly

6:05 am on December 6, 2006 | Category: Business, Telecom Services, Internet

The number of North American households with direct access to fiber optic data networks has grown to over 1 million, according to a report by Render Vanderslice & Associates.

As of September 30, 2006, there were a total of 1,011,000 fiber-fed homes in the United States and Canada, representing a 51% increase over the past six months and a 213% increase over the past year. Fiber now passes a total of more than 6 million North American homes (at the curb) and is being marketed to more than 5 million of these, the report said.

The Render Vanderslice report goes on to note that those who make use of FTTP broadband services are generally more satisfied than DSL, cable, and dialup subscribers. 89% of fiber optic subscribers describe themselves as “satisfied” with their service, compared to just 63% of DSL and cable modem users, and 30% of those using dialup.

“And that’s before we get into things like video conferencing,” said analyst, Michael Render. “This is only the beginning. We’ll soon have full-motion video Web sites instead of the Model T versions we have today.”