SINGAPORE -- A group of leading telecom, networking, infrastructure, and communications related industry leading companies today announced the formation of the "Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) Council Asia Pacific" whose mandate is to promote the extension of fiber access across the Asia Pacific region including Greater China, Korea, Japan, SE Asia, India, and Australia/New Zealand.

   The FTTH Council Asia Pacific is a non-profit organization whose mission is to educate, promote and accelerate FTTH and the resulting economic and quality-of-life enhancements across the Asia Pacific region. FTTH Council members represent all areas of broadband industries, including telecommunications, computing, networking, system integration, engineering, and content-provider companies, as well as traditional telecommunications service providers, utilities and municipalities.

   The vast capacity of fiber access allows businesses and residents to fit all Internet, telephone, and TV-video services on a single access cable, reducing costs and encouraging the creation of further new services. Mr. Shoichi Hanatani, President of the FTTH Council Asia-Pacific, and Senior Director, Hitachi Communication Technologies, said, "History will show that the creation of the FTTH Council Asia-Pacific marked the transition of telecommunications in our region, from the constraint of copper loops to the enormous capacity and rich services that are only possible on optical fiber-to-the-home networks." He continued, "We see the introduction of FTTH as a global phenomenon. Our new organization will maintain close working links with the existing FTTH Council organizations in North America and Europe."

   Surveys of FTTH activity around the world show that there are over a million subscribers connected with optical fiber access, with the Asia-Pacific region leading the way with speed of deployment and numbers of deployments. According to Dittberner Associates, Inc., the worldwide capital expenditures related to FTTH access technology will reach US$22.8 billion in 2013, from an estimated $3.7 billion in 2004 and predicts that the Asia Pacific region will be the largest market for FTTH access technology with 52.8% of the total, or 12 billion dollars. China alone will account for a third of the region, with nearly 24% of the total market.

   Colin Goodwin, a founding member of the board, and Broadband Product Manager for Ericsson, explained, "FTTH access networks are a strategic infrastructure for a region, just as much as roads and airports. Our studies show that regions equipped with True Broadband Internet access (speeds of 10's to 100's ofMbps)enjoy improved business performance and economic advantage."

Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) Council