Japanese Broadband Growth: FTTH Pulls Up

Japanese broadband uptake as of March 2007:

14.013 million	aDSL
8.803 million	FTTH
3.609 million	Cable
11 thousand	Wireless

More impressive than raw numbers is the graph, which shows aDSL growing rapidly from 2001 to 2003, after which FTTH suddenly becomes the new growth broadband connection.

As of March 2007, merely 95% of all Japanese households had broadband, and 84% had ultra-highspeed broadband. Japanese government goals for 2010 are 100% and 90%, respectively. Ultra-highspeed seems to be defined as both up and down over 30Mbps.

Until now, FTTH has been the mainstream in terms of ultra-highspeed broadband, with upload and download speeds of over 30Mbps, but other wired and wireless technologies are aiming for technologies that will match if not overtake FTTH, and there will be a need for ongoing developments in broadband technology in terms of higher speed and larger volume to meet user needs.

— Study Group Report: Moving towards Establishing a Usage Environment for Next-Generation Broadband Technology, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC), MIC Communications News, Vol. 18, No.13, 12 October 2007

Higher speed services in testing now include speeds faster than 1 Gbps, which would be around 300 times faster than what passes for broadband in the U.S.

Meanwhile, Softbank doesn't even sell an aDSL speed as slow as what most people can get in the U.S. called DSL. I wonder what the U.S. government's corresponding goals are, and what the U.S. plans to do to achieve them?

Maybe a premise basic to what Japan is doing could be useful:

...the premise of maintaining fair competition and ensuring the neutrality of technology.

Hm, why does that sound familiar?

Also note Japan isn't doing all this just out of the benevolence of its government's bureaucracy.

Japan's broadband environment has already reached the highest global level, with new efficient network uses gradually being promoted. MIC will continue to encourage endeavors for the promotion of the introduction of next-generation broadband technologies, inclouding the world-leading "Japan Premium Technologies," so as to maintain and strengthen Japan's international competitiveness. MIC will also take positive action to achive the goal of nationwide installation of broadband by 2010.

Note the part about "international competitiveness". Think back on transistor radios and automobiles.

-jsq

Comments

[Justin M]

I wonder what the Statistics of the growth in DSL internet in the United States is. Most of my friends that live around me use high speed cable internet.