NEWS ANALYSIS
@fibresystemsmag |
www.fibre-systems.com
Gigabit internet race hots up in California
The headlong rush in US cities to gigabit fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) continues apace after a slow start, Tim Gillett writes
T
he battle lines have been drawn across the United States, with Google and AT&T competing to roll out ultrafast internet services in key markets.
In August AT&T announced plans to take its
GigaPower service to the Californian city of Cupertino – the home town of Apple and just a few miles from Google’s headquarters. Te service is expected to be up and running within months, making California the sixth state to have taken the AT&T service. AT&T and Google have been carefully selecting
cities for development, gambling that demand will pay for the cost of installing new fibre cables. AT&T says it will soon bring the gigabit service to 100 cities across the country. Te first US gigabit fibre to the home project was
launched five years ago in the city of Chattanooga, Tennessee, following an initiative to kick-start economic development, and a desire to test the market and use gigabit FTTH as a marketing tool by the community-owned electric company, EPB. FTTH Council Americas member Michael
Render, of RVA Research, toldFibre Systems the project attracted attention from the fibre
CANADA CATCHING UP
Compared to the United States, Canada was slow to initiate FTTH. However, in 2010, a few incumbent local exchange companies (ILECs) such as Bell Alliant started building FTTH as a response to losing market share to other operators that had more robust broadband offerings.
In fact, over the last three
years, growth of Canadian FTTH has been strong – with a penetration of new homes passed (as a percentage of total households) higher than in the USA. Take-up rates are currently
lower in Canada than the US because small rural ILECs with
high take-up rates are a smaller component of the total FTTH build in Canada, and larger ILECs have only recently entered the market. Currently, about 3.7 per cent of Canada’s 13.3 million households subscribe to FTTH, placing it among the top 20 countries in the world.
Cupertino is home to the Apple headquarters
industry, though take-up was initially disappointing – not surprising, as the service cost consumers more than $300 per month. He explained: ‘Tere were a few businesses that could afford it, and there were no doubt a few people who wanted to boast that they had gigabit connectivity, but that was about it.” However, the project was undoubtedly a success
in terms of raising the profile of so-called ultrafast broadband and inevitably other companies were quick to offer a similar service. Within a year, companies were offering gigabit FTTH at much more reasonable prices. Google announced its intentions to roll out a
FTTH service – and, indeed, the concept was so attractive that 1,000 communities across the USA applied to become the first recipient of the service; Kansas City being chosen for development, with
AT&T says it will soon bring the gigabit service to 100 cities across the country
different suburbs being selected for development based on pre-registration figures. Render explained that progress in Kansas City
was driven in two ways: Google adopting something of a ‘build it and they will come’ attitude with an interest in spurring both gigabit applications and more gigabit infrastructure, and more demand for higher bandwidth. He continued: ‘Tere was a huge amount of interest in the media, with consumers showing an increased interest.’ Last year the competition began to hot up across
the United States, most notably in Austin, Texas, where Google and AT&T have both announced plans to provide a gigabit service. AT&T’s service is already operational in the city, with customers paying $99 per month for the service, and Google is committed to rolling out its service in the city. It’s unclear whether Austin – a city of 800,000
residents – will be able to support the two companies operating in direct competition with each other, but AT&T and Google appear to be bullish regarding the future of gigabit internet provision.l
6 FIBRE SYSTEMS Issue 5 • Autumn 2014
Ken Wolter/
Shutterstock.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45