Why a Competitive Europe needs FTTH?

While FTTH is happening in North America and Asia, Europe is lagging behind. Instead of investing into a successful future, Europe continues to discuss if fibre is really needed. In Japan there are already four times more FTTH-subscribers than in the whole of Europe. A missing vision and an uncertain regulatory framework lead to a nearly complete investment-stop from incumbents in Europe. 2/3 of the few deployments in Europe are already initiated or are being deployed by municipalities and utility companies. At the same time, innovative services for home and business users demand high symmetrical bandwidth. Several studies have already proven that a well developed broadband infrastructure has a positive effect on the development of a whole economy. This presentation will discuss why FTTH is the end-game broadband infrastructure for Europe and why it is necessary to act now to make sure that Europe stays competitive in the world. It will also give an overview of FTTH deployments in Europe as well as elsewhere in the world, and highlights the services that will demand the high bandwidth that only FTTH can offer.