WaitingWaiting OutOut thethe DownturnDownturn Here;Here; ExpandingExpanding AbroadAbroad While many providers in the US seem to be in “wait-and-see” mode, countries as diverse as Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and China plan major fiber deployments.

By Masha Zager ■ Broadband Properties

he economic downturn is taking its toll on FTTH de- piled by the US Conference of Mayors includes a number ployments, if the number of new announcements com- of fiber builds. Most are for specialized municipal uses like Ting our way is any indicator. Until recently, the slow- public safety, but such networks can serve as the backbones down in new housing was counterbalanced by the increase for later FTTP deployments. in MDU and municipal overbuilds. While our monthly fiber We’re also encouraged to see major commitments to roundup is a decidedly unscientific sample – many projects FTTH taking place in countries as different as Nigeria, are never formally announced and don’t come to our atten- Saudi Arabia and China. Nations that were late adopters tion until they’re no longer “news” – it does seem that even of technology often went straight to for non-greenfield projects, many would-be fiber deployers mobile communications, bypassing the fixed-network stage (and their sources of capital) are in wait-and-see mode. entirely. Now some of them are reconsidering that decision, The good news is that planning continues to go forward, recognizing that fiber will be required to deliver the services and the availability of economic recovery funds will un- of the 21st century. doubtedly spur many new projects, both public and private. As we report below, the list of “shovel-ready” projects com- – MZ

INDEPENDENT TELCOS Horizon Chillicothe Uses USDA Grant to Deploy Fiber orizon Chillicothe Telephone space for educational purposes. Rural nesota-based ILEC that is upgrading has joined the Corning Con- Development hosted an open house at its network to FTTH (see our Decem- Hnected Community Program the new center in November. ber report), announced that it is work- to support the deployment of Corning Corning Cable Systems developed ing with a professional services team optical fiber in Darbyville, Ohio, a vil- the program to assist developers in im- from solution provider ADC to imple- lage of fewer than 300 residents. HCT plementing fiber optic infrastructures ment this project. Albany Tel uses ADC is using a USDA Rural Development into their building plans. Bill McKell, equipment both in the central office grant to build an FTTH network; the Horizon CEO, says, “Working with (ADC’s FiberGuide fiber-management project includes the Darbyville Com- Corning through the Corning Con- system and OMX splice bays), and in munity Technology Center, which will nected Community Program, we can its outside plant (ADC’s 24-fiber Next house multiple computer terminals and educate our customers on the benefits of Generation Frame and RiserGuide ca- videoconferencing equipment, serve as a FTTH and further increase the technol- ble-management system). Albany Tel is wireless Internet access point for the sur- ogy’s visibility.” one of ADC’s first customers to place the rounding park, and include dedicated Albany Mutual Telephone, a Min- multifiber assemblies and RiserGuide

January/February 2009 | www.broadbandproperties.com | BROADBAND PROPERTIES | 15 solution alongside the active equipment Ethernet architecture, Albany Tel is de- Xfone; as integration activities began, it in an Ethernet deployment. “The ADC ploying greenfield fiber networks – pri- became clear that the companies’ legacy equipment takes less space in the cen- marily in new-home developments – and cost management solutions could not ac- tral office, but leaves enough room for also building over existing copper lines. curately manage their combined assets. growth – particularly important as we Network speeds up to 100 Mbps will be The Web-based AIM solution allows move toward more fiber and less cop- available, ten times faster than Albany NTS to achieve the balance of internal per,” says Tom Eveslage, network opera- Tel’s current broadband offerings. staff, systems and third-party providers tions manager for Albany Tel. Texas-based FTTH provider NTS Today Albany Tel’s network consists Communications selected Razorsight’s that will minimize its network costs. of 85 percent copper lines and 15 per- AIM solution to automate its network NTS chief operating officer Brad Wor- cent fiber lines. Eveslage said those pro- cost management functions and provide thington says the software is a scalable portions should be reversed by the end related analytic capabilities. In 2008 solution that will help the company ac- of this five-year project. Using an active NTS Communications was acquired by commodate the growth it expects. BBP

RBOC UPDATE FiOS to Inaugurate Service in Washington, DC erizon came a step closer to launching FiOS services in the District of Columbia when Mayor Adrian M. Fenty Verizon Reports Record Growth Vapproved the company’s cable franchise. One more step still remains – a Congressional review. As part of the 15-year in FiOS Customers for 4Q08 agreement, Verizon will make FiOS TV available throughout Verizon reported surprisingly strong earnings for the District over the next nine years. The first residents will be the fourth quarter – actually bettering 4Q07 by some able to order FiOS TV within a year. measures – driven by customer and revenue growth. In New York City, Verizon has expanded FiOS to additional “Verizon has shown that it is able to compete effec- areas in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, making good on its tively in this economic environment,” Chairman and CEO Ivan Seidenberg said in announcing the financial Even in a down economy, results. “The Verizon story in 2008 was one of cus- tomer growth and product innovation, based on the Verizon’s added more FiOS strategic technology and broadband infrastructure customers than ever before, investments we have made year after year.” One of those strategic infrastructure investments boosting the company’s is the company’s fiber-to-the-premises network. Veri- earnings per share. zon Wireline reported record growth in the number of new customers for FiOS TV and FiOS Internet. pledge to build out the network to half a million homes by the end of 2008 (and eventually to make FiOS available to the entire FiOS TV FiOS city). Door-to-door marketing and other presales activities have Internet been taking place in all of these neighborhoods in preparation Net adds 4Q08 303,000 282,000 for the introduction of FiOS TV. Verizon also opened a retail Net adds 4Q07 226,000 244,000 store in Staten Island, another borough of New York City. Year-end data: Despite its recent focus on big cities, Verizon isn’t neglect- Total customers 2008 1.9 million 2.5 million ing the suburbs and smaller cities where it first started its FiOS Total customers 2007 0.9 million 1.5 million project. In the last month it gained franchise approvals in com- Penetration rate 2008 20.8% 24.9% munities in New York, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts and Penetration rate 2007 16.0% 20.7% began rolling out video services in new communities in those Premises marketed 2008 9.2 million 10 million three states as well as in California. Verizon also announced that FiOS TV now provides 100 Premises passed at year-end 2008: 12.7 million, or or more channels of high-definition (HD) television in every 40% of total Verizon landline footprint. market where the TV service is offered, and that FiOS TV ARPU for FiOS customers at year-end 2008: $133 customers can now control their Home Media DVRs remotely, per month. either online or via certain Verizon Wireless handsets. BBP

16 | BROADBAND PROPERTIES | www.broadbandproperties.com | January/February 2009 Municipalities Shovel-Ready Broadband Projects Set to Go he US Conference of Mayors released a report on urban The city of North St. Paul, Minnesota, is planning a ref- infrastructure projects that are “ready to go” as part of erendum in February to approve the construction of a fiber-to- Tan economic recovery package – more than 15,000 proj- the-home network, which it is calling PolarNet, and which it ects that meet local needs, can be funded through existing fed- hopes will “provide an answer to the question of what distin- eral channels, can start quickly when funding is received, and guishes North St. Paul from other communities in Minnesota can generate significant numbers of jobs. These 15,000 proj- as a place to live, work or play.” The project has been more than ects include a number of special-purpose fiber optic networks, five years in the making, and will require issuing $18.5 mil- mostly for public safety and traffic control, along with several lion in general-obligation bonds. A majority vote is required community WiFi projects. (Some of the municipal fiber proj- in order to issue the bonds, extend the existing fiber backbone ects will be able to serve as the backbones for FTTH rollouts in future years.) FTTH subscribers in Lafayette, LA, In addition, there were three requests to build broadband networks: will be able to communicate at 100 • The city of Bridgeport, Connecticut, requested $10 million Mbps within the network, whatever to install a citywide broadband network for both commu- nity and municipal use, creating 40 jobs. their Internet access speeds. • The city of Miami, Florida, requested $28 million to build a municipal broadband network that would create 560 jobs. to homes and offer Internet and video services; a 65 percent • The Austin Independent School District in Austin, Texas, supermajority is needed in order to provide telephone services. requested $15 million to provide access for low-income stu- If the referendum passes, the city plans to begin building in dents to broadband communications from their homes, a the spring and start offering services to customers in late fall project that would create 40 jobs. 2009, possibly through a private-sector partner. The network The full report is available at www.usmayors.org/main will serve schools and businesses as well as residences. streeteconomicrecovery/documents/mser-report-20081219.pdf. In Glenwood Springs, Colorado, the city government has LUS Fiber, the new telecommunications division of Lafay- been considering extending its municipal fiber optic network, ette Utilities System in Lafayette, Louisiana, began serving which currently provides connectivity to businesses, to some or all residential neighborhoods. After a referendum in April customers in February. The company will continue rolling out 2008 demonstrated public interest in residential FTTH ser- service in a phased fashion over the next two years. vices, the city has been conducting due diligence to determine The municipally owned utility is offering television, Inter- how to proceed. In a recent meeting, the city council agreed to net and phone services to residents and businesses of Lafayette; go forward with a market assessment as a next step. triple play services start at $84.85 per month. In addition to In Red Wing, Minnesota, the city council accepted a fi- competitive pricing, LUS Fiber is introducing innovative fea- ber feasibility study produced by two consultants. The study tures including a TV Web portal and a 100 Mbps peer-to-peer concluded that a fiber infrastructure was needed to support the intranet. The TV Web portal, available to all digital TV sub- communications needs of the city and county offices and the scribers, allows consumers to connect to the Internet through school system, and that extending the network to local homes their TV set-top boxes. The peer-to-peer intranet allows LUS and businesses would be financially feasible and would boost Fiber customers to communicate and share files with each other economic development. The city council asked staff to move at 100 Mbps, even if their connections to the public Internet are forward with a due diligence process, and it is considering a at lower speeds. referendum on FTTH as a way of gauging public support and Another municipal utility inaugurating telecom services likely take rates for services. The referendum will be legally re- after a long planning and construction period is the Tulla- quired if the city decides to offer telephone services, and in any homa Utilities Board (TUB) in Tullahoma, Tennessee. TUB case will provide information needed by potential funders. is launching triple play services over its new fiber-to-the-home In another sign of the financial recovery of UTOPIA, the network, LightTUBe. Customers of the electric utility were FTTH network operated by a Utah municipal consortium, given the opportunity to sign up for television, Internet and one of the member cities, Centerville, is reported by local press telephone services beginning in the fall of 2008. Internet con- to be considering an expansion of the network. The city’s re- nections are available at speeds up to 100 Mbps downstream/30 development authority proposed a loan/lease investment in the Mbps upstream, and high-definition television service is avail- network to bring high-speed services to Centerville’s business able as an option. community. BBP

January/February 2009 | www.broadbandproperties.com | BROADBAND PROPERTIES | 17 INTERNATIONAL DEPLOYMENTS Europe: French Providers Agree to Share In-Building Wiring iber to the home is often described The agreement is open to other opera- ing VertiCasa along with other products as a natural monopoly, so that tors – in case Free changes its mind – and from its FTTH portfolio. F“whoever is first with fiber, wins.” the three signers have agreed to adapt Swiss incumbent Swisscom has se- But in Paris, France, multiple providers their terms and conditions based on feed- lected Huber+Suhner products and sys- have been overbuilding each other’s fi- back from tests and early deployments. tems for its fiber-to-the-home network. ber networks with the encouragement of Also in France, communications Huber+Suhner, a specialist in electrical the French national regulatory agency. wholesaler Axione is planning to build and optical connectivity, will supply fi- The agency, ARCEP, has tried to pro- out FTTH networks and offer triple ber management systems to Swisscom mote competition while minimizing the play services in 11 areas through public for local exchanges. As a first step, it will costs of building multiple competing service outsourcing contracts. Axione supply customer-specific “LISA” high- networks. Because most Parisians live will use Ethernet, IP/MPLS and FTTH density fiber optic management systems in low-rise MDU housing, one potential technologies from Alcatel-Lucent. Al- for the exchanges in Basel, Geneva and area for cooperation is in-building wir- catel-Lucent will also provide project Zurich. Swisscom has used fiber optic ing. Recently three large providers – in- management, network design, installa- technology for years, first to connect its cumbent Orange (France Telecom), ca- tion, integration and maintenance. exchanges and later for business custom- ble giant , and alternative “Economic development and growth ers. It is now bringing fiber to private operator SFR, which recently merged for our customers across the country is households in order to enable applica- with Neuf Cegetel – signed a detailed the goal of this project,” says Jacques tions such as HDTV and teleworking, as agreement for sharing in-building fiber Beauvois, Chairman of Axione, and well as faster transfer of large data files. optic cables. Pierre Barnabé, Vice President of Alca- Dutch fiber-to-the-home operator In most neighborhoods where they tel-Lucent’s activities in France, adds, Reggefiber has signed a contract with are deploying networks, the three pro- “This project demonstrates Axione’s Genexis for fiber-to-the-home gateways viders agreed to use a “single-mode” commitment to bridging the digital in Reggefiber’s FTTH network, now be- solution: Each residential unit will be divide which ultimately will boost eco- ing rolled out in more than 10 Dutch equipped with a special fiber allocated nomic and social development in re- cities. Genexis’ FiberXport gateway will to the operator chosen by the sub- gional communities.” deliver broadband Internet, VoIP and scriber. But in one Paris neighborhood Telecom (Servei de Tele- television services to homes on the net- and in a provincial town, the providers communications d’Andorra), which work. “Fiber to the home is the last step are testing a “multimode” solution – a is deploying a fiber-to-the-premises to be taken in order to offer end users new technique in which four fibers are network throughout the principality of real access to the digital highway,” says installed in each building and each op- Andorra, announced that it is using the Peter Kamphuis, Reggefiber’s director of erator can connect to the network at the VertiCasa cable system from Prysmian operations. “The Genexis FTTH gate- shared access point. Cables & Systems in multiple dwelling way enables us to deliver triple play and The fourth major FTTH deployer in units. Andorra Telecom’s project began more while maintaining low installation Paris, Free (Iliad), has not signed onto in 2008 and will reach all 35,000 homes and operating cost.” the agreement. According to France and businesses by 2010. The company Reggefiber is deploying Europe’s Telecom, Free is demanding that the chose Prysmian’s VertiCasa for its easy largest FTTH network, with plans to four-fiber solution – which is still being fiber access and break-out, which re- connect at least 2.5 million homes in tested – be deployed everywhere. France duces installation times and the need the Netherlands by 2013. In December Telecom says this approach will make for skilled labor. The system includes a its joint venture with incumbent telco it difficult for residents of buildings -al main riser cable of up to 48 fibers, which KPN to deliver FTTH was approved by ready wired by Free to choose a different can be branched directly to individual the Dutch Competition Authority. operator. France Telecom accuses Free subscribers on different floors without Dansk Bredband, a broadband of “blocking the implementation of a splicing the fiber in the riser. communications supplier in Denmark, general agreement on the mutualization Prysmian has recently been involved has chosen Enablence as the PON sup- of vertical fibering, a prerequisite for the in a number of other projects in Europe, plier for its rollout of fiber to 50,000 large-scale deployment of fiber.” Middle East, Russia and China utiliz- homes over the next two years. The first

18 | BROADBAND PROPERTIES | www.broadbandproperties.com | January/February 2009 project using Enablence equipment will be implemented in Vendor Spotlight North Funen, Denmark, together with the NEF Foundation, an innovative Danish power utility. (Dansk Bredband delivers ADC...... www.adc.com its triple-play solution over both its own fiber optic network Alcatel-Lucent...... www.alcatel-lucent.com and those of energy companies.) Corning Cable Mikkel Jensen, Dansk Bredband’s technical director, says, Systems ...... www.corningcablesystems.com “Until now, many businesses have thought that it was benefi- Enablence...... www.enablence.com cial to use only larger equipment suppliers, but in my view, Ericsson ...... www.ericsson.com the fact that Enablence’s Networks Division is focused exclu- Genexis...... www.genexis.eu sively on access networks is an absolute strength. It provides Huber+Suhner...... www.hubersuhner.com far greater flexibility and allows the company to respond with PacketFront...... www.packetfront.com more focused customer-specific solutions.” Prysmian Cables & Systems. . . . . www.prysmian.com Swedish real estate developer Heba Fastighets signed an Razorsight...... www.razorsight.com eight-year agreement with communications provider Telia to Teknovus...... www.teknovus.com provide triple-play services over fiber to the home to its prop- Ubiquoss...... www.ubiquoss.com/ erties in Stockholm, Lidingö, Huddinge and Borlänge. Alto- english_renew/company/about.asp gether about 3,000 units will be offered telephony, broadband and television services; installation began in January and is ex- Ministry to conclude that a large-scale investment in FTTH pected to be completed by the end of the year. Heba Fastighets made sense. The project’s timetable and budget have not yet president Lennart Karlsson says, “Modern communications been announced, but it appears that it will require investment and fast broadband are high on the wish list of today’s hom- by private telecommunications companies. eowners. We are both proud and pleased to offer our tenants Brasil Telecom this opportunity.” Telia already has about 55,000 FTTH cus- is expanding its fiber-to-the-home network tomers and is under pressure from the Swedish government to in the cities of Brasilia, Curitiba, Goiania, Porto Alegre and open its network to competing providers. Florianópolis and plans to launch residential services at speeds ranging from 14 Mbps to 100 Mbps. Breakthrough Projects in Nigeria and Saudi Arabia Nigerian telecom company 21st Century Technologies has The Fiber-to-the-Home Council, the IMCC and signed a contract with Ericsson to supply, build and integrate a Broadband Properties Magazine nationwide residential FTTH network, using Ericsson’s GPON and IMS technology. Ericsson says the project represents a ma- Congratulate jor breakthrough in West Africa, a market largely dominated by mobile communications. Deployment to the first 10,000 homes started in January. Ericsson will provide 21st Century Technologies with an For becoming a Silver Sponsor and end-to-end deep-fiber access network based on its EDA 1500 the official host of the Tuesday Night Exhibit Hall solution for GPON access and its Ribbonet and Micronet Cocktail Reception at the air-blown fiber systems. The contract also includes Redback 2009 Broadband Properties Summit. SmartEdge 1200 routers and Ericsson’s IMS solution for the For more information on DIRECTV, core network, enabling access to a wide range of multimedia visit www.directv.com. services. Ericsson will also be responsible for network design, deployment and systems integration services. You are cordially invited to come see Saudi Telecom Company (STC) has started work on an DIRECTV at the upcoming FTTH network in Saudi Arabia that will provide Internet ac- cess to residential customers at speeds up to 100 Mbps. The net- work will be deployed in stages, beginning with neighborhoods in the major cities. Engineer Saad Bin Dhafer Al-Qahtani, STC’s vice president for residential services, calls the project a “huge leap in Internet services,” saying customers will be able to April 27 – 29, 2009 enjoy services such as VoIP, VoD and electronic gaming. Hyatt Regency DFW • Dallas, TX China’s Ministry of Science and Technology announced a New Business Models For Fiber Communities plan to build a nationwide fiber optic network that could de- To Exhibit or Sponsor, contact: Irene Prescott at liver triple-play services – including Internet access at speeds of [email protected], or call 316-733-9122. 100 Mbps – to all households. A prototype network has been & For other inquiries, call 877-588-1649, operating in the Yangtze River Delta since December 2006, or visit www.bbpmag.com delivering services to about 30,000 users, and its success led the

January/February 2009 | www.broadbandproperties.com | BROADBAND PROPERTIES | 19 Deployer Spotlight Sweden

Denmark Netherlands France Switzerland Andorra International Japan deployment activity. South Korea Pakistan

Saudi Arabia Thailand Nigeria

Brazil

Tullahoma Utilities Board...... www.tub.net North St. Paul, Minnesota...... www.ci.north-saint-paul.mn.us Red Wing, Minnesota...... www.red-wing.org UTOPIA...... www.utopianet.org

International Deployers 21st Century Technologies...... www.21ctl.com Andorra Telecom...... www.sta.ad Axione ...... www.axione.fr Brasil Telecom...... www.brasiltelecom.com.br Alaska CAT Telecom...... www.cattelecom.com States with fresh Dansk Bredband...... www.dbnet.dk deployment activity. France Telecom...... www.francetelecom.com Heba Fastighets...... www.hebafast.se KDDI...... www.kddi.com/english/index.html North American Telcos KPN ...... www..com/corporate/en.htm Albany Mutual Telephone...... www.albanytel.com LG Powercom...... www.powercomm.com Horizon Chillicothe Telephone...... www.horizontel.com Miyoshi, Japan ...... Numericable...... www.numericable.fr NTS Communications...... www.ntscom.com Pakistan Telecommunications Ltd...... www.ptcl.com.pk Verizon Communications ...... www.verizon.com Reggefiber ...... www.reggefiber.nl/default.aspx?pageID=40 Saudi Telecom Company . . . . . www.stc.com.sa/cws/portal/en/ Other North American Deployers SFR...... www.sfr.com Glenwood Springs, Colorado. . www.ci.glenwood-springs.co.us Swisscom...... www.swisscom.ch/GHQ/content/ LUS Fiber...... www.fiberforthefuture.com homepage.htm?lang=en

The City of Miyoshi, Japan, is deploying PacketFront’s offer a smooth upgrade path from the 1.25G standard to the Broadband Business Engine, a tool to improve service and 10G standard. (Turbo-EPON is compliant with IEEE 1.25G subscriber management, on its FTTH system. Working with EPON specifications but offers an enhanced Turbo-EPON Soliton Systems K.K., PacketFront adapted the product to sup- mode for 2.5G operation.) port the Japanese language. The City of Miyoshi has connected A second 2.5 GePON deployment was announced shortly 7,500 households with fiber and has the potential to reach afterward, with LG Powercom, one of the largest communi- 16,000 households during the next few years. It is already using cations service providers in Korea, building out a large-scale other PacketFront equipment and systems to run its network. FTTH/FTTB network using a 2.5 GePON solution from Ko- Japanese service provider KDDI, which entered the fiber rean supplier Ubiquoss. The solution is also based on Tekno- business by buying networks from Tokyo Electric Power and vus’ 2.5G Turbo-EPON chip. LG Powercom’s network will Chubu Tele-Communications, has launched the first com- provide high-speed data, voice and a range of advanced video mercial deployment of 2.5 GePON, using Turbo-EPON chips services for residential and business subscribers in single-family from Teknovus. These chips were introduced two years ago to units and multitenant units.

20 | BROADBAND PROPERTIES | www.broadbandproperties.com | January/February 2009 Brisbane, Australia: “We Need to Deliver It Ourselves” The Australian government’s plans to develop a na- are also the broader benefits to productivity, the tional high-speed network have made little progress to environment, and to the community in general. date. “A year of wasted opportunity, a year of stagnation Rough estimates show that the Council could po- and uncertainty,” was an opposition politician’s verdict tentially save [more than $60 million; Australian on 2008, which ended with the country’s largest com- $95.5 million] a year in the value of time saved by munications provider being disqualified, essentially on a a high-speed fiber network. technicality, from building the network. The project also has a number of social ben- But inaction on the national level hasn’t stopped efits. For example, I assume that even councilors smaller providers and local governments from proceed- in this place, the first thing you do when you get ing with their own plans. Brisbane, Australia’s third larg- to your office in the morning, as do businessmen est city, is spending about half a million dollars (US) this around the city, is turn on your computer and do fiscal year toward detailed design of an FTTH network your e-mails that have come in overnight. If we had that would use the city’s existing fiber network as a base. FTTP… what people could do is do that work from Here’s Jane Prentice, the Brisbane city councilor who home and then go to the city in off-peak. Look at proposed the plan, explaining the history and purpose the effects that would have on reducing traffic of the proposal: congestion around this city in the peak hours. Recently, when I joined the Lord Mayor on his There are also the obvious environmental ben- trade mission to Korea in August, we observed efits. Imagine high-definition online videoconfer- the fact that they enjoy fiber speeds of between encing enabling you to easily interact with some- 100 megabits to 1 gigabit per second – absolutely one, whether they were a block away or half a amazing, Lord Mayor. This re-emphasized the world away. The environmental benefits of saving benefits that Brisbane would have if we had high- on these short- and long-term trips by car or even speed fiber connections. It was from this trade airplane would certainly be significant. Overall, mission, where we viewed the benefits to local the project would allow residents and businesses businesses firsthand, that this project arose. Since then, we have even had representatives more flexibility, and open up a greater capacity from ETRI, the company who undertook the roll- for innovation. out of fiber in Korea, visit Brisbane to assess the Of course, the rollout of high-speed fiber con- possibility of fiber rollout in Brisbane and the nections is already being considered as part of benefits it could bring. The economic benefits of the Federal Government’s national broadband connecting Brisbane with high-speed fiber con- network. However, I have to say I am not confi- nections are considerable. Various studies which dent that this solution can be delivered in a time- have been previously conducted suggest that frame acceptable to Brisbane’s needs, or that with businesses can achieve additional cost savings proposed speeds of just 12 megabits per second, equivalent to 4.7 percent of business costs by up- and indeed, maximum speeds using ADSL2 of 24 grading from narrowband Internet connection to megabits per second, that it would be fast enough a broadband connection. for Brisbane’s requirements. Indeed, both the The implementation of a high-speed network Lord Mayor and I were concerned that Brisbane could boost the Brisbane and Moreton region’s was not at the top of their list for rolling out this economy by [$3.5 billion; Australian $5 billion] and fiber network, and it very much highlighted the create more than 15,000 jobs over the next five fact that, if we want to achieve this progress, we years. On top of these economic benefits, there need to deliver it ourselves.

Pakistan Telecommunications Ltd. (PTCL), a ma- network in the beach resort city of Pattaya. The network is jor communications provider in Pakistan, announced that it expected to pass 20,000 premises by the end of 2009 and will will be deploying GPON fiber networks in order to cater to support businesses, schools and residences. The city is also “bandwidth-hungry broadband applications.” Pilot projects planning to offer WiFi on the beaches, in an effort to pro- are already being rolled out in the three major cities of Karachi, mote Pattaya as an “IT paradise location.” BBP Lahore and Islamabad. Local press reports that CAT Telecom, a state-owned tele- About the Author communications company in Thailand, will deploy an FTTH You can reach Masha at [email protected].

January/February 2009 | www.broadbandproperties.com | BROADBAND PROPERTIES | 21