LONDON – July 9, 2007 – Across Europe, rapid broadband penetration and, more importantly, increasingly bandwidth-hungry applications and services are being deployed and consumed. This is creating a need for service providers to focus on their access network strategies.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan (http://www.communicationsservices.frost.com), Fibre in the Last Mile in Europe, finds that fibre-to-the-home deployments reached over 2.5 million homes in 2006 and estimates this to reach over 14.0 million in 2012.

If you are interested in a virtual brochure, which provides manufacturers, end users and other industry participants with an overview of the latest analysis of the Fibre in the Last Mile in Europe, send an e-mail to Joanna Lewandowska, Corporate Communications at joanna.lewandowska@frost.com with your full name, company name, title, telephone number, e-mail address, city, state and country. We will send you the information by e-mail upon receipt of the above information.

“Video content, high bandwidth applications and convergence are driving broadband bandwidth requirements in Europe,” notes Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Fernando Elizalde. “Several technologies are available to meet the delivery of bandwidth demand, of which fibre in the local loop, and in particular fibre-to-the-home, is future-proof.”

Several service providers across Europe have made commitments to deploy fibre-to-the-node or fibre-to-the-home networks in the next three to five years. In addition, the availability of the gigabit passive optical networks technology has made such deployments more economically viable.

However, digital subscriber technology (DSL), which uses existing copper access networks to deliver broadband, is well entrenched in Europe and lengthens the useful life of existing copper infrastructures. Furthermore, with DSL technologies, the bandwidth requirements in the near future can be met to a certain extent. Besides, high capital investment and local network characteristics pose restraints to a full fibre-to-the-home deployment across all countries.

“DSL is the preferred technology to deliver broadband and other related services in Europe,” remarks Elizalde. “Local network conditions have been favourable to the deployment of this technology to deliver sufficient bandwidth to cope with user and application demands.”

However, with the advent of high-definition video and other entertainment applications over broadband, this will not be the case for too much longer. Multiple high-definition video streaming to the home and other converged applications can easily outgrow the bandwidth capacity of DSL-based networks. As a result, service providers will need to start looking at deploying fibre deeper into the network, even to the home or building, in order to be ready to meet future bandwidth requirements.

Fibre in the Last Mile in Europe is part of the Communication Services Growth Partnership Service, which also includes research on the carrier Ethernet market and data retention in Europe. All research included in subscriptions provide detailed market opportunities and industry trends that have been evaluated following extensive interviews with market participants. Interviews with the press are available.

Frost & Sullivan, a global growth consulting company, has been partnering with clients to support the development of innovative strategies for more than 40 years. The company's industry expertise integrates growth consulting, growth partnership services and corporate management training to identify and develop opportunities. Frost & Sullivan serves an extensive clientele that includes Global 1000 companies, emerging companies and the investment community by providing comprehensive industry coverage that reflects a unique global perspective and combines ongoing analysis of markets, technologies, econometrics and demographics. For more information, visit http://www.frost.com.

Fibre in the Last Mile in Europe
B996-63

Contact:
Joanna Lewandowska
Corporate Communications – Europe
P: +48 22 390 41 46
E: joanna.lewandowska@frost.com

Mireya Castilla
Corporate Communications – North America
P: 210.247.3830
F: 210.348.1003
E: mireya.castilla@frost.com

Sarah Lourdes
Corporate Communications – Southeast Asia
P: +603 6204 5878
F: +603 6201 7402
E: sarah.lourdes@frost.com

Ravinder Kaur
Corporate Communications – South Asia, Middle East
P: +91 44 42044760
F: +91 44 24314264
E: ravinder.kaur@frost.com

Patrick Cairns
Corporate Communications – Africa
P: +27 21 680 3274
F: +27 21 680 3296
E: patrick.cairns@frost.com

Danielle White
Corporate Communications – Latin America
P: 210.247.2403
F: 210.348.1003
E: dwhite@frost.com

Bo Zhang
Corporate Communications – China
P: +86 21 5407 5780 Ext 8611
M: +86 13818113130
E: bo.zhang@frost.com

Sharmin Jassal
Corporate Communications – Australia & New Zealand
P: +61 2 8247 8900
F: +61 2 9252 8066
E: sharmin.jassal@frost.com

http://www.frost.com