Coupled with impressive growth in its broadband subscriber base, the Asia/Pacific region is standing at the forefront of the Fiber to the Home/Node/Business (FTTx) evolution, reports In-Stat. Carriers such as Korea Telecom and NTT have committed to investing heavily to change copper infrastructures to fiber by 2010, the high-tech market research firm says.

“The next-generation broadband access services strategy, as proven in markets like Japan, South Korea, and Hong Kong, is to focus on market proliferation of value-added broadband services, driven by the launch of compelling broadband content IPTV and VoIP and innovative broadband pricing plans,” says Bryan Wang, In-Stat analyst.

Recent research by In-Stat found the following:

• The total Asia/Pacific broadband access services market will exceed 225 million subscribers by 2011.
• In 2006 FTTx represented 9.5% of the total Asia/Pacific subscriber base.
• Japan and South Korea are the two markets that will see FTTx replacing existing xDSL subscriber connections by 2011.

The research, “Asia/Pacific Broadband Market Update: DSL Still Takes the Lead”, covers the market for broadband services in the Asia/Pacific region. It contains forecasts for broadband subscribers and revenues, including segmentation by major country, through 2011. It includes analysis of market drivers and barriers and strategies by major vendors.