Focus on FTTH Council Asia-Pacific

Across the APAC* countries, there were 427.7 million FTTH/B subscribers and more than 550 million FTTH/B Homes Passed (61.5% compared to the total number of homes) in December 2018. Overall fibre take-up rate is now at 77.6% -10.1 percentage points higher than 2017.

 

In several countries, which are doing exceedingly well, growing demand and technology innovation have resulted in advanced infrastructure. According to research carried out for us by IDATE, China continues to lead the way, with 74% of all FTTH/B Homes Passed and 63% of the total FTTH/B Subscribers in the region. The three main players in China are progressively migrating towards fibre solutions. Japan is also performing well. This consolidated market is focused on fibre adoption among its fixed broadband subscribers. In South Korea, we’re seeing more initiatives to make FTTH/B and FTTx/LAN solutions the leading technologies.

 

Singapore, another front-runner, recently came out as overall Winner in the Smart Fiber Cities ranking, presented at our Annual Conference in Wuhan, China. Cities are ranked in two categories: ‘Champs’ have almost complete citywide fibre coverage and have reached maturity in deployed smart projects. ‘Challengers’ are cities that are actively deploying fibre infrastructure, but don’t yet have a full panel of smart services. In the ‘Champs’ category, Singapore scored highest, with 93% FTTH/B coverage, 100% 4G coverage and over 10, 000 Wi-Fi hotspots.

 

Countries such as Thailand, Philippines and Sri Lanka have also experienced strong growth, increasing Homes Passed by more than 25%. This is partly the result of public-private initiatives, which are key enablers for growth. Key drivers across the entire region are 5G, Smart Cities and National Broadband Plans. Many public authorities in APAC have launched national broadband plans in order to deploy fibre-based networks throughout their countries, such as ‘Digital Bangladesh’, Pakistan’s ‘Broadband Policy’ and Cambodia’s ‘ICT Master Plan 2020’.

 

Several players are shifting their business models to focus on FTTH rather than copper or cable-based technologies. Mutualized networks and sharing agreements tend to push FTTH development and technology innovation is helping lower costs. Alternative players are taking a leading role in FTTH/B initiatives. Around 64% of total Homes in the region have been passed by Alternative ISPs, whereas some 34% have been passed by incumbents. This is a stable trend when compared to 2017. Municipalities and Local Authorities, sometimes with support from utilities, remain essential to ensuring exhaustive long-term coverage.

 

From a technology perspective, FTTH GPON is the norm for fibre networks in APAC.  PON solutions are clearly first choice. FTTH solutions are preferred when migrating from copper and cable technologies, especially in Greenfield areas. A relatively high percentage of MDUs compared to other regions also affects rollout speed and ease.

 

Several challenges appear quite frequently across the region. The number of approvals required for a rollout tends to be high. There are no clear mass-market applications for FTTH and new variants or mixed-build architectures, along with G.Fast or DOCSIS 3.1, could delay operators’ FTTH investments. Other challenges to FTTH are future high spectrum band 5G technology (26 GHz) in the residential market and fixed-wireless or ‘hybrid’ access in remote or difficult to service areas. Furthermore, public funding initiatives may not be enough to effectively encourage FTTH growth.

 

By 2023, homes passed are expected to reach~649 million homes (+18%), while FTTH Subscribers will reach ~576 million subscriptions (35%). Growth will be mainly supported by the most densely populated countries, such as India and China. Most countries are successfully deploying fibre nationwide, pushing operators towards adoption. Across the region, demand for data and bandwidth continues to grow, which means operators are adapting networks to a single robust technology to provide the speeds required. Looking ahead, the main focus areas for the FTTH Council Asia-Pacific will be 5G - a key factor for fibre promotion -, Smart Cities and Best Practices.

 

* APAC - 21 = Australia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam