10 Mar Business Fiber Penetration Rises to 27.7% in the U.S. and 18.4% in Europe
Growth spurred by demand for higher speed Ethernet connections and new low latency services.
BOSTON, MA, MARCH 10, 2011 —
Business fiber penetration increased to 27.7% in the U.S. and 18.4% in Europe at the end of 2010, according to new research from Vertical Systems Group. Fiber expansion is cited as a top priority for network operators throughout the world, including Incumbent Carriers, Competitive Providers and Cable MSOs. Bandwidth scalability, operational simplicity and ease of provisioning are proven advantages of fiber-based service deployment.
Vertical’s latest research results also show that new fiber activity in 2010 was substantially higher for the SMB (small and medium-sized business) market segment than the Enterprise segment, both for the U.S. and throughout Europe. Despite this trend, the majority of SMB locations do not have accessibility to direct fiber, whereas most Enterprise locations are fiber-ready now.
“Investments in fiber deployment during the past year were spurred by demand for higher speed Ethernet services to support domestic and multinational enterprise networks. Rollouts of residential fiber also extended to many adjacent commercial sites, which particularly benefited small and medium size business locations,” said Rosemary Cochran, principal at Vertical Systems Group. “New low latency offerings are another driver for recently lit fiber. These services focus on ultra-high performance connections for financial, content delivery and other applications.”
Comprehensive analysis of fiber penetration statistics for U.S. and Europe is available exclusively through the @Fiber research track of Vertical Systems Group’s ENS(Emerging Networks Service). Research content covers the period 2004 through 2010, and includes quantification by customer segment (Large Enterprise and SMB) and building segment (20-50 employees, 51-100 employees, 101-250 employees and 251+ employees).