For the last few years, the penetration of broadband has been the principle indicator of a developed country's competitiveness. However, while developed countries' broadband markets are approaching to complete penetration, and the gap between them is getting more narrow, the high speed and bandwidth of FTTx(Fiber To The X stands for all the "fiber-to-the-wherever" technologies-various places fiber can be linked to such as(to the) home, office, etc.) has become the focus of broadband infrastructure all over the world.

 

Fiber technology enables to the delivery of high-bandwidth net connectivity in a cost-efficient manner. It also offers massive bandwidth, low interference, low latency connections and more. And its lower cost has taken the upper hand when compared with other media distribution technologies. As the trend towards the ubiquity of broadband telecommunications connectivity continues toward ubiquity, a large boom in FTTX technology is inevitable. This is especially true considering that everyone, connected or not, is a potential customer for this technology.

 

An international study has found that Japan occupies the number one spot for Fiber penetration. During the second quarter, the Fiber penetration rate broke 26%, reaching 6.31 million users. On the other hand, before February, 2007, the Korean FTTx users had reached 3.7 million with an overall penetration of 26%. To maintain this very high rate of broadband adoption, the whole world is undertaking the transition to FTTH (Fiber-to-the-home) with the goal of completely implementing the goal of 'Fiber to users' in the near future. Experts expect that the worldwide FTTH users will have soared to ninety million by 2010.

 

To achieve the goal of high FTTH penetration, the key is to entirely implement the technology in building. Taiwan's government has contributed to Construction Industry cooperation through actively promoting the 'Fiber Broadband Building Label Certification' policy among architecture industries. Meanwhile, this demonstrates a clear demand for FTTH in architecture.

 

Taking advantage of Taiwan's existing wireless and broadband to increase overall the penetration of FTTx in Taiwan with foundational infrastructure setup and domestic industries sources integration, manufacturers can look forward to a lucrative future. According to Committee of Communication Industry Development, MOEA, the Taiwanese Fiber users are expected to increase by one million. However, Taiwan's 9% Fiber penetration is still much lower than Japan's. In fact, it's excellent news for Taiwanese Industries who can look forward to a large number of business opportunities.

 

'Broadband internet is seen as the key foundation of future digital lifestyles. And developed countries have focused upon FTTH development in a series of broadband infrastructure deployments. As far as geographical coverage is concerned, countries such as Japan and the South Korea are just head of us. We have been working on taking a survey of spreading FTTH trends since last year. In addition, to raise output value, we intend to provide Construction Industries a total solution to boost huge business opportunities and development of communication equipment and application services.'

 

The government has aimed at the convergence of FTTH technology and application systems for Construction Industries to provide house buyers more proper management and services. Improvement of communities' digital environment and application services will have a proportional effect on house added-value and subsequent house sales. Based on research, FTTH differentiates constructions in positive added value. For the foreseeable future, FTTH will add 3% to 8% value to houses.

 

The Committee of Communication Industry Development, MOEA, is ready to form an FTTx executive team in collaboration with TEEMA-CIA to offer total solutions including the system integration platform and professional technical consultation. More importantly, the domestic equipment can be utilized or be given a priority.

 

Recently, Digital Fiber Home concept has been widely used as a slogan for house sales. Among these new constructions on the market, there are still lots of problems to solve. The top priority problem for construction industries is high cost. Also, many consumers may think the Fiber trend is not going to be as important or necessary as the construction companies promote and feel no need to pay more for Digital Fiber Home technologies.

 

In the wireless market, broadband trends have changed very fast in a short period of time. One of the advocates of Digital Fiber Home technologies, AvisoTech, described this change, 'Think about it, how many phases of technological transition have you lived through while living in your house? The answer is at least ten times. Besides, the usage cycle of a building is more than fifty years. Without Fiber, the application for you would be limited.'

 

There is no need to emphasize the advantages to FTTH technology. It will strongly influence the lifestyle of every household in the near future. As more and more applications and services can be integrated into our daily life, the sources of convergence of crossing fields enables plenty of room for security control, home appliance integration and so on. This includes systems such as internet telephony and mobile phones, central remote based management systems, digital surveillance and alarm deployment, parking lot management systems, and smart health management platforms. It is exciting to imagine the convenience of digital lifestyles with FTTH technology. The image of e-homes (or Smart Homes) provides a convenient way to picture such a connected future.

 

At the same time, there's something more to be undertaken. The NOC (National OptoCom Corp.) has focused on front-end equipment and integration, maintainable services, and making applications as user-friendly and as simple as possible. 'It's in vain for consumers to have such an advanced equipment without any idea how to use it.'

 

According to Industrial Development Bureau Ministry of Economic Affairs, FTTx economics will create a multitude of business opportunities for Taiwan within the next five years and beyond. Taiwan's government is continuing to invest in talented people and fund FTTx development due to the current urgent need for Fiber to the home service. In addition, the government is going to create a committee to draw foreign capital and get media and professionals' attention with the goal of making great progress on promoting wireless connectivity not only in urban but also in rural areas. Needless to say, communication will be the key factor in the success of developed nations in the future, and Taiwan's industry is in a position to provide the infrastructure and technology needed.