08 04 2009 - The Fiber to the Home Council yesterday released data that, in these times of carrier-constrained broadband, offers a glimmer of hope. Thanks to the efforts of Verizon and several smaller telecommunications companies, 15 million homes now have access to fiber broadband, with 32 percent of them opting for such a service over cable or DSL (or forgoing broadband altogether). A quarter of the fiber is being deployed by smaller carriers, which are typically located in rural areas and when it’s comes to upgrading their aging copper infrastructure, are choosing fiber as a way to future-proof their networks.We’ve written about two such carriers, one of whom, West Plains Communications, credited Verizon’s FiOS deployment for lowering the cost associated with some of the equipment it had to buy to install fiber. Many of these smaller carriers stand to benefit from the economic stimulus plan, too. To that end, 58 percent of those surveyed told the FTTH Council that they would be likely to install fiber if given grant money, 45 percent said they’d install fiber if offered tax deductions, and 37 percent said they’d install fiber if they had tax credits.
Source: Gigaom
