Fiber Hybrids Drive Superfast Broadband Growth

The latest figures published by the Broadband Forum show “a significant surge” in superfast broadband. Fiber, particularly FTTx/VDSL2 hybrid deployments, is driving this, the group notes. The report, prepared by Point Topic, also reveals 50 million new users worldwide have subscribed to broadband in the past year, bringing the global total to nearly 644 million. FTTx is gaining ground on other technologies, including traditional DSL, which continues to be the most dominant technology in the market, the Forum adds, with the technology (including VDSL and VDSL2) showing the largest annual growth – more than 27 percent overall, compared to 7.2 percent for cable modems and 3.6 percent for DSL. Looking at the current market share, it adds, fiber technologies (at 21 percent) are beginning to overtake the cable modem (19 percent).