Unveiled today at the FTTH Conference in Lisbon, the FTTH Business Guide presents essential practical advice on how to develop a business case for fibre to the home, and analyses the major influences on income and expenditure, and their effect on the business plan.

The Business Guide is aimed at the complete range of prospective FTTH stakeholders, including bankers and investors, municipalities and local government, utility companies and alternative telecoms operators, real-estate developers and residential associations, as well as community and grass-roots projects.

"The complexity of starting up an FTTH project often does not get as much attention as needed,” said Karel Helsen, President of the FTTH Council Europe. “The Business Guide addresses this issue by providing a framework for new entrants in the FTTH space, to help them move forward with confidence and a quicker step."

Chapters cover key topics relevant to the crucial early stages of planning FTTH networks, including demographic analysis, FTTH business models, services and pricing, deployment strategies, types of funding, and the business plan. A selection of case studies shows how different business strategies have been applied in the real world.

Issued from a 3 euro carbon donation supplement added to each conference entry fee, the green donation will support ABAE, a leading environmental organisation in Portugal, where the 2010 FTTH Conference will be held. This non-profit organisation is dedicated to raising public awareness in matters of sustainable development and good environmental practices, themes that are firmly embedded in the FTTH Council Europe’s mission. The contribution will specifically support ABAE’s innovative ECO-Escolas project and its educational campaigns in 1.300 Portuguese schools.

The 7th FTTH Conference will take place in Lisbon, Portugal, on 24 and 25 February 2010, and more than 2.500 attendees are expected. Dedicated to a wide range of fibre-related topics such as regulatory and policy affairs, technical solutions and market environment, this edition of the landmark FTTH event will focus on fibre-enhanced content and services.

The FTTH Council Europe initiated its first investors’ road show to present the advantages and development potential of fibre access to an investor audience.
Throughout the day, several Frankfurt-based investment companies such as Frankfurt Trust, COMINVEST, Union Investment, DWS Investment and DEKA Investment had one-on-one meetings with FTTH Council Europe representatives Hartwig Tauber, Director General, and Karel Helsen, President. The meetings were organised by WestLB, a major European commercial bank with investment banking activities, and focused on the market development of FTTH in Europe and the business case for fibre roll-out. They were joined by Jan Davids, Director of Wholesales of Reggefiber, a major FTTH operator in The Netherlands, who was invited by the Council to share his practical experiences of several years’ successful FTTH deployment.

The investors’ feedback was extremely positive as they acknowledged that fibre access could herald the next wave of growth in high technology telecommunications. Many of them agreed that investing in FTTH deployment is a low risk, secure long-term investment.

Considering the economic, environmental and social impact of FTTH and its current development potential, investors expressed concern that some telecom operators may be missing the turning point. They believe that further delay in investing in FTTH technology could lead to loss of market share. These concerns were specifically raised about some incumbent operators that are still very hesitant to decide to go for FTTH networks while other market players continue to roll out fibre and connect an increasing number of consumers to their truly next generation networks.

“This road show was an important step forward to convince the investors community that the best point in time to invest in fibre is today”, says Karel Helsen, President of the FTTH Council Europe, “It is a good sign that the investors see FTTH deployments as secure long-term investments. Now that investment experts have accepted that FTTH represents the only future-proof wired broadband solution while all kinds of new wireless technologies are seen as important but complementary offerings, we feel strongly supported in our continuous efforts towards FTTH mass roll-out.”

Based on the feedback and requests of the participating investors, the FTTH Council Europe plans to organise another similar information tour again next year.

KPN today announces its ambition for fiber in the Netherlands. Following commercial fiber pilots in ten cities, KPN believes Fiber-to-the-Home (fttH) is the long-term superior technology and will proceed with fiber in the Dutch consumer market. As a result, KPN is committed to a gradual, regional fiber roll-out. KPN will deploy a mix of infrastructures going forward with fiber, copper and wireless. As an intermediate step, KPN will upgrade its existing copper network with ‘VDSL from central office’ (VDSL-CO) before mid-2010, allowing higher broadband speeds and improved TV capabilities including HDTV. This combined technology approach offers KPN the optimal balance between investments and returns.
 
KPN has conducted ten commercial fiber pilots since the second half of 2008, of which five cities with Fiber-to-the-Curb (FttC) and five cities with FttH. These pilots were intended to test the operational aspects as well as the commercial (ARPU and penetration) potential. Commercial uptake was in line with expectations, however, operational issues with delivery processes and IT caused a significant delay in the number of activations. The pilots delivered promising commercial results with an increase in overall market penetration, broadband market share and ARPU, indicating a positive business case for both FttH and FttC.
 
KPN has the ambition to reach 1.1-1.3 mn homes passed on FttH through Reggefiber by the end of 2012 (Q3 2009: ~460k). KPN will first focus on commercialization of existing homes passed on FttC (Q3 2009: ~450k), before deciding on further network roll-out. By 2012, KPN targets some 600-800k active customers on FttH and FttC combined, roughly corresponding to 10% of Dutch households. As with its copper and mobile networks, KPN also operates an open access model for fiber, allowing alternative operators on its network.
 
In the medium term, KPN expects to provide 30-60% of Dutch households with fiber, dependent on the business case by region and on partnering opportunities. Other areas will be serviced via a mix of fixed and mobile infrastructures. With this combined technology approach of gradual migration to fiber and VDSL-CO, KPN continues its strong focus on cash flow generation without materially impacting Group Capex levels, ensuring an optimal balance between investments and returns.

Whatever the outcome of the long awaited United Nations Climate Change Conference being held in Copenhagen (COP 15), one thing is certain: they will be connected by fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) technology and offer remote participation possibilities.  The broadband connections in Denmark in general - and at the Copenhagen Bella Conference Centre in particular - not only offer ultra high-speed access but also contribute to sustainable development.

Denmark is a very suitable location to hold the debate on climate change: it is one of the leading European adopters of fibre-to-the-home technology, with a 90% increase in subscribers over the past year. It is therefore a shining example when it comes to adapting future-proof technologies that boost the economy while at the same time benefitting the environment and enhancing the quality of life of its citizens.

But there is more: the environmental benefits of fibre go beyond carbon emissions.  Further FTTH deployment will have a positive impact on depletion of stratospheric ozone, atrophication of water resources, and a reduction in other forms of greenhouse gas emissions.

To find out more about the work of the FTTH Council Europe’s Sustainable Development Committee (SUDEFIB) and assess how fibre access networks make an impact on the environment by using the web-based “FTTH Configurator”, visit the site.

The Dutch broadband market grew by 0.8 percent or 38,300 net additions during the third quarter of 2009, to reach 5.996 million connections on 30 September, despite DSL losing 12,700 customers, according to Telecompaper’s Dutch Broadband Q3 2009 report. The number of DSL connections dropped by 0.4 percent during the quarter, to reach a total of 3.542 million on 30 September 2009. At the same time, cable broadband reported 1.5 percent growth to 2.294 million customers, and FTTH broadband saw its customer base grow by almost 12 percent to around 160,000.

The Dutch broadband (including FTTH) penetration per household increased to 82.2 percent at the end of Q3 2009, growing by 2.4 percentage points compared to the end of the third quarter a year earlier. Penetration per 100 inhabitants increased to 36.2 percent at the end of the third quarter, compared with 35.1 percent on 30 September 2008.

Of all broadband ISPs, cable network operator Ziggo reported the largest quarterly net additions with 18,000, followed by DSL provider Tele2 Netherlands with 15,000 and cable network operator UPC Netherlands with 14,500. Ziggo is still the largest broadband provider in the Netherlands with 1.418 million customers on 30 September, followed by Internet van KPN with 1.161 million DSL customers and UPC with 707,900 customers at the end of Q3 2009. UPC extended its lead over the number four player, KPN subsidiary and DSL provider Het Net, which lost 11,000 customers during the quarter to end at 670,000 DSL users. Tele2 remains number five in the Dutch broadband ISP rankings, winning 15,000 net additions during the third quarter to end September 2009 with 390,500 DSL customers.

The FTTH Council Europe is urging world leaders to consider the potential of fibre-to-the-home in reducing carbon emissions at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 15) to be held in Copenhagen, 7-18 December.
More than 180 countries will gather at this event to negotiate a new international treaty to tackle climate change. As noted by The Copenhagen Communiqué on Climate Change, an international organization representing business leaders: “The one thing we do not have is time.” That is why the FTTH Council Europe is stressing the fact that fibre-to-the-home is a future-proof technology that is ready to be deployed today, which has huge potential for reducing carbon emissions.

In 2008 the FTTH Council Europe commissioned a comprehensive study on the environmental impact of fibre-to-the-home deployment. The research, which was carried out by life-cycle assessment experts PricewaterhouseCoopers/Ecobilan, found conclusive evidence that fibre-to-the-home is a highly sustainable broadband technology with a lifetime of at least 30 years.

Savings could even be higher in many regions where roads and railways are overloaded and where municipalities are considering heavy, costly and environmentally unfriendly extensions of these facilities. Instead investment in FTTH facilities could be addressed: 1 million fibre-to-the-home users would lead to 30,000 fewer people commuting to work each day on average. Road works, hence CO2 emissions, could also be avoided. This is not taken into account in the studies.

The environmental benefits of fibre go beyond carbon emissions. The research also indicated that fibre deployment would have a positive impact on depletion of stratospheric ozone, atrophication of water resources, and a reduction in other forms of greenhouse gas emissions.
Simultaneously, many countries around the world are formulating strategies to boost their economies through universal access to high-speed broadband. The FTTH Council Europe believes that fibre-to-the-home can serve a double purpose: delivering a future-proof broadband infrastructure, while also helping nations, regions, municipalities, and operators to meet their carbon reduction objectives.

To find out more about the work of the FTTH Council Europe’s Sustainable Development Committee (SUDEFIB), and assess the environmental impact of fibre access networks using the web-based “FTTH Configurator”, visit www.sudefib.eu.