Asia Is World's Fastest Growing Broadband Market: Report

Asia is the world's fastest growing regional broadband market, with carriers in five countries aggressively deploying fiber to the home and neighborhood (FTTX) infrastructures, according to new research from In-Stat.

In China, Japan and South Korea, in particular, carriers are finding that fiber to the home and neighborhood is an efficient and cost-effective way to introduce consumer broadband to support advanced services. These include voice over IP and Internet television (IPTV), with online gaming and video-on-demand seen as potent drivers in Korea..

According to In-Stat, the rapidly-growing broadband markets in China and Australia specifically offer huge growth potential for equipment and service players interested in establishing a foothold in Asia-Pacific.

"Foreign investors may not need to build up networks or provide services on their own," In-Stat analyst Victor Liu said in a statement. "Instead, content developers and value-added services providers may have better revenue prospects if they work closely with broadband service providers who lead the adoption of FTTX in those markets."