New Delhi residents experiencing high-speed fiber to home network

Ericsson has installed its fiber to the home (FTTH) based Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) in a 3000 unit-housing complex in New Delhi suburb. This high bandwidth connection can pipe out Internet, IPTV, high definition entertainment content and also utility metering data to/from residential housing units.

This GPON system supports the speed to download data content at 100Mbps and access Wi-Fi in the complex's common areas and gardens. Users can choose their Internet Service Provider due to this system supporting open network solution.

There is high demand for broadband connection in India. DSL and WiMAX are doing very well. Also, there is enough market space for FTTH based systems in sub-urban housing complexes.

Worldwide, the FTTH is growing faster, In North America the number of FTTH subscribers continues to grow at an annual pace of approximately 1.5 million and by Apr-2009 it stands at more than 4.4 million, according to a study released by the Fiber-to-the-Home Council.

Though U.S. and Indian markets are different in few aspects, the demand of broadband services in India will sure to give lot of opportunity for FTTH to grow, but the cost competitiveness with other broadband access technologies will determine the growth of FTTH in India. Adaptation and deployment of FTTH by modern housing complexes is the major driving factor. But it stops there, because in India wireless is more reliable than cable due to infrastructure bottlenecks.

"Real estate developers and property management companies realize that high-speed broadband access in the home is a value-added differentiator," said Gowton Achaibar, President, Ericsson India and Sri Lanka "Gratifying user experience, greater convenience and a large and rapidly growing telecom market are all pointers to the immense potential of GPON in India."

The end-to-end fiber access solution from Ericsson includes EDA 1500 GPON system, and Micronet and Ribbonet air-blown fiber and microcable solutions. The contract also covers implementation, systems integration, consulting, and training and support services for its customer Radius synergies, a real estate company.