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Google Fiber effect: Fiber to make up 19% of fixed broadband subscriptions by year end

Published Aug 21st, 2013 7:50AM EDT
Fiber-optic Broadband Market Share

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Google Fiber probably isn’t headed to your town anytime soon. In fact, building out Google’s affordable, lightning-fast Internet service to blanket America would cost a whopping $140 billion, so it’s no mystery why Google has been so slow in expanding the service. But Google Fiber has been pushing some ISPs to compete and it also seems to be one of several factors contributing to the accelerated rollout of fiber-optic Internet service around the globe. A new report from market research firm ABI Research suggests that by the end of this year, fiber-optic cable will carry 19% of the world’s fixed broadband subscriptions.

“The number of broadband subscribers is growing on all DSL, cable, and fiber-optic platforms. However, there is a marked shift in consumer adoption from DSL to fiber-optic as operators continue to extend the reach of their fiber-optic infrastructure,” said ABI analyst Jake Saunders.

ABI says that fiber’s market share is growing in developed and emerging markets alike, noting that China-based telco leaders China Telecom and China Unicom are both rolling out fiber networks “aggressively.”

“ABI Research expects globally 25.6 million fiber-optic broadband subscribers will be added to eclipse 124 million subscribers in YE-2013. In the DSL broadband category, subscriber net addition is expected to drop by ~50% compared to 2012,” ABI’s Khin Sandi Lynn said.

Zach Epstein
Zach Epstein Executive Editor

Zach Epstein has been the Executive Editor at BGR for more than 10 years. He manages BGR’s editorial team and ensures that best practices are adhered to. He also oversees the Ecommerce team and directs the daily flow of all content. Zach first joined BGR in 2007 as a Staff Writer covering business, technology, and entertainment.

His work has been quoted by countless top news organizations, and he was recently named one of the world's top 10 “power mobile influencers” by Forbes. Prior to BGR, Zach worked as an executive in marketing and business development with two private telcos.