Source: snapvoip.blogspot.com

Hong Kong Broadband Network Limited (“HKBN”) today announced a revolution in Hong Kong’s broadband market, being the FIRST Internet service provider in Hong Kong to launch Fiber-To-The-Home (FTTH) residential broadband services, “FiberHome100”.Significantly, HKBN has turned traditionally cost prohibitive FTTH technology into affordable mass-deployed residential service, at US$48.5 (HK$378) service fee for its 100Mbps access service.

After the breakthrough launch of bb1000 in 2004, HKBN is again delivering the future today. Effective immediately, HKBN will offer residential FTTH broadband services ranging from 100Mbps to 1Gbps, namely, FiberHome100, FiberHome200 and FiberHome1000, at US$48.5 (HK$378), US$88.2 (HK$688) and US$215.4 (HK$1,680) respectively. Living the vision of technological advancement, HKBN will phase out our entry bb10 service (symmetric 10Mbps service), ceasing to accept new subscriptions for this service. As such, our entry service will now be our bb25 (25Mbps symmetric service).

In Hong Kong, as early as 2002, HKBN already envisioned the future need for bandwidth, and invested more than HK$2 billion in network infrastructure, set to offer symmetrical broadband service up to 1Gbps. Enabled by pioneering technologies, FTTH is the art of our advanced network platform with minimal extra investment and upgrade work. With the technology leap from Fiber to the Building to FTTH, end-users can enjoy the full benefits of Future Technology today. Not only does the use of optical fiber allow easy bandwidth upgrade beyond 1Gbps, but the reliability of the broadband service will also be enhanced considering the fact that optical fiber device are passive devices that do not require electricity.

In order to promote the benefits of FTTH technology, 100 users will be selected from 100 different housing estates in Hong Kong and they are entitled to enjoy the 100Mbps FTTH broadband service at special discounted price of US$38 (HK$298). Their opinions on the service will be actively solicited and used enhance our service before our launch to all our household units in 2008. HKBN is delighted to announce yet another technological and market breakthrough. Chairman of HKBN, Ricky Wong, said, “High speed broadband service (FTTH) is a foreseeable inevitability that we had prepared for 3 years ago. Holding onto to the belief that a service provider should deliver the best and most up-to-dated services available to the public, we are pleased to be able to launch the massively-deployed FTTH version of 100Mbps, 200Mbps and 1000Mbps in Hong Kong, which also contribute to further enhance Hong

Kong’s role as Asia’s telecommunications hub.”

About City Telecom/Hong Kong Broadband Network Limited

Established in 1992, City Telecom (H.K.) Limited (SEHK : 1137, NASDAQ : CTEL) provides integrated telecommunications services in Hong Kong. City Telecom’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Hong Kong Broadband Network Limited (HKBN), is in the process of expanding its Metro Ethernet from 1.3mn to 2.0mn homes pass. HKBN has achieved an aggregate Voice, Broadband (symmetric 25Mbps up to 1Gbps), IP-TV and Corporate data services base in excess of 640,000 subscriptions. Additional information on City Telecom can be found at www.ctigroup.com.hk. For enquiries, please contact: Corporate Communications Investors Relations

Jessie CHENG Peggy CHAN

Tel: (852) 3145 4118 Tel: (852) 3145 6068

Fax: (852) 2199 8372 Fax: (852) 2199 8655

Email: chengcm@ctihk.com Email: ir@ctihk.com

Source: snapvoip.blogspot.com

According to a Yankee group report released on Monday, Comcast os the comcastic service provider.
The Cable TV company with it’s multi service model, bundled VoIP IP Telephony services, managed increase the service, 167 percent in 2006 from 3.9 million subscribers to 6.3 million, the report said. The same report predicts that the number will reach 26.2 million by 2011.

This is certainly comcastic for Comcast given that initial service was plagued by quality concerns and the 911 issues are still lingering. But the company seems to have reached the best segment in the market. Many cable users, however, are not aware that their phone service is basd on VOIP, not the traditional copper phone wiring. In a separate 2006 survey, the Yankee Group found that only 9.5 percent of cable telephony subscribers knew what powered their phone service.

Comcast recently emerged as the telephony leader when it reported 2.4 million subscribers during the first quarter of 2007, an 813 percent increase. Those numbers bested previous champ Vonage, a broadband VoIP provider, which struggled last year after a weak IPO and patent battles with Verizon, the report said.

Despite those issues, however, Vonage still managed to add 1.2 million lines in 2006, a 75 percent subscriber increase. The company also added 166,000 lines during the first quarter of 2007.

Maintaining that growth comes with a price – about $300 to attract every new subscriber, the report said. The hefty cost of acquiring new customers likely contributed to the downfall of another broadband VoIP provider, SunRocket, the Yankee Group suggested.

Nonetheless, the Yankee Group predicts that broadband VoIP will grow from 2.8 million customers in 2006 to 6.4 million in 2011. The growth will likely be led by innovative technologies and decreased pricing, the report said.

Going forward, fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) VoIP could be a major threat, the report said. This segment of the market is "almost negligible when compared with the overall consumer VoIP market" but it could explode in the coming years given ongoing fiber projects like Verizon’s FiOS and AT&T’s U-verse, it said.

Comcast Tops VOIP Providers in 2006

Source: snapvoip.blogspot.com

According to a Business wire News announcement by Cisco, Free, a division of Iliad Group and the leading triple-play over broadband operator in Europe, is to roll out the first and largest optical fiber network in France and Europe, based on the Cisco Internet Protocol Next Generation Network (IP NGN) architecture and using Cisco Ethernet fiber-to-the-home (E-FTTH) technology.

Free announced that residents will have access to broadband speeds that could exceed 50 megabits per second(1) for 29.99 euros per month, and benefit from advanced services such as high-definition IPTV, video on demand, multimedia communication (VOIP, VVOIP) and Web 2.0 services.

Michael Boukobza, chief executive officer of Free, said: "We are building a network of the future for our users and by working with Cisco, we can bring the future closer. With the ongoing debate about fiber access platforms, we have made a clear choice and decided on Ethernet point-to-point FTTH architecture because it is future proof and maximizes return on such an important infrastructure investment. Other options would not have set us so clearly apart from the competition. By taking fiber optic links directly to the home, we can be sure that France will continue to be at the forefront in technology and applications for the next few years, and even the next few decades!"

Links;
Business wire News network