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Storage device like Blu-Ray wil be essential with this new type of internet connection.
Fibre internet in Japan gets 10 times faster.
Source: http://it.nikkei.co.jp/it/news/ftth....004093010060ul
Internet providers will start serving home owners fibre internet connections 10 times faster than the speeds currently available. It will enable their customers to connect to the internet at over 30 Mbits per second even while sharing one cable with other subscribers, and enjoy broadband content like HDTV broadcasting smoothly.
Softbank is going to enter the fibre internet market from October 2004, and be the first to offer the service. Other ISPs, NTT and KDDI also have plans to follow. This new offering might encourage more people to switch from ADSL to fibre internet.
A major advantage of current Fibre offerings is its 100 Mbits per second connection speed, but the majority of subscribers share one cable to reduce subscription fees. This has the side effect of making the service slower, for example, the current fibre service by NTT could share one cable with a maximum of 32 subscribers, this could push the speed down to 3 Mbits per second.
For this latest Service, ISPs are introducing new communications hardware. This enables them to increase the connecitons to 1 Gbit per second and maintain more than 30 Mbit if it is shared by the maximum 32 subscribers.
Softbank intends to achieve a monthly charge in the upper 6000 yen range when all costs are included. The company will rent fibre cables that connect individual homes to a central exchange from NTT.
NTT also plans to start offering the same service this year at the earliest. While KDDI, which has specialized only in condominium customers thus far, shall also enter the home owners market. This will increase competition in the fibre internet connection market.
The number of fibre internet contracts in Japan has been increasing steadily. There were 1.6 million users at the end of August 2004, though this is only one eighth of ADSL contracts (12.55 million). Once the advantages of fibre internet becomes clearer for users such as the stable connection and the faster speed than ADSL, it is expected that the market will grow much faster.
Broadband offerings in Japan
SERVICE PRICE DESCRIPTION NOTES
Shared fibre (new) upper 6000 yen range 1 Gbit shared by upto 32 users
Shared fibre (current) 6000 yen - 7000 yen 100 Mbit shared by max. 32 users
Dedicated fibre 5000 yen - 10,000 yen 100 Mbit single subscriber
ADSL 4000 yen 50 Mbit Uploadload speed significantly slower
Speed affected by distance from exchange
Internet connections will hit 10Gbit by 2010 in Japan
Source: http://www.nikkei.co.jp/news/keizai/...I23082004.html
The Japanese government (the Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Post and Telecommunication) are going to start a development plan next year that will increase the speed of the internet in Japan to 100 times faster than the current 100MB fibre internet, with partner companies it is aiming for completion by 2010. It plans to develop a unique technology, expecting to increase competitiveness in the network equipments market, which is currently dominated by the American IT company, Cisco Systems. The Ministry is going to make a budget request of 10 billion yen for the project over the next five years.
Current router technology for fiber optic networks must covert the optical (light) signals to electrical signals and back again to process them, this causes a delay in processing and as such a slowing down of internet communications. The group plans to develop technology that does not requite the conversion steps and so make even faster broadband internet services practical. If successful, the internet connection speed available could become more than 10G bits/sec (10 billion bits), which is 100 times faster than the current fastest speed of 100 Mbit on current fiber internet connections. This will take only about 35 seconds to send a 2 hours long video, which takes around 57 minutes with the current technology. The ministry has asked for support from NTT and Fujitsu and will form an organization composed of government and private companies to start the project.