The applications of the future will demand higher bandwidth and higher speeds. Specialist from Furukawa Solutions explains why it is necessary to advance in the implementation of fiber optic networks that will not only be key to meeting connectivity demands, but to contribute to global economic growth.
Telecommunications has advanced rapidly throughout its history, generating truly disruptive changes, both social and economic, in a very short time. It is estimated that this transformation will be increasingly rapid and will allow various challenges for human development to be solved, in areas such as health, work, food, industry, transport, entertainment and the environment.
According to Statista, by 2030 there will be nearly 30 billion devices connected to the Internet[1]. The International Telecommunication Union (UTI) expects that by that year “all fixed broadband subscriptions must be 10 megabits per second (Mb/s) or faster, each school must enjoy a minimum download speed of 20 Mb/s and 50 kb/s available per student, and each school must have a minimum of 200 gigabytes (GB) of data permitted[2]”
Billions of people and connected devices will be part of the everyday scene, demanding increasingly higher speeds and transmission capabilities. “Only fiber optic networks will allow us to take the leap into the future and provide the bandwidth necessary to realize the transmission of the enormous volume of data that new applications will require”, explains Xavier Benoit Stephane Chiron, General Manager of the technical department of Furukawa Solutions.
Thus, it is more accurate to say that the future belongs to fiber optics, since this constantly evolving technology will facilitate the implementation of other key technologies such as 5G, and the arrival of 6G afterward, but, above all, for its enormous potential to grow the economy globally.
According to the World Bank, global gross domestic product will grow by up to 1.2% each time fiber optic penetration increases by 10%[3].
In line with this trend, the Latin American fiber optic market will also undergo a dynamic expansion in the coming years. In 2021, the top 18 Latin American countries had 103 million homes passed (FTTH/FTTB), a growth of 29% compared to 2020, and subscriptions grew 47% to 46 million.
The same study by SMC+ and the Fiber Broadband Association (FBA), estimates that between 2021 and 2026 an annual compound growth of 8.9% in the number of homes passed and 15.3% in subscriptions is expected and the penetration of connections over homes passed will be at 59% by 2026[4].
These estimates are much more than statistics for Furukawa Solutions as the company has been present since the start, accompanying the vast majority of large telco, ISPS and cooperatives projects in the region.
“Furukawa is a global company, capable of developing comprehensive solutions for the industrial and domestic segment on five continents. Our continuous investment in application laboratories for broadband and networking has allowed us to position ourselves as a center of excellence. In addition, our trajectory is backed by the quality of each of our products that are monitored throughout the process, from obtaining the raw material through to production and service delivered to the customer”, explains Xavier Chiron of Furukawa Solutions.
Fiber optic networks, adds the Furukawa executive, are future-proof and will allow us to keep pace with the technological evolutions to come, without needing to be replaced by new networks.
In addition to the listed qualities, Furukawa Solutions’ fiber optic solutions are the future because they provide: financial and operational efficiency, network scalability, accelerated business expansion, lower connection and operating cost, higher return on investment, better quality and security, and customer-centric infrastructure.
[1] https://es.statista.com/temas/6976/el-internet-de-las-cosas-iot/
[2] https://www.itu.int/es/mediacentre/Pages/PR-2022-04-19-UN-targets-universal-meaningful-connectivity.aspx
[3] MOBS | “Fiber optics is the future and it’s forever”: Futurewei Technologies | DPL News
[4] What is expected for the Latin American fiber optic market in 2023? – BNamericas
