Network operators in Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea have provided fiber broadband to nearly 100% of their citizens and are now offering 1G or even 10G speeds. Several potential customers, who docked their yachts in Hong Kong port, were provided with 1 Gbps fiber optic links (FTTy Fiber to Yacht). Now, however, 1G speeds are not a luxury in and of themselves. NTT's Nakai Lulang said the price of 1 Gbps is now cheaper than the price of 10 Mbps in 2001. That's a 100x improvement in speed and cost per Gbps over 15 years ago!

　　The number of FTTx users in China ranks first in the world, and will exceed 100 million by 2015. The Chinese government's latest plan calls for doubling the speed by the end of 2015, while reducing end-user fees by 40 percent. India and Indonesia are just starting to roll out FTTx, as their governments just passed their grand plan: to lay fiber to the smallest and most remote villages. "FTTz", as the title says, is not really a term, but it means laying fiber in the area to the last resident's home in the ends of the earth.

　　In the Asia-Pacific region, nearly 2 billion people live in poverty. Central Jakarta still uses an open-air sewerage system, with only individual ornate buildings providing "21st century shelter" for Western tourists. But the Indonesian government allocated 5% of their annual budget (1 trillion x 1 trillion rupiah, or roughly $3 billion) to connect 20 million residents by 2019. Their plan is to connect their people to the knowledge and opportunities on the global network, before tackling pollution.

　　A few figures about Indonesia: their population is over 250 million, the number of mobile phones (or SIM cards) is 315 million, the number of Internet users is 75 million, and the number of Facebook users is also 75 million. 4 million customers use Internet TV. These people are the first customers to use FTTx. Telkom's FTTH passed 7 million households at the end of 2014 and plans to sign up 3 million by the end of this year.

　　India, the most populous democracy, has elected a new president. Full of life. Their economy started to grow. The new national fibre network connected 6.5 million Indian villages by the end of 2016, extending WiFi services using fibre connections to 1 billion people living in rural areas. India has launched 100 smart city plans, and fiber-to-the-home is considered a must in all high-rise residential buildings in India.

　　Apart from China, there are not many countries in the Asia-Pacific region that can really turn their grand plans into reality in a short period of time. A speaker from BBNL, a mainstream network operator in India, admitted that India's fiber optic laying speed needs to be increased by 10 times to complete the government. The proposed plan for the end of 2016.

　　The speaker cited a number of challenges, chief among them the lack of qualified engineering staff in the area. Training an installation mechanic is the first step in these great programs. Provide jobs to the poor in this area. Telkom Indonesia hired 4,000 salespeople to promote fTTx services in 2015, and they needed so many because the vast majority of potential customers had never heard of FTTx.