CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts, January 7 /PRNewswire/ --

Despite the difficult financial climate, the progression of fiber
upgrades is now inevitable, according to a new report from Pyramid Research
(www.pyr.com), the telecom research arm of the Light Reading Communications
Network (www.lightreading.com).

Pyramid Research's latest report, Fiber in the Last Mile: Best Practices,
Adoption Trends and the Impact of the Economic Downturn, examines the
deployments of FTTx networks in Asia-Pacific, North America and Western
Europe, which have now passed the stage of early adopters and are led by both
telecom incumbents and competitive broadband network operators. As many as
98m homes -- 6% of all households worldwide -- are now passed by FTTB/FTTH
networks globally, and another 74m homes by VDSL2 networks. Of the 98m homes
passed, 70% are located in Asia-Pacific, where NTT in Japan was among the
first to pioneer large-scale FTTH upgrades in 2000. Europe and North America
each accounts for 15% of the homes passed, and both have plenty of catching
up to do in the next five years.

"We found that telcos' need for fiber to the home remains strong,
especially in developed markets, where deployments are driven by the maturity
of the broadband markets and a proliferation of IP-based video, TV and
interactive applications," notes Ozgur Aytar, Senior Research Manager at
Pyramid Research and co-author of the report.

The report also found that with mobile operators now offering broadband
at speeds and prices equivalent to entry-level ADSL subscriptions, telcos
have little time to procrastinate. "After losing the voice game to mobile
players in the early 2000s, fixed-line operators can hardly allow the same to
happen with the broadband business, which has kept them afloat when voice
revenue tanked," adds Aytar.

Download the excerpt of Fiber in the Last Mile here:
http://www.pyr.com/downloads.htm?id=1&sc=PR010609FIBER.

Contact Amalia Vega at avega@pyr.com for more information.

About Pyramid Research

Pyramid Research (www.pyr.com) offers actionable solutions to the complex
demands our clients face in the telecommunications, media and technology
industries. Our analysis is uniquely positioned at the intersection of
emerging markets, emerging technologies and emerging business models, powered
by the bottom-up methodology of our market forecasts for over 100 countries
-- a distinction that has remained unmatched for over 20 years. As the
telecom research arm of the Light Reading Communications Network, Pyramid
Research works with Heavy Reading, providing the communications industry's
most comprehensive market data, trusted research and insightful technology
analysis.

About Light Reading

Founded in 2000, Light Reading (www.lightreading.com) is the leading
online media, research, and focused event company serving the US$3 trillion
worldwide communications market. Lightreading.com is the ultimate source for
technology and financial analysis of the communications industry, leading the
media sector in terms of traffic, content, and reputation. Light Reading's
research arms, Heavy Reading and Pyramid Research, provide the most
comprehensive communications research, market data, and technology analysis
in close to 100 markets around the world. Light Reading produces nearly 20
targeted communications events including TelcoTV, Ethernet Expo New York and
Ethernet Expo London, The Tower Summit @ CTIA, and Optical Expo, as well as
focused one-day events tailored for cable, mobile, and wireline executives.
Light Reading was acquired by United Business Media in August 2005 and
operates as a unit of TechWeb.

About TechWeb

TechWeb (http://techweb.com/aboutus), the global leader in business
technology media, is an innovative business focused on serving the needs of
technology decision-makers and marketers worldwide. TechWeb produces the most
respected and consumed media brands in the business technology market. Today,
more than 13.3 million* business technology professionals actively engage in
our communities created around our global face-to-face events, Interop, Web
2.0, Black Hat, and VoiceCon; online resources such as the TechWeb Network,
Light Reading, Intelligent Enterprise, InformationWeek.com, bMighty.com, and
The Financial Technology Network; and the market leading, award-winning
InformationWeek, TechNet Magazine, MSDN Magazine, and Wall Street &
Technology magazines. TechWeb also provides end-to-end services including
next-generation performance marketing, integrated media, research, and
analyst services. TechWeb is a division of United Business Media, a global
provider of news distribution and specialist information services with a
market capitalization of more than US$2.5 billion.

*13.3 million business decision-makers: based on number of monthly
connections

About United Business Media Limited (www.unitedbusinessmedia.com)

United Business Media Limited (UBM) is a global media and marketing
services company that informs markets and brings the world's buyers and
sellers together at events, online, in print, and with the information they
need to do business successfully. UBM serves professional and commercial
communities, from IT professionals to doctors, from journalists to jewelry
dealers, from farmers to pharmacists around the world. UBM employs more than
6,500 people in more than 30 countries. UBM's businesses operating in the US
include CMPMedica, Commonwealth Business Media, Everything Channel, PR
Newswire, RISI, TechInsights, TechWeb and Think Services. UBM is listed on
the London Stock Exchange (UBM.L) and has a market capitalization of US$2.5
billion.

Press contact:
    Jennifer Baker
    +1-617-871-1910
    jbaker@pyr.com