Japan's KDDI launched 1 Gbits fiber optic services in October 2008

Japan with its 13.76 million FTTH subscribers lead much ahead than the rest of the world. The broadband subscribers are near to 30 million. The DSL population switching over to Fiber rapidly.

KDDI Corporation launched a fiber-optic communications service with upload and download speeds each of up to one gigabit per second on October 1, 2008.

The new service target people living in single-family homes and low-rise apartment buildings. The traffic speeds are the fastest in eastern Japan, up drastically from the current 100 megabits per second.

By offering these services, KDDI aims to catch up with Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp., NTT, which has a share of over 70 percent in the market for fiber optic broadband services for single dwelling units.

KDDI charge 5,985 yen in basic monthly fees for Internet and telephone services, down 1,155 yen from the current price, if a user subscribes for two consecutive years.

KDDI has started offering its fiber-optic services, which were available only in six prefectures in the Kanto region and nearby Yamanashi Prefecture, in four more cities in the northern prefecture of Hokkaido.