Broadband News
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North American fibre twice as expensive as Europe
04 Aug 2010 | 09.10 Europe/London
Compared to consumer tariffs, North American businesses are paying four times as much for their DSL and fibre connections and, on average, fibre is twice as expensive as Europe, according to the latest figures from broadband research firm, Point Topic.
The figures show a wide disparity which the researchers put down to fibre being relatively new and hence charged at what telecoms providers believe the business market will bear.
Comparisons with other leading markets show that American fibre subscribers are also paying considerably higher tariffs.
In AsiaPac, Western Europe and Eastern Europe the price for fibre equates roughly to $5, or just under, per Mbit. In the USA, the figure rises to around $12. The researchers believe, again, this is down to subscribers being charged what the market will bear but also that many American fibre connections are relatively new and subscribers are not using their full allowance of data per month, making the cost of a Mbit appear high.
Nevertheless, the United States ranks mid way in a world comparison chart, produced by Point Topic, which shows an average per Mbit fibre price of around $24 per month in the Middle East and Africa, Latin America and SE Asia.
The figures show a wide disparity which the researchers put down to fibre being relatively new and hence charged at what telecoms providers believe the business market will bear.
Comparisons with other leading markets show that American fibre subscribers are also paying considerably higher tariffs.
In AsiaPac, Western Europe and Eastern Europe the price for fibre equates roughly to $5, or just under, per Mbit. In the USA, the figure rises to around $12. The researchers believe, again, this is down to subscribers being charged what the market will bear but also that many American fibre connections are relatively new and subscribers are not using their full allowance of data per month, making the cost of a Mbit appear high.
Nevertheless, the United States ranks mid way in a world comparison chart, produced by Point Topic, which shows an average per Mbit fibre price of around $24 per month in the Middle East and Africa, Latin America and SE Asia.