More than two million people in Europe now have fibre broadband direct to their home, suggests a survey.

The latest figures on superfast broadband delivered by fibre to the home (FTTH) shows 18% growth over the last survey compiled in late 2008.

The continued growth suggests that the global economic downturn has not hit plans to build a fibre infrastructure (基础设施).

Sweden tops the list of nations rolling out the technology, with 10.9% of its broadband customers using fibre.

Karel Helsen, president of Europe’s Fibre-To-The-Home Council, said the growth matched predictions that were revised when the credit crunch (信用紧缩) started to make itself felt.

“The numbers in 2009 are in line with the latest forecasts,” said Mr. Helsen.

By 2012, the FTTH Council expects that 13 million people across 35 European nations will have their broadband delivered by fibre. Such services would start at speeds of 100 megabits per second (mbps), said Mr. Helsen.

Around Europe more than 233 projects were underway to lay the fibres that would connect homes or buildings to the net, said Mr. Helsen. Many of those, he said, were being operated by local governments or smaller net firms.

Local governments were interested in FTTH because of the economic and social benefits it brought in its wake, said Mr. Helsen.

The low latency or delay inherent in high-speed fibre networks made possible novel uses of broadband, he said. “No delay is very important,” he said, “specifically if you talk about applications that are time-dependent such as personal communications, conference calls or video calls where delays cause a lot of interference.”

While early FTTH services were concentrated in cities, said Mr. Helsen, many more were reaching out to rural areas for e-health and e-learning projects.

Separate studies show that an FTTH infrastructure can have a direct impact on local economic output, said Mr. Helsen.

The UK, France and Germany have yet to break into the list of top ten FTTH nations.

﹡TOP FIBRE NATIONS:

1) Sweden - 10.9% 2) Norway - 10.2% 3) Slovenia - 8.9% 4) Andorra - 6.6% 5) Denmark- 5.7% 6) Iceland - 5.6% 7) Lithuania - 3.3% 8) Netherlands - 2.5% 9) Slovakia - 2.5% 10) Finland - 2.4%

47. Despite the worsening global economy, the number of Europeans using fibre broadband .

48. When the credit crunch emerged, people’s forecasts about the growth of FTTH were .

49. According to Karel Helsen, who were mainly in charge of European’s fibre-laying projects?

50. Superfast broadband delivered by fibre saves users of instant communication from delays which

51. Different from the past, now more and more fibre projects are carried out in .

答案47. continues to grow 48. revised 49. Local governments or smaller net firms.

50. cause a lot of interference 51. rural areas