increasingly common for carriers with an international presence to offer telepresence-equipped rooms in countries such as India SO that they can provide inter- national customers service on a global basis. USING DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER LINE FOR INTERNET ACCESS BellCore, the former research and development arm of the local telephone compa- nies, developed Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) technology in 1986. It quickly recog- nized the advantage of a technology that could operate over the existing voice copper cabling. The local telephone companies were eager to avoid investing in new cabling to each subscriber's premises; thus, in 1989 they began deploying DSL throughout the United States. Worldwide, DSL service is the most prevalent wireline Internet access service. In fact, as Table 5-1 reveals, in 2009 in most areas of the world, the number of DSL subscribers was growing. Residential consumers use it when Internet access is not available via traditional cable TV modem. In addition, traditional telephone compa- nies that don't install fiber to the residence use high-speed DSL service for the short distance between each customer's home and the provider's fiber at a nearby utility pole or neighborhood cabinet. Although investments in DSL gear and bringing fiber cabling closer to customers are significant, it is less than running fiber to each customer. Table 5-1 Worldwide DSL Subscriptions by Region for 2008 and 2009 (Courtesy Point Topic, Ltd.) 2008 Q4 2009 Q4 Region Total Total Asia-Pacific 27,611,795 25,994,583 Eastern Europe 13,783,762 17,052,236 Latin America 18,057,850 21,099,026 Middle East and Africa 11,191,794 12,660,821 North America 35,743,199 36,888,881 South and East Asia 71,819,963 94,991,984 Western Europe 87,495,117 94,004,901 Worldwide Total 265,703,480 302,692,432 Broadband and Wide Area Network Services However, in countries such as Japan, South Korea, and Hong Kong, where govern- ment policies that include subsidies have made it cost effective for carriers to install fiber-optic cabling, the number of 