tions, account for the rest of broadband usage. The DSL Forum (www. dslforum.org) expects to see 500 million DSL subscribers by 2010. It appears that cable modems and alternative technologies are gradually losing out to DSL, and Point Topic predicts that in the short term, DSL is likely to see a boost in market share worldwide. However, due to the growth in FTTx, particularly in China, Japan, and the United States, fiber deployment, especially passive optical network (PON) technology, is on the rise worldwide, as is wireless broadband access, thanks to the many new wireless broadband systems that have emerged and are now poised to take off. To keep track of the fast-paced environment, you can check the latest Point Topic "World Broadband Statistics" reports at www.point-topic. com; published several times a year, they provide detailed statistics by country as well as region, offering the most up-to-date glimpse of broadband access deploy- ment globally. What drives a service provider to consider deploying broadband access in the first place? One reason it may do SO is if it is experiencing slower rates of growth or even decline in its core business, whether it is fixed-line telephone services for the Chapter 12 Broadband Access Alternatives telco or television services for cable TV operators. Also, there's a great deal of com- petition going on among many alternative networks, and there's ongoing growth in the demand for high-speed data and video services. After a service provider decides to deploy broadband access, it has to decide which of the available broadband media options to deploy: twisted-pair (i.e., xDSL), coax, fiber, wireless, or one of the other options listed in Table 12.1. What drives the strategy for deciding which of the options to deploy? One fac- tor is the status of the embedded distribution plant-how old it is, how well it extends into the neighborhood, and whether it can support the high data rates specified with that broadband access option. Another factor is the services strategy of the ne