Almost 10 per cent of all broadband internet connections in Asia were being delivered over ultra-high speed fibre optic lines by the end of last year, according to new market research.

Japan and Korea are leading the way with significant fibre broadband infrastructure in 'last mile' systems such as fibre-to-the-home and fibre-to-the-building.

Telecoms carriers in these countries, such as Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) and Korea Telecom, are investing heavily in replacing xDSL over copper infrastructure with fibre by 2011, according to research firm In-Stat. 

Existing fibre connections already offer speeds up to 100Mbps, and are far from reaching their full capacity.

Over six million users of NTT's broadband internet service in Japan had fibre optic connections installed by the end of March, exceeding the number using slower ADSL links for the first time.

"The next-generation broadband access services strategy, as proven in markets like Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong, is to focus on market proliferation of value-added broadband services," said In-Stat analyst Bryan Wang.

"This is driven by the launch of compelling broadband content (IPTV and VoIP) and innovative broadband pricing plans."

Home fibre internet subscribers in Japan will rise by more than three million a year on average, exceeding 27 million by 2011, according to earlier research by the Yano Research Institute, a Tokyo-based technology consulting firm. 

More than 225 million people in the Asia-Pacific region will be using fibre broadband connections by 2011, In-Stat estimates, the majority of which are expected to be in new markets.