Bandwidth envy

Completely non-European, I know, but think about it - City Telecom in Hong Kong is going to offer 1Gbps to the home. Even the comparatively un-macho 100Mbps service for $35 looks exceptionally good value. Hell, that's 28% less than I am paying for 750kbps cable modem currently in the UK - and I am relatively lucky. Even after I am very generously upgraded to 2Mbps at the same "low-low price," I will still be paying 69x more per megabit than customers on this service. And this is a market where Vonage plans to enter as a voice-only newcomer and make money?

NiQ Lai, Director of Corporate Development at City Telecom, is coming to Europe in early February for a planned FTTH conference. I am looking forward to meeting up with him and learning more about the economics of what City Telecom is pursuing, and also the implications for pockets of Europe where this may become an increasingly relevant issue.