Fibrestream boss says FTTH is the 4th utility

Fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) broadband is just as important to people's daily lives as gas, electricity and water, a telecoms expert has argued.

Guy Jarvis, the boss of internet service provider Fibrestream, described the technology as the "fourth utility" and stated work must be done to ensure it is more widely available.

"Delivery as widespread as electricity is today [is required] before we can say 'job done' and reap the rewards of having affordable access to future-proof digital services," he said.

Mr Jarvis's comments come after technology writer Pauline Rigby warned Europe is lagging behind much of the rest of the world when it comes to FTTH access.

In a posting on her Optical Reflection blog looking back on the recent FTTH Council Europe conference in Italy, she noted there were just 3.9 million subscribers to the fibre optic broadband service at the end of 2010.

This statistic led her to describe the continent as the "poor relation" in the global FTTH family.