TEO plans fiber optic upgrade

VILNIUS - The largest provider of integrated telecommunication, IT and TV services in Lithuania, TEO LT, will invest more than 15 million litas (4.3 million euros) in the next-generation fiber-optic access in business centers and office buildings by the end of 2012, reports news agency LETA. The investment will make TEO leading-edge Internet technologies available to almost 80 percent of the country’s businesses and organizations which have their offices in office buildings.
Fiber-optic access allows businesses to use much faster Internet services, and to more efficiently interconnect workplaces located in different parts of the city, the country or the world. In addition, the next-generation Internet access allows cost saving through the use of the possibilities offered by the so-called ‘cloud computing’ systems.

The cloud computing services, which are being deployed by TEO Group, allow the software installed on servers to be used by multiple workstations simultaneously. Fiber-optic access can ensure the same software operating speed as if it were on the same computer.

It is planned that by the end of 2012, TEO fiber-optic access will be installed in more than 1,000 buildings hosting different organizations. This year, the fiber-optic network is being most actively developed in Vilnius, Kaunas and Siauliai. In these cities alone, by the end of December, TEO fiber-optic access will be installed in more than 200 office buildings.
In 2011, the overall investments of TEO in the FTTH network, which is being expanded in fifty cities of Lithuania, will reach more than 70 million litas, while the total amount of investments planned by the company next year will be over 150 million litas.

According to the data released by the FTTH Council Europe in October, Lithuania is the country which is deploying next-generation Internet access technologies at the fastest rate in Europe. Fiber-optic Internet access is used by approximately 21 percent of households in the country. According to the research data, Lithuania is about two times ahead of Sweden, Norway and Slovenia.

FTTH Internet services provided by TEO, the company which has developed the most extensive telecommunications network in Lithuania, will by the end of this year become available for use to about half of the country’s population. At the end of September, the next-generation network services were used by more than 93,000 customers of TEO, and it is forecasted that by the end of the year there will be more than 100,000 customers.