NYT: Unlike U.S., Japanese Push Fiber Over Profit

Nearly eight million Japanese have a fiber optic line at home, far out pacing fiber deployments in the U.S., where AT&T and Verizon Communications are under intense pressure from investors to justify their capital spending plans, according to a report published by The New York Times. The investment in fiber is seen by NTT and KDDI as a long-term strategy and a means of selling additional services, but an expansion into video services has been slowed by regulations that limits their role in the broadcasting business.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/03/business/worldbusiness/03broadband.html