Wuhan in 1911 led the revolt that overthrew the Qing Dynasty and now hopes to dethrone the world’s fiber leaders. China this year or next will surpass Japan as world fiber leader, with estimates as high as 30M homes connected. Wuhan’s FiberHome is now #2 in the world according to Infonetics, ahead of Alcatel, Motorola, and Tellabs.

FiberHome’s international sales were only $50M in 2008, but that’s 85% up on the previous year. They have won an MSAN access network project with Indonesia Telecom, the ASON transmission project with Power Thailand PEA and the long-haul cable backbone network project with Uganda Telecom, as well as several contracts in India. They’ve opened offices in Malaysia, India, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Russia, South Africa and Nigeria.

Infonetics also noted that Dasan, a Korean company controlled by Siemens, is rapidly increasing PON market share. Asian suppliers are often crucial to “western” brands, of course. Hisense-Ligent, of Qingdou and Chicago, is producing 1M GPON transceivers, many of which are going to Verizon, I learn from Jacques Liu.

FiberHome, like many Chinese companies, is very proud of China’s achievements. In 2008, China passed the U.S. with the highest number of broadband connections in the world, while China Mobile added 100M new users. FiberHome recently collected an award in the Great Hall of the People for their 40 gigabit/s SDH system, claiming “The breakthrough achieved by this project makes China the leader of the world in Optical Communication.”

FiberHome grew out of work at the respected Wuhan Research Institute with very strong government backing. In 1976, they drew the first piece of optical fiber in China. They were producing 2.5G Sonet gear back in 1996 and by 2000 deployed a 32×10G DWDM system. By 2007, they offered an 80 × 40Gb/s DWDM System.

Infonetics also noted that Dasan, a Korean company controlled by Siemens, is rapidly increasing PON market share. Asian suppliers are often crucial to “western” brands, of course. Hisense-Ligent, of Qingdou and Chicago, is producing 1M GPON transceivers, many of which are going to Verizon, I learn from Jacques Liu.