All newly built residences, if they are located in counties and cities where a public fiber optic telecom network is available, have to be equipped with fiber network connections, according to new government policy from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

The standards will take effect from April 1, 2013, and will also require residences to offer equal connections to services from various telecom companies allowing customers to choose which service they want.

Analysts pointed out that the new standards are aimed at growing domestic fiber broadband networks, or "Fiber To The Home" services, providing potential business for the telecom industry worth thousands of billions yuan.

Economic Information Daily reported that the government hopes to have 40 million families connected to fiber networks by 2015.

Existing telecom operators have been stepping up the pace of their FTTH projects. China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd, the nation's second largest telecom carrier by user number, added 10 million Chinese families to its "FTTH" project in 2012, the paper reported.

shenjingting@chinadaily.com.cn