@fibresystemsmag | www.fibre-systems.com


FEATURE FIBRE TO THE HOME


In Europe, it’s a different story. While Europe


has the highest broadband penetration in the world, the region has the lowest percentage of homes using FTTH connections. In fact, Europe had just 8.9 million FTTH subscribers at the end of 2012, even though it is home to twice as many people as the whole of North America. Te lack of FTTH in Europe isn’t about lack of demand, though; it’s about lack of availability. Operators in Europe have heavily and very successfully invested in copper-based broadband services such as DSL and cable-television networks. Tey invested more in these earlier technologies than operators in most other parts of the world, and many of them are naturally reluctant to make large-scale investments to upgrade their networks a second, or even third, time. Even within Europe, however, we can see


demand for FTTH services in individual countries where the market is more mature, or the incumbent is less invested in older technologies. Tanks to a national roll-out by the incumbent operator TEO, Lithuania has the highest penetration of FTTH networks in Europe, with 100 per cent coverage and more than 30 per cent of homes actually subscribing. In the Czech Republic, 54.9 per cent of homes subscribe to FTTH services where they are available (although coverage is lower). Take-up rates are also high in the Scandinavian countries of Norway, Sweden, and Finland, at 51.9 per cent, 48.4 per cent, and 41.7 per cent respectively. Within areas that are poorly served by existing


broadband, there may be considerable pent-up demand. FTTH operators that address underserved areas, usually rural towns or villages, are experiencing much better take-up rates than the major operators with their urban-focused roll outs. Te oſten-cited example is the community broadband project OnsNet (OurNet) in the small


town of Nuenen in the Netherlands, where more than 80 per cent of the community signed up to the local FTTH network. Another example is Altibox in Norway, a service provider that contracts with small network owners to provide a common web-based portal with a choice of services, which says it has connected about 70 per cent of homes passed. Our FTTH case studies collection contains more examples.


Myth #2 We don’t need FTTH – we can achieve the


same results with other technologies


Optical fibre is a unique transmission medium, with a theoretical maximum capacity so large that it can be considered unlimited. Signals can travel for many miles inside fibre-optic cable without significant degradation – typically 40 miles (60 kilometres) or more. Once installed, the FTTH network is upgraded by changing the electronics that create and receive the light pulses, not by replacing the cable itself. Tis is why FTTH is oſten referred to as ‘future proof’. It’s not just about speed; there are practical


advantages too. Fibre-optic cable is thin, light, and flexible, and easier to install than copper. It is also unaffected by water – water is the single largest cause of outages in copper-based networks – and immune to electromagnetic interference. Nothing hurts FTTH except a physical cable cut or destruction of the equipment. FTTH networks also consume less power than copper-based technologies. Tese advantages translate into a more reliable network, with lower operation and maintenance costs. Copper cable, on the other hand, has already


come up against fundamental physical limits to its capacity. Te installed networks of telephone cables were never designed to carry high- frequency data signals, and so high speeds are available only over short lengths of cable. Techniques such as bonding (using multiple cables), vectoring (noise cancellation) and phantom mode (both techniques together) can boost capacity, but all have their drawbacks. Te newest standard, expected to be complete in 2014, called G.Fast, promises to provide speeds of 500Mbps, but over a very limited range of 100m. While copper-based broadband speeds are improving, the gains can only be exploited by simultaneously bringing fibre closer to the consumer. Mobile networks are even more restricted in


Hartwig Tauber, director general of the FTTH Council Europe


capacity, because wireless spectrum is scarce and expensive and every user in the cell has to share that capacity. In any case, a mobile network is only


Mobile networks should be promoted for their strengths rather than as a direct substitute for wired broadband connections


Myth #3 We don’t need such high bandwidth


People oſten argue that we won’t need the massive capacity that FTTH provides but, as the opening paragraph of this article illustrates, predicting the future is a notoriously perilous business. Historically, as internet connection speeds have increased, new technologies have always emerged to fill that bandwidth. Te historical trend has been encapsulated in ‘Nielsen’s Law of Internet Bandwidth’, an empirical observation which states that a high-end user’s connection speed grows by 50 per cent annually, or doubles every 21 months. We anticipate further bandwidth growth as a


result of simultaneous broadband usage in the home: there will be more users, more applications, and more internet-enabled devices in each household, including autonomous devices, such as home security and control systems. High-quality internet video has very demanding bit-rate requirements, and will also stimulate demand for high-speed connections. Indeed, Cisco’s Visual Networking Index Forecast predicts that internet protocol traffic will triple between 2012 and 2017, driven mainly by consumption of internet video. FTTH operators have already found that, when


their customers get access to more bandwidth, they will use it. In a 2010 study into next- generation service portfolios, consultancy


Issue 1 • Autumn 2013 FIBRE SYSTEMS 9


wireless at its edges; the signal goes down an optical fibre sooner or later. To reduce the pressure on mobile networks, operators are actively encouraging their customers to offload mobile data traffic onto fixed networks using Wi-Fi or femtocells – a broadband-connected device in the home that acts like small base station. In our view, optical fibre and mobile networks are complementary rather than competitive. Mobile networks should be promoted for their strengths – the ability to provide internet connectivity on the move – rather than as a direct substitute for wired broadband connections.


FTTH Council Europe


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36