NEWS BUSINESS
SOURCE PHOTONICS INVESTS IN NEXT- GENERATION FTTX PRODUCTS
Components and module maker Source Photonics is increasing investment in its manufacturing of next-generation products to enable the fixed access network upgrade cycle from EPON and GPON to 10G-EPON and XGS-PON. The announcement follows the sale
of the firm by Francisco Partners to a private equity consortium led by Redview Capital and Asia-IO, with participation from TR Capital, Axiom Asia and Aberdeen Asset Management. Though the amount was not officially disclosed, Asian Venture Capital Journal reported the deal was worth $300–400 million. Source Photonics was originally
acquired by Francisco Partners in October 2010. It entered the access market with products supporting BPON in the early 2000s, and now sees the need to increase investments by a factor of five compared to the year prior to support the rapid growth of volumes forecast for the 10G migration. Source Photonics points out it is
increasing investments at a time when several industry participants have publicly announced their exit from the FTTx transceiver market. Doug Wright, CEO of Source
Photonics, said: ‘Over the last two years, we successfully ramped our 100G product line to world-class levels. We are excited to expand this operating infrastructure as we support early deployments of next-generation FTTx networks.’ As a vertically integrated supplier,
Source Photonics will invest across all levels of manufacturing, from laser chips through the optical sub- assemblies to optical modules for next-generation FTTx markets. The company is concurrently investing in key technologies necessary to support future 25G and 100G migrations. 10G-EPON optical line terminal (OLT) modules manufactured on the expanded lines are in production and available for order. XG-PON and XGS-PON OLT modules are expected later this year. Wright said: ‘We now have the
building blocks in place to accelerate our growth in the global optical communications market.’
8 FIBRE SYSTEMS Issue 15 • Spring 2017
@fibresystemsmag |
www.fibre-systems.com
Full speed ahead for FTTH as subscribers pass 44 million
Household Penetration of countries* with more than 1% household penetration
*Economies with at least 200,000 households Source: IDATE for FTTH Council Europe, February 2017
Fibre-to-the-Home subscribers Fibre-to-the-Building subscribers
The number of fibre to the home (FTTH) and fibre to the building (FTTB)
subscribers in Europe increased by 23 per cent over the first nine months of 2016, reaching nearly 44.3 million, according to the latest update to the FTTH rankings unveiled by the FTTH Council Europe and its research partner Idate. A closer look at the data shows huge
variations between countries, with a few large nations dominating. Idate’s research includes 39 countries in continental Europe, including Russia, which counts for 17 million of those subscribers. Between them, Europe’s 28 member states (EU28) had 20.5 million FTTH/B subscribers at the end of September 2016. Aside from Russia, the largest FTTH/B market
is Spain, which saw 72 per cent growth to reach 4.5 million subscribers and then France, which increased 32 per cent to 3.2 million subscribers. As the host nation, France’s situation was
widely discussed. Roll-out and adoption of fibre networks is growing steadily. The ‘Plan France Très Haut Débit’ seeks to bring a very high- speed broadband service, mainly based on fibre infrastructure, to every home, business and government office by 2022. Local authorities – allowed to act as a wholesale operators – are accelerating FTTH rollouts in rural and suburban areas, with the aim to bridge the digital divide. As a result, France’s penetration rate gained almost three points, to 11.1 per cent in September. In terms of position in the ranking, Lithuania
lost its crown to Latvia, which now holds the number one spot in Europe, with a penetration rate of 45.2 per cent in September 2016. Sweden increased its penetration rate to 40.7 per cent,
moving it up to second, while Lithuania saw an increase to 40.3 per cent, up from 36.8, for third. Two new countries passed the one per cent
adoption threshold to join the FTTH Ranking this year: Austria and Serbia. The UK is the only major economy still not represented. ‘The latest European FTTH ranking proves
what we have believed at the FTTH Council Europe for the past year: looking at countries such as France and Spain, and the overall FTTH growth rate in Europe, it is now clear that there is a stronger than ever momentum towards FTTH,’ said Ronan Kelly, president of the FTTH Council Europe. ‘We are glad to witness such progress, including two new countries entering our FTTH ranking. We feel that Europe is now well positioned to stimulate even more FTTH rollout: the European Commission’s recent Gigabit Society Communication sets a vision where widespread, very high capacity networks underpin the services to society that will keep Europe at the forefront of economic development.’ Even countries that have traditionally spurned
fibre, instead favouring upgraded copper technologies, are now evolving a more fibre- friendly environment, he notes. In Ireland, the Government’s National Broadband Plan changed its network specification to require FTTH-based infrastructure, while the UK government has now created a fund dedicated to FTTH deployment. Many more similar initiatives are expected in the coming months. Nearly all players, even those that are less involved in FTTH/B, now consider that FTTH is the end game, the FTTH Council Europe says.
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