FEATURE FTTH IN THE AMERICAS
The long goodbye
Switching off copper networks where fibre has been deployed is the end game, so why are so few operators doing it, wonders Pauline Rigby
flooding of Verizon’s central office (CO) in Broad Street, Manhattan. Miles of underground copper cables were ruined by the water. Even worse, paper insulation in the wiring sucked water deeper into the network through capillary action, destroying cables in otherwise dry areas. Verizon found that it was too difficult, expensive and time-consuming to rescue the existing copper network, so decided to rewire with optical fibre cables instead. Te CO wasn’t Verizon’s first experience with
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switching off copper. In August 2011, Verizon had retired the copper facilities in its Bartonville, Texas, location aſter a review of company records indicated that no carriers were using them. But Hurricane Sandy forced Verizon to take a deeper, harder look at the benefits of optical fibre; and that information spurred the incumbent to pursue an extensive decommissioning plan. By early 2016, Verizon said it had successfully converted 35,000 customer lines in 22 COs across six states (New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey and Virginia) with plans to reach more than 2,000 locations. Verizon says the fibre-optic technology not
only supports service improvements, but ‘delivers increased reliability, improved resistance to water/moisture and faster repair times’. Indeed, the operator says service dispatch rates (to fix faults) are 85 per cent lower on new fibre networks compared to copper, with obvious cost savings.
32 FIBRE SYSTEMS Issue 20 • Summer 2018
hen Hurricane Sandy battered the eastern seaboard of the United States in 2012, a storm surge caused catastrophic
FTTP networks are lower power and take up less space. When its ‘Network Transformation’ is complete, Verizon will no longer need as much as three quarters of the CO real estate it holds.
Targeted copper retirement More than five years has now elapsed since Hurricane Sandy but, perhaps surprisingly given the documented benefits, few operators have followed Verizon’s lead. Many are still concentrating on the operational challenges of rolling out their FTTH networks; while some countries have complete coverage by FTTH networks, this is not yet the norm. Some operators may be hoping that ‘natural migration’ – as more customers abandon copper products in favour of faster fibre broadband services – will make the transition process much simpler in the fullness of time. Where operators do pursue a more extensive copper switch-off programme, the motivation is
When do we get to the stage where we stop talking about copper migration and carry out that migration?
not always what you might expect. For instance, Telkom, in South Africa, is so keen to get the copper out of its network, aſter suffering customer outages following numerous incidents of copper cable theſt – more than 6,000 in 2015 – that it is replacing legacy networks with both fibre and wireless alternatives (though not at the same time). As the price of copper goes up, it becomes a commodity that someone wants to steal; even more reason for incumbents to replace those wires with optical fibre. Elsewhere, operators tend to be selective in
By early 2016, Verizon said it had successfully converted 35,000 customer lines in 22 COs across six states
how and where they switch off the copper. Canada’s Sasktel has been deploying FTTP since 2011, gradually bringing in new fibre connections when work is carried out on the copper network. Single customer migrations are taking place where there have been repeat service repairs. Where a municipality requests the removal of utility poles, the operator is using the opportunity to initiate the ‘cut over’ from above-ground copper wires to underground fibre.
Retirement benefits Industry analysts believe the debate around copper switch-off needs to move up a gear. ‘What our members highlight to us is the difficulty in keeping two networks running at the same time because it is very costly,’ said Marta Capelo Gaspar, director of public policy for the European Telecommunication Network Operators Association (ETNO), speaking at the FTTH Conference in Valencia, Spain, earlier this year. Yves Blondel, from telecoms consultancy
T-Regs, said: ‘Tere’s an economic dimension. Verizon articulated to investors that there would be a substantial cost saving. It is widely understood, as well, that fibre networks are likely to be greener in terms of not using as much electricity. Tese points are not debateable. So, when do we get to the stage where we stop talking about copper migration and carry out that migration?’
@fibresystemsmag |
www.fibre-systems.com
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