FTTH
opportunity to create a truly gigabit Britain, while radically reducing the country’s digital divide. He said: ‘INCA believes that the best way to achieve this is by encouraging a plethora of market players to rapidly build new networks across the country. Deterring the competitive investment that has done so much to accelerate the pace of new fibre deployment will slow fibre roll out and push the UK even further behind its European counterparts. We need to bring all the investment available to the table and we hope to see Ofcom reverse its current position in 2022 and return to its core responsibility for promoting competitive investment.’ FTTH deployment is also an important topic
across the pond in the Americas, as Debbie Kish, FBA VP research and marketing at the Fiber Broadband Association, explained: ‘Tere is no question that high-speed internet access is a must,’ she said, ‘and while there has been very litle in terms of advancement in defining what “high-speed” is (currently the FCC defines high-speed as 25Mb/s upstream and 3Mb/s downstream). However, more recently, as part of the new U.S. Administration’s Infrastructure Bill, there has been discussion about a bump-up in that, being 100Mb/s upstream and 20 down, but that is still not enough.’ Kish also cited today’s ‘at home’ workforce and
increased use of bandwidth heavy applications to illustrate that even 100/20 isn’t close to what is necessary to be functioning and productive. ‘Ten there is the “how can reliable high-speed broadband be delivered” discussion,’ she said. ‘Is it through hybrid coax cable? No. Is it through fixed wireless access? No. Is it via satellite? No. Is it fibre? Yes, because only fibre can deliver symmetrical gigabit speeds, is future-proof, less costly in the long term and carries with it proven additional economical long-term benefits and consistently wins in high consumer satisfaction across multiple factors.’
Is there enough? On whether there is enough fibre to connect everyone, Kish’s response was: ‘In a word, no. Tere exist unserved and underserved areas, such as rural North America as well as tribal areas that significantly lack access to broadband resulting in lower productivity, lagging education, declining economic development opportunities, and lack of access to healthcare resources. For example, in rural areas of North Carolina, 33.5 per cent of households (43,000) do not have access to broadband speeds of 50/10Mb/s. Tribal lands are even worse off, with 628,000 Tribal households with no access to the internet according to the FCC. Te pandemic set things back even farther when a deadline for native American communities to apply for free broadband licenses to help them build local internet infrastructure had passed.’
6
Fiber Broadband Association
The initial cost to install a fibre network is more expensive with the primary cost being in labour
“
Fibre requires very little ongoing maintenance translating to significantly less long-term cost rendering FTTH a better investment over time”
So, how do we get there? Kish explained: ‘In
carpentry, the phrase “measure twice, cut once” means if you are going to build something, you don’t want to waste time or resources. Similarly in finances and security – “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” When it comes to reliable high-speed broadband, the clear choice is fibre. So, let’s break it down: fibre has unlimited capacity and can meet the growing demands from today’s applications and applications of the future. In fact, a joint group of researchers from the Netherlands and the US smashed the world speed record for a fibre network, pushing 255Tb/s down a single strand of glass fibre. Te maths equates to 255,000,000Mb/s of broadband speed and can therefore carry all of the internet’s traffic on a single fibre. Additionally, it is what consumers want. About 10 per cent of consumers will change their internet providers each year with the majority of the moves being from DSL or Cable to FTTH when available. In terms of customer satisfaction in work from home environments, fibre earned the highest satisfaction rating.’ Kish believes strategy, planning and time are
key to building an economy: ‘Part of the strategy is about future-proof, environmentally friendly and sustainable investments that will best serve and atract businesses and inhabitants to a community and create jobs.’
A shining example A great example of a well thought-out strategy and execution, continued Kish, is EPB, an electric power distribution and telecommunications company owned by the city of Chatanooga. ‘A decade ago,’ she explained, ‘EPB decided to build an all-fibre network that served as the foundation for its smart grid, resulting in an economic value that exceeded $2.69bn and created more than 9,500 jobs.’ Kish also acknowledged that, when factoring
in capital costs, the initial cost to install a fibre network is perceived to be more expensive. However, she pointed out that the operational costs of FTTH networks have proven to be less expensive in the long term. ‘With no external equipment, components exposed to weather elements, accidental damage and other factors, fibre requires very litle ongoing maintenance translating to significantly less long-term cost rendering FTTH a beter investment over time.’ Labour and skills are one of the biggest
challenges faced by operators and service providers globally. Kish explained: ‘Many are down entire crews and have to turn away jobs because they do not have the skilled workers in place. It unfortunately has led to the inability to bring reliable high-speed broadband to communities and close the digital divide.’ To assist with this, the Fiber Broadband
Association has developed a programme to bring skilled workers into the workforce to accelerate the deployment of fibre broadband networks across North America. Te FBA is working with community colleges and veterans programs, and has a registered apprenticeship with the U.S. Department of Labor. Concluded Kish: ‘In a post-pandemic
environment, the new normal is work from home, relocation to rural areas, and the need for reliable, symmetrical, high-speed broadband, which by definition only fibre can deliver. ‘In other words: if it’s not fibre, it’s not
broadband.’n Fibre Yearbook 2022 book 2020
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 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42
