Multi service operators (MSOs) and cable operators are faced with great opportunities and challenges in today’s multi device and multimedia world.

Growing residential and business demand for applications and services – from HDTV to video-rich unified communications - all point to the same fundamental requirements: high-bandwidth connectivity and real time interactivity.

Can MSOs deliver them?

Traditional Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) networks, originally designed for one-way transmission of analog TV signals, have been constantly upgraded to deliver more services with increased bandwidth and two-way communications. At the same time the fibre in these networks has steadily increased, with the demarcation point between the fibre and the coax creeping closer to the customer premise to address bandwidth, performance and operational concerns.

This process has brought many MSOs around the world to explore, trial and even roll out new all-fibre networks, thereby boosting their competitive market

position and addressing opportunities among business customers as well as their traditional residential markets.

So the race is now on for MSOs to deliver FTTH. DOCSIS Provisioning over EPON (DPoE) and DOCSIS Provisioning over RFoG are key technology approaches for MSOs to consider for new FTTH services. However, it is GPON and FTTH that offer the greatest downstream/upstream speeds today. This approach was taken by innovative Spanish operator Alma (read more in this issue’s Focus On article), using Corning technology, to enable more advanced and competitive user applications today and in the future.

Other MSOs like Alma must weigh up multiple considerations in their quest for FTTH and the new generation of services it enables. For instance,

the quality of the installed coaxial cable plant in the last mile; the operations and maintenance cost savings of passive outside plant; the requirement for maximum reliability of that plant; and the scalable, flexible and rapid provisioning of new services.

All of these technical considerations are vital, but don’t overlook the increasing importance of fibre technology in customer perceptions. Customers are always right, so if they want fibre then maybe you should just give it to them.

Issue 4 | August 2014

Carrier NetworksNewsletter

• AccessAllAreasMSOs: taking the path towards FTTH

• ConnectedContinentsNews snippets from across EMEA

• ProductNewsNew Generation Modular Basement Distribution Terminal

• FocusOn...Spanish Cable Operator Alma

• Three-MinuteInterviewBill Burnham, VP of Global Marketing for Carrier Networks at Corning Optical Communications

• BackPageThe new reality for FTTx industry

Content

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Access All Areas MSOs: taking the path towards FTTH

Product NewsConnected ContinentsFibre news snippets from across EMEA

BELGIUMBelgacom has said it will roll out FTTH, instead of copper, to MDUs with more than 20 premises. The company wants to ensure that all new premises are equipped with fibre only, offering speeds of 1Gbps and more.

SOUTHAFRICAAn influential community organisation in Parkhurst, Johannesburg aims to transform the suburb into South Africa’s high-speed Internet hub, prompting telecom providers to install FTTH in the area.

SPAINVodafone Spain launched its fibre optic services in the city of Valladolid last month, with several other cities to follow soon. The rollout will bring Valladolid’s homes with FTTH access to a total of 100,000 by the end of July.

UNITEDARABEMIRATESAccording to research by the FTTH Council Middle East & North Africa, the UAE has the highest penetration of FTTH connectivity in the world with 85% of homes subscribing to the service. This is due to the rapid expansion of new housing, where FTTH is rolled out as standard.

UNITEDKINGDOMAlthough the UK is behind most of Europe in fibre, new figures suggest Cornwall is ahead of the curve offering FTTH to 62,000 premises in the county. Cornwall began superfast broadband rollout before the rest of the UK, and is now reaping the benefits.

ISRAELThe government backed mission for the next generation of FTTH infrastructure is finally rolling out services with the Israel Broadband Company offering connection speeds of up to 1Gbps to homes and business.

RUSSIAThe Russian government has contracted Rostelecom to meet a universal broadband service commitment. The deal, worth $4.8bn, will provide a minimum of 10Mbps to all unconnected towns with 250 people or more, and involve 200,000km of fibre cabling.

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NewGenerationModularBasementDistributionTerminalCorning’s FTTH solution now includes a new generation of the Modular Basement Distribution Terminal (MBDT) for use in Multi Dwelling Unit (MDU) deployments, which will enable fast and flexible delivery of reliable high capacity broadband services to customers. The robust MBDT is designed to provide universal functionality in the basements of MDUs with only low skilled, low cost installation required to enjoy high reliability and ease of use.

MBDT modules are available for various fibre deployment applications:

• Splice&patch:for use in standard installations;

• Patch:for use with pre-connectorised or field installable connectors;

• Splitter:with pre-connectorised splitter mini-modules;

• Splice:with the chimney for internal cable guiding without patching

The modules are available in three different sizes with capacity for 36, 48 and 72 fibres with SC adapters. Modules can

be stacked securely with the aid of special slots and latches to make the system fully scalable for higher capacities. Plus the MBDT can be configured in various modular combinations for deployment flexibility.

Each module comprises two areas with separate lockable doors: one for cable entry and the management of splicing and splitters, and one area for the connections and patching. This reduces installation risks when connecting customers and provides secure access for single operator, as well as (unbundled) multi-operator use where national regulations dictate. Despite being small in dimension, all the elements in the modules can still be easily accessed for connection and maintenance purposes.

Twenty years ago Alma was one of the first cable operators in Spain to deploy DOCSIS over its HFC network, delivering data and Internet services to residential customers. Today, Alma is able to deliver cutting-edge interactive cable television, advanced voice services and superfast broadband Internet access. The launch of a multi-device TV service is underway, in addition to hosted/cloud-based business services – all thanks to a new network infrastructure based on FTTH and GPON.

Alma was committed to bringing fibre to every home and business to meet greater capacity demands for innovative new applications. Alma evaluated a variety of infrastructure solutions, but chose the Corning Outside Plant (OSP) solution for FTTH. According to Servando

Sanchez, General Manager, Alma: “Corning’s solution ensures an optimal deployment time together with a robust and reliable network that enables the delivery of increasingly demanding service speeds, at minimum operation and maintenance cost.”

There are currently 14,000 optical connections to customers representing a take-up rate of 80 percent for premises passed. The key to the success of this network deployment has been the modularity and preconnectorised components of Corning’s OSP FTTH solution. As such, the FTTH rollout

was completed in the minimum amount of time, based on a low-skilled network build, including the customer drop. This has resulted in lower deployment costs versus conventional solutions for fibre termination, with the majority of savings derived from the customer connections.

Alma took advantage of the Corning Outside Plant FTTH Solution including:• The flexibility and high reliability of a factory-

preconnectorised solution• A modular network build, including modular optical splitters,

that supports a “pay-as-you-grow” financial model• The faster installation that accelerates time to revenue and

improves customer satisfaction• No need for specialist installers for the customer drop

provides lower installation costs

Specifically, the modular, preconnectorised capabilities of the Corning solution provided a faster and easier way to deploy a highly reliable, high-performance network with individual customer connections. The preconnectorisation is employed in the headend (HE), the local convergence point (LCP) and at the customer drop. This enabled Alma to significantly reduce the costs of the network design and deployment as well as speeding up every customer installation. In addition, the use of high-performance Corning splitters enabled the GPON network to achieve a 1:64 point-to-multipoint split from HE to the end user, minimising the amount of optical fibre needed in the access network.

Focus On...

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SpanishCableOperatorAlma

Corning Optical Communications GmbH & Co. KG, Leipziger Strasse 121, 10117 Berlin, Germany. Tel: +00 800 2676 4641 Fax: +49 30 5303 2335 www.corning.com/cablesystems/emea

Corning Optical Communications reserves the right to improve, enhance and modify the features and specifications of Corning Optical Communications products without notification. nClosure, OptiSheath and OptiTap are registered trademarks of Corning Cable Systems Brands, Inc. All other trademarks are the properties of their respective owners. Corning Optical Communications is ISO 9001 certified. © 2013 Corning Optical Communications. All rights reserved. Published in the EU. OUT-0714-A4-BEN

Back PageEach issue, we look behind the news reports to explore a new reality for the FTTx industry.Taken from the Montevideo Mail

A popular cabaret artist bit off more than he could chew yesterday in a daredevil stunt involving a two-metre length of candy and a crude impersonation of Uruguayan soccer hero Luis Suarez.

Illusionist Oscar Garcia had planned to ridicule Suarez – recently banned for the third time in as many years for attacking opponents with his

teeth – by staging a world record attempt on biting through a solid iron pole in less than 30 seconds.

But the ruse backfired when Garcia’s assistant and estranged wife Denise handed him a fibre optic trunk cable instead of the bar of liquorice they’d planned to use. “It’s his own fault,” said Denise.

Three-Minute InterviewIt’s typical to find consensus and contradiction in equal measure when examining approaches to culture and commerce around the world. In this edition of the Three Minute Interview we invite Bill Burnham, VP of Global Marketing for Carrier Networks at Corning Optical Communications, to share a global perspective of FTTH markets and what North American and EMEA operators can learn from each other.

Q: You’re based in the US, so what’s your perspective on FTTH in Europe?

A: Regardless of the region, more companies globally are finding reasons to deploy FTTH. In my career I have always paid attention to maps. At one time, maps made it simple for me to understand how borders and boundaries were defined, tested and defended. Now, I find value in ‘heat maps’ of Fibre to the Home activity across Europe, which helps me to understand the boundaries between different broadband technologies, business models and national policies. One thing is clear in 2014: there’s more heat in FTTH than ever before.

Q: What’s changed to make a hotter FTTH landscape in Europe, the Middle East and Africa?

A: One reason is that operators across the globe are freeing up CAPEX for infrastructure investment of one kind and another. We think, for instance, that European operators have around $47 billion earmarked for new infrastructure this year - which compares well with the $72 billion that US operators plan to invest. That’s an increase over last year. The difference between the US and Europe is not so much scale, but spread and diversity of investment. In the US, the majority of that money will be spent by five companies. In EMEA, there is at least fifty times that number. Of course that CAPEX will help deliver all kinds of projects: FTTH as well as upgrades to copper networks and so on. Now there’s an interesting set of boundaries!

Q: Are the economics of copper versus fibre evolving globally?

A: The once clear-cut CAPEX advantage enjoyed by

xDSL technologies is facing a stiff challenge from the service potential, and whole life costs of fibre. Each speed upgrade wrung out of copper from here on in will require complicated, costly, active equipment on virtually every street corner. And even then, service levels are far from guaranteed. Hence Verizon moving traditional copper customers over to fibre, to make an estimated $100 million saving in operations.

Once, you could bet your mortgage that European incumbents would defend broadband market share with copper solutions, and their challengers would look to take it through fibre. But consider Spain as an example, where both Telefonica (incumbent) and Jazztel (challenger) are aggressively deploying fibre solutions.

Q: How is Corning placed to satisfy market demand?

A: We’ve learned that the key to meeting the challenge of diversity is flexibility. An incumbent needs you to tailor your solution to deliver economies of scale, for instance. That’s fine - we’re great at that. The challenger needs you to tailor your solution to speed time to market and deliver differentiation. We’re great at that too - even though the kinds of tailoring required are very different. That’s the benefit of having a technology and service centre at the heart of Europe, in Berlin, plus one of the most sophisticated manufacturing plants in the world, in Poland.

My advice: take a look at that activity heat map - and make sure you don’t get your fingers burned.