Fibre To The Node Research Articles

A closer look at Deep-fibre FTTdp

In this paper we outline a number of matters that have been raised in relation to Deep-fibre Fibre-to-the-Distribution-Point (FTTdp), and address practical ways that FTTdp can be expected to deliver a maximum overall cost-benefit outcome for the Australian NBN. We present brief discussions of some HFC (Hybrid Fibre Coax) and FTTN (Fibre-to-the-Node) issues considered of concern, to place FTTdp in perspective. We touch briefly on the threat from wireless communications to the fixed line technologies. We discuss the FTTdp equipment ecosystem, migration from legacy services to FTTN or FTTdp, in-building copper concerns, and LFN architecture savings emerging from the FTTdp approach. As previously, we conclude that FTTdp must be honestly evaluated if the nation is to achieve a maximal NBN capability outcome.

Getting some reality into debates about NBN FTTP

Sentiment about fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) runs hot in Australia, fuelled by the NBN initiative for Australia's next generation of broadband. Unfortunately most of the debate is ill-informed, focusing on plumbing rather than the uses to which the network may be put. The base of users subscribing to the higher speeds made possible by FTTP is limited right now, and much of their communication will be speed-limited by constraints outside of the NBN FTTP segment. In addition, a growing proportion of Australians choose to operate entirely on mobile connections. For all these reasons, the number of users who would benefit from FTTP in the short term is modest.
 The Coalition has proposed greater use of existing infrastructure – in particular, using fibre-to-the-node (FTTN)/DSL technology and potentially hybrid-fibre-coax (HFC) technology – to deliver an upgrade earlier and at lower cost. In the face of cost pressures, it is likely that the original 93% FTTP target would be adjusted with greater use of wireless and satellite technologies in rural areas and the use of copper for the final link in multi-dwelling complexes. More generally, there is no question that FTTN/DSL solutions can deliver good quality broadband, but further work will be needed to determine where this can be done cost-effectively. Similarly, with appropriate upgrades, HFC networks can deliver next-generation broadband speeds. When practical factors are taken into consideration, the gap between Labor and Coalition plans closes somewhat.
 Developing the best strategy for Australia needs to take cost into consideration, and there is scope for NBN Co to improve its performance in this area. Any major cost blowout would have significant ramifications for broadband users and use in Australia. If the rollout of FTTP is scaled back, users with a need may still get access on a user-pays principle – though the practicality of this has yet to be demonstrated. Widespread FTTP remains the right long-term goal for Australia, but the approach for getting there needs to be finessed.

A flexible upgrade path for the Australian National Broadband Network

This paper provides a flexible upgrade path for the Australian National Broadband Network (NBN), if the new government decides to alter the construction methodology to include a copper-based access system such as Fibre to the Node (FTTN). The approach described in this paper utilises fibre past premises to provide a transmission media for a Gigabit-capable Passive Optical Network (GPON). GPON to FTTN devices would be situated in pits adjacent to premises and utilise copper tails to provide a VDSL2 Internet connection to premises. The approach provides a flexible upgrade path for customers to move from their copper based access system to a Fibre to the Home (FTTH) system utilising the relatively future-proof GPON.

Revisiting Mackay Online

Revisiting Mackay Online

The Tragedy of Australia's National Broadband Network

This article reviews recent developments in global broadband deployments and highlights the growing global dominance of fibre to the premises (FTTP). Australia’s increasing use of fibre to the node (FTTN) has locked the country out of world-class broadband for years to come. If Australia is ever to obtain first-class broadband services, it will be necessary to replace FTTN with higher speed technologies.

The Tragedy of Australia's National Broadband Network

This article reviews recent developments in global broadband deployments and highlights the growing global dominance of fibre to the premises (FTTP). Australia’s increasing use of fibre to the node (FTTN) has locked the country out of world-class broadband for years to come. If Australia is ever to obtain first-class broadband services, it will be necessary to replace FTTN with higher speed technologies.

Policies to Facilitate FTTP Deployment

The major technology development for wireline voice, data, and video service is fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP), and telephone and cable television companies as well as governments and industry regulators are all concerned with the speed and extent of deployment of FTTP. This paper analyzes alternative policies that will affect that deployment of FTTP.FTTP is a technology to deliver voice, data, and video service. FTTP is not a final product or service itself but is a delivery platform that competes with other delivery platforms including copper wires, copper networks with a fiber backbone, fiber-to-the-node (FTTN), cable systems with hybrid fiber-coax networks, wireless (particularly LTE and LTE-A), and other network technologies. This is the case whether FTTP is used by the carrier deploying FTTP or whether the FTTP or space on the FTTP is sold by that carrier in a wholesale transaction to another service provider that uses the FTTP to deploy voice, data, and video services.At this time, the products and services delivered over FTTP are not materially different from the products and services delivered, or that can be delivered, using other technologies. Even broadband speeds of 100 MBS can typically be provided over copper networks properly configured and by cable companies using their current technology. While FTTP may be required to provide very high speed broadband, such as 1 GB service, these services do not yet have significant demand in the market. Nonetheless, in the future there will most likely be services that can only be provided over FTTP, so the deployment of FTTP is an important policy issue.There are two competing approaches to FTTP deployment. One approach is to treat FTTP as a monopoly, or to create an FTTP monopoly, selecting one company to construct the FTTP network and mandating that all other service providers have access to this network. The other approach is to encourage or permit multiple FTTP networks and to not mandate access to any of the networks by other service providers. Of course, combinations of these policies are also possible. For example, the FTTP network might be treated as a monopoly with mandated access, but other companies would not be prohibited from constructing their own networks. Alternatively, access to some FTTP networks might be mandated, but the terms of that access might be subject to commercial negotiation. Other policies are also possible.While arguments for and against any of these policies can be made, and have been made, on a theoretical basis, there is now an increasing amount of actual evidence weighing upon which of these policies are most successful, and are likely to be most successful, in facilitating the deployment of FTTP. It is just this evidence that this paper proposes to consider in order to make recommendations insofar as possible about the expected success or failure of alternative policies. This evidence comes from two sources. One source is evidence from the wireline industry regarding investment and FTTP deployment. The other source is evidence from the wireless industry where there has also been varying degrees of mandatory access with consequences on the deployment of new technology. Considering the evidence on the effect of alternative policies on the deployment of new technologies should contribute to moving the policy debate beyond the theoretical and hypothetical.A Sample of ReferencesBeltran, Fernando, “Fibre-to-the-home, high-speed and national broadband plans: Tales from Down Under,” Telecommunications Policy, 38 (2014) 715-729.Bennett, Richard, Luke A. Steward and Robert D. Atkinson, “The Whole Picture: Where America’s Broadband Networks Really Stand,” Information and Technology & Innovation Foundation, Washington, D. C., 2013.Cave, Martin, “The ladder of investment in Europe, in retrospect and prospect,” Telecommunications Policy, 38 (2014), 674-683.Crandall, Robert W., “The Effects of Mandated Network Unbundling on FTTP Deployment,” submitted to the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission, January 31, 2014.Flacher, David, and Hugues Jennequin, “Access regulation and geographic deployment of new generation infrastructure,” Telecommunications Policy, 38 (2014), 741-759.Kongaut, Chatchai, and Erik Bohlin, “Unbundling and infrastructure competition for broadband adoption: Implications for NGA regulation,” Telecommunications Policy, 38 (2014), 760-770.OECD, Communications Outlook, 2013.“Ofcom proposes new pricing rule for BT’s wholesale fibre offerings,” Telegeography, January 15, 2015.Yoo, Christopher S., “U. S. vs. European Broadband Deployment: What Do the Data Say?”, Center for Technology, Innovation and Competition, University of Pennsylvania Law School, June 2014.

Separation Anxieties: Structural Separation and Technological Diffusion in Nascent Fibre Networks

Separation of upstream network operations from downstream retail activities has long been considered as a potential remedy against the abuse of extant market power by incumbent network operators engaging in non-price discrimination in order to foreclose competition in downstream retail markets (see, for example, Xavier & Ypsilanti, 2004; de Bijl, 2005; Cave, 2006). However, the tool is increasingly being adopted as a regulatory means of preventing the (potential or actual) accrual of future market power by the firms deploying Next-Generation Access Networks (NGANs) such as Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) and Fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) (see, for example, Kirsch & von Hirschhausen, 2008; Huigen & Cave, 2008; Whalley & Henten, 2010; Cadman, 2010). Although it is generally agreed that separation may offer a useful means of constraining discriminatory behaviour, there is much less consensus about its merits in light of its potential costs to investment incentives and co-ordination in the deployment of new networks (Goncalves & Nascimento, 2010; Howell, Meade & O’Connor, 2010). Furthermore, it is far from clear that discrimination – either price-based or non-price – is necessarily contrary to the pursuit of increased consumer and total welfare, especially in the case of a new network infrastructure where there are considerable initial scale economies on offer (Heatley & Howell, 2010a; 2010b). Consequently, regulators in Europe, Asia and the Americas have generally exhibited caution in refraining from making unilateral impositions (Tropina, Whalley & Curwen, 2010), albeit that in some instances firms have undertaken voluntary separation activities in order to forestall potential regulatory action (e.g. BT – Whalley & Curwen, 2008; Telecom Italia – Nucciarelli & Sadowski, 2010). In contrast, however, the tool has been mandated in its most severe form – structural separation – as a fundamental artefact of new, nationwide, government-funded FTTH networks currently being deployed in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore (Howell, 2009, 2010; Given, 2010; Middleton & Given, 2010). In this paper, following a brief exposition of the different means of separating and regulating separated firms, we use case studies of Australia and New Zealand to illustrate the effects of full structural separation on both the static and dynamic incentives for deployment and uptake in the very early stages of diffusion of a new technology – Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH). The Australian and New Zealand cases are compared to the Netherlands, where despite the presence of access regulation and the major firm deploying FTTH focusing on providing infrastructure and not services, deployment and uptake rates far exceed those obtained in Australia and New Zealand. Preliminary analyses suggest that the incentives facing participants in structurally-separate networks where the network operator is prevented from active commercial engagement with end users can have material effects upon the ability to achieve early scale economies and hence the economic welfare gained from the new network deployment. The implication is that complete separation of retail and network operations over the entire life of a network may be too blunt a tool, and that a dimension of separation warranting further consideration is the dynamic separation of network deployment from network operation.

The FTTdp technology option for the Australian National Broadband Network

Fibre to the Distribution Point (FTTdp) is a broadband access network technology that encompasses fibre to the street lead-in pit at the front fence, with an average copper lead-in length of 30m. FTTdp promises very high VDSL2 capability, with easy upgrading to G.fast or individual FTTP (Fibre to the Premises) on an on-demand basis. The network capability of FTTdp is thus very close to the capability of a full FTTP deployment. Cost savings compared to FTTP promise to be substantial ? a possible $12 billion in savings for the Australian National Broadband Network ? due to the use of existing copper pair lead-ins, thus avoiding civil engineering works for each individual fibre lead-in. Indeed, there is reason to expect that the initial cost of FTTdp deployment will be comparable to that of FTTN (Fibre to the Node). FTTdp has additional benefits of reduced copper maintenance and limited ongoing upgrade costs compared to FTTN. Significantly deeper fibre network penetration is potentially cost-neutral (or better) with FTTdp when compared to the FTTN baseline due to elimination of time-consuming activities involved with FTTN deployment. The reduced street impact of FTTdp is also important

Global Access Network Evolution

<para xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <?Pub Dtl=""?>In this paper, we propose to tackle the problem of updating the access network in order to connect new subscribers and to satisfy the new class of service requirements for the existing subscribers to offer, for instance, new services such as high-definition television (HDTV) over the Internet protocol (IPTV). Four important access network architectures/technologies are considered: the digital subscriber line (xDSL) technologies deployed directly from the central office (CO), the fiber-to-the-node (FTTN), the fiber-to-the-micro-node (FTTn) and the fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP). An integer mathematical programming model is proposed for this network planning problem. Next, a heuristic algorithm based on the tabu search principle is proposed to find “good” feasible solutions within a reasonable amount of computational time. Finally, numerical results are presented and analyzed. To assess the quality of the solutions found with the proposed algorithm, they are compared to the optimal solutions found using a commercial implementation of the branch-and-bound algorithm. </para>

Goldilocks pricing for broadband

Billions of dollars will be required to build a fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) network. This will require prices high enough to justify the investment, but low enough to make services affordable to end-users. This is the quest for Goldilocks prices.The focus of this paper is on regulated access prices because the current access pricing regime is clearly broken. A number of possible solutions for the FTTN are examined. Copyright 2008 John de Ridder. No part of this article may be reproduced by any means without the written consent of the publisher.

Goldilocks pricing for broadband: options for pricing access to the National Broadband Network

Billions of dollars will be required to build a fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) network. This will require prices high enough to justify the investment, but low enough to make services affordable to end-users. This is the quest for Goldilocks prices.The focus of this paper is on regulated access prices because the current access pricing regime is clearly broken. A number of possible solutions for the FTTN are examined. Copyright 2008 John de Ridder. No part of this article may be reproduced by any means without the written consent of the publisher.