JOHN WILLIAMSON FTTX BENEFIT
FTTX NEEDS TO PASS THE COST BENEFIT TEST
If it’s only a question of performance then FTTx is almost always justified. But in the real world, such large investments need to be properly measured before digging starts, writes John Williamson.
measure against new entrants and cable operators, and lower churn and OpEx on FTTH. For some of the more forward- thinking incumbents at least, he says, consolidation of consumer broadband, enterprise access and mobile transport onto a single fibre platform is another draw. On the downside, as noted by FTTH Council Europe President Ronan Kelly, some incumbents are very much concerned with extracting the maximum from their copper investments, and there may be some reluctance to build intensive FTTH if regulators subsequently force telcos to open up infrastructure access to competitors. Cost barriers exist but they are coming down. One obvious barrier to further FTTH and FTTP deployments has been the cost of building the networks. The FTTH Council Europe estimates that it would cost €137 billion to provide a complete overlay of the EU28 countries. And this is a substantially lower figure than some other projections! Kelly points out that the primary FTTH/ FTTP cost components are not to do with high technology, but rather items such as digging up roads, pavements and gardens to accommodate the fibre. “It’s not only direct costs, but indirect costs particularly driven out of time-to-market,” said Kelly.
T here’s a persuasive communications technology into the access network will deliver the capacities to support broadband applications and services over the longer term. The degree of fibre penetration that is commercially viable depends on variables such as population density and distribution, dwelling stock, topography, sector regulation, investment history and technology landscape. Even today, FTTH and FTTP are the most ambitious forms of pervasive optical access. school of thought that believes only deeper penetration of optical
DIFFERENT GOALS Depending on their business
backgrounds and/or where they sit in the communications food chain, di erent operators and service providers have di erent motives and objectives when pursuing intensive fibre access. For new entrants, for example, there’s the desire to create or expand an innovative and competitive business portfolio, in the process hopefully eating the lunch of the incumbents. Rupert Wood, Research Director at Analysys Mason, suggests that cable operators are looking to establish new footprints leading to organic growth, especially in B2B type areas, and achieve lower operating costs on fibre than coax. For incumbents Wood lists defensive
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| ISSUE 11 | Q4 2017
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