Frank, Bell South is also doing FTTH and FTTC, using optical duplexer and triplexer splitter equipment from MRVC's Optical Access subsidiary (OEM to RELTEC, now part of Marconi). See the article below.
Affordable at last?
BellSouth taps Marconi for FTTH
JOAN ENGEBRETSON
Conventional wisdom says fiber to the home is too expensive. But
BellSouth—which announced last week that it would test a fiber solution based
on passive optical networking to 400 homes in Dunwoody, Ga.—believes that
architecture may be more economical in the long run than fiber to the curb.
The carrier has been deploying FTTC in new network builds since 1995 to
support POTS and has been concerned about operational costs associated with
the active electronics in the optical network unit at the curb. With FTTH, those
electronics are at the home.
"The home is a much more benign environment," said Dave Kettler, executive
director for BellSouth science and technology.
Although the initial installation cost for FTTH is higher than FTTC, Kettler believes
FTTH will reduce ongoing operational costs by avoiding problems such as wasp
nests and hot temperatures that plague FTTC systems.
FTTH will also lower power consumption costs by using a single-fiber
architecture. "Others may take a dual-fiber approach, but using our FiberStar
access platform can prove more cost-effective," said Mark Cannata, vice
president of access network systems marketing for Marconi.
The FTTH system, which BellSouth is purchasing from Marconi, will support up
to 100 Mb/s of data connectivity, although initially the carrier will offer digital
subscriber line speeds. Eventually the system could be upgraded to higher data
rates, and those upgrades will be easier with FTTH than with FTTC, said Kettler.
Customers in the Dunwoody trial will be able to obtain 120 channels of digital
video, 70 channels of analog video and 31 channels of CD-quality digital audio
service. Depending on the trial's results, BellSouth may decide to deploy FTTH
more broadly, said Kettler.
In the meantime, the carrier will emphasize what it calls integrated fiber in the
loop (IFITL). IFITL brings fiber to the curb, but in addition to POTS service, it
offers entertainment video and brings both a copper pair and a coax connection
to the home.
For video transmission, fiber must be closer to the end user, said Cannata. But,
deep fiber is not always the right thing to do, he added. "There are still cases
where utilizing existing copper makes sense, but for this type of deployment, the
economics are hard to beat."
BellSouth expects to reach 300,000 homes with FTTC and 200,000 homes with
IFITL by the end of the year.
—Liane H. LaBarba contributed to this story. |
