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Yes such a platform exists today and can either coexist with an existing CATV overlay, use off air analog ( especially in metropolitan areas) ( I get channel 2, 4,5,7,9,20,22,44, 50 and 60 off air and I live in Santa Rosa, or 30 channel low cost MMDS analog modulated from channel 2 on up) for the TVs that do not have digital set-tops. A multiple decoder is also possible where one complete house box can be controlled via RF remotes and the cost of the set-top equivelent brought down and made modular (one decoder per simultaneous user). Eventually as the cost of the set-top comes down (its almost all silicon ( Mod/Demod, MPEG, Processor and DRAM) which follows Moores law) and TVs may even begin incorporating the functions further reducing the cost of all digital. The compact Disc and Direct TV are great examples of what happens to analog when consumers get a taste of digital quality. The cost per home is completely dependent on the deployment scenario, take rates and the like. For existing underground low density situations it is very expensive to dig up the exsisting plant. This is where VDSL is the answer. But for new builds, or aerial plant it should be easy to get well under $1000 ( probably from $700-$900 depending on circumstances) given the equipment is potentially under $300 per home passed for the access system for typical take rates expected ( this includes 120% telephony, 25% digital video and a 10% high speed internet or SOHO). It turns out this is also the answer to the ADSL Internet or SOHO spots and Dots problem as well as the medium business customer who wants say 100 lines of POTS some ISDN and a T1 and a few miscellaneous other services plus a few mb/s of ATM data traffic all over one fiber. The VDSL and ADSL may also be good for small business situations. The key is to have one system with all these options so each deployment scenario can be dealt with with one set of methods and procedures, one management environment ( both TMN and Legacy) and finally a clear path to Fiber to the home and lockstep with the many evolving standards including Bellcore, ANSI T1, ATM Forum, ADSL Forum, DAVIC DSM-CC and the final word the ITU which is fed by the others. |
