FTTH Deployment Options for Telecom Operators

 

Abstract

        To realize the Government of India’s goal to have 20 million broadband subscribers by year 2010, it is essential to drive Fiber To The Home(FTTH) technology along with other broadband access technologies for providing  broadband access. Today, majority of broadband connectivity is offered through Digital Subscriber Line(DSL), Cable Modem and to the limited extent with Wireless technology. FTTH provides enormous bandwidth and long reach offering  Triple play services ( Data, Voice, Video)   on a single fiber. FTTH  is  future proof solution for providing add-on services such as Video on demand, Online Gaming, HD TV. Advancement in the electronic equipment coupled with falling prices of fiber and equipment make FTTH deployment an affordable choice for the telecom operators that result in  long term returns. This paper details various FTTH architectures available for deployment, key developments and trends that are suitable for the current system configurations.

Introduction

       Growing demand for high speed internet is the primary driver for the new access technologies which enable experiencing true broadband. Traditionally telecom companies have been offering T1 lines and DSL to small businesses, houses for applications such as voice services, high speed data, internet and video services. T1 lines are often expensive and DSL’s performance issues limit availability of these services. DSL Copper networks do not allow sufficient data rates due to signal distortion and cross talk. Cable modem is another competing technology for  broadband services. In cable modems only few RF channels are assigned for data and most of the bandwidth is dedicated to video channels. FTTH offers triple play services with data speeds ranging from 155 Mbps to 2.5Gbps Down stream (Network to User) and 155 Mbps to 1Gbps Up stream (User to Network) range of services due to high bandwidth and Though the field trials and technology development for fiber in the access loop started in late 1980s, real deployments did not happen as the deployment costs were very high at that time.  In the last 20 years enormous progress is made in optical networking equipment and production of high quality optical fibers associated with falling prices are driving forces for fiber to the home(FTTH).  

       The recent telecom bubble burst also had hard hit on the big telecom players and the revenue generation from the long haul core networks are falling. This lead to shift in the business strategy for maximizing the revenue generation from access loop and wireless.  While there is no standard definition for broadband, definition of broadband has become country specific. In Japan more than 1 Mbps is defined as broadband  and in India bandwidth more than 256kbps is specified as broadband.