Fiber to the Home, FTTH

National Broadband Plan is there…

The FCC announced the national broadband plan. An ambitious plan to provide more Americans with broadband access and to bring the US back in leading nations in providing broadband access. The goals are :

  • Goal 1: At least 100 million U.S. homes should have affordable access to actual download speeds of at least 100 megabits per second and actual upload speeds of at least 50 megabits per second.
  • Goal 2: The United States should lead the world in mobile innovation, with the fastest and most extensive wireless networks of any nation.
  • Goal 3: Every American should have affordable access to robust broadband service, and the means and skills to subscribe if they so choose.
  • Goal 4: Every community should have affordable access to at least 1 Gbps broadband service to anchor institutions such as schools, hospitals and government buildings.
  • Goal 5: To ensure the safety of Americans, every first responder should have access to a nationwide public safety wireless network.
  • Goal 6: To ensure that America leads in the clean energy economy, every American should be able to use broadband to track and manage their real-time energy consumption.

As you can see besides the ambitious targets on the number of homes access to broadband, the plan also contains ideas about how to use the network: first responder and energy consumption management are among them.

Filed Under FTTH news | Comments Off

Google Fiber for Communities Project

March – 2010

Many of you might have been surprised about Google announcing their fiber network experiment. Google plans on building a super fast internet network and offer this service to at least 50,000 people up to half a million.  During this month communities interested in working together with Google to provide their community of a network can ‘apply’ to Google and provide them with more information.

Many communities are interested….for instance Buffalo, NY, where the major is actively seeking support from the community in convincing Google should build their network in their town. It will be interesting to see how this develops. Google is offering services in a field dominated by Verizon, AT&T and Comcast. With no experience in this field Google will need to partner up with a strong partner to deploy all the fiber and to deliver content over the network. A daunting task? Perhaps, but perhaps not for Google…

Filed Under FTTH news | Comments Off

100 Gbit networks are coming this year

With a significant rollout starting in the data center and the first deployments of 100-Gbit/s transport in the long-haul network, 2010 is the year for 100G. Over the past eight years, many companies have made major investments in 40-Gbit/s technology with relatively little return, but with an eye on 100G. For some, that investment will now deliver a return, as 100G takes over for 40G as the highest-speed networking solution.

Cloud computing, video, remote storage, and other bandwidth-intensive services are driving demand for higher-speed connectivity. Data center and enterprise network managers must replace existing 10-Gbit/s links with 100-Gbit/s links to meet user expectations and business needs. Carriers are upgrading transport links to 100 Gbit/s or more as suitable solutions become available. To meet these needs, equipment providers are developing new systems with 40-Gbit/s and 100-Gbit/s interfaces that cover distances from a few meters to several hundred kilometers. During 2010 there will be significant investment by equipment vendors in 40GE and 100GE solutions for both the data center and enterprise backbone.


Filed Under FTTH news | 1 Comment

Now more than 5 million FTTH subscribers in North America

November 2009 -  A recent study by RVA Market Research concluded that now more than 5 million people are subscribed to services delived over a FTTH network.  The total of homes connected to a FTTH network almost amount 18 million at this moment.

‘ The march to all-fiber networks is showing no sign of letting up in the United States and Canada,” says Joe Savage, president of the FTTH Council, which promotes and tracks the growth of fiber to the home in North America. “Given the growing sophistication and bandwidth requirements of online and video applications, as well as the high satisfaction that current FTTH subscribers are expressing about their fiber service, the growing consumer demand for end-to-end fiber is now a fact of life and something that our members are working hard to satisfy.”

This also means the take rate, that is the relation between the number of connections and the number of people subscribing to services delivered over FTTH networks is going up. This is good news for companies like Verizon that deploy these expensive networks, as it means more and more people recognize the value of the services over FTTH networks.

Filed Under FTTH news | Comments Off

Como se hace fibra óptica

This movie in Spanish explains how optical fiber is produced. Este video muestra como se produce fibra óptica.  Es un buen video para enteder como se hace la fibra óptica.

Filed Under What is FTTH | Comments Off

Global broadband connections – Asia is leading in growth

October -  The Broadband forum announced the growth in global broadband connections for the second quarter of 2009.  During this period almost 13 million connections were added, which brings the estimated total broadband connections to 445 million worldwide.  China leads with almost 94 million connections, a growth well over 20% compared to the same period last year (2008).  The US comes in second with 86 million connections, and Japan third will around 31 million connections. The broadband make up is still that DSL holds most of the connections, with a share of around 64% worldwide. Cable comes in second with 21% and optical fiber around 13%.  IPTV traffic grew to around 27 million connections.  The Asian market is the fasted growing market in number of connections, especially China. Japanese growth has slowed down as the market has reached its saturation level.

Filed Under FTTH news | 2 Comments

4G – What does it mean for you…?

August – 4G is broadly used, but in essence refers to mobile communications standards.

It is the fourth generation and is succeeding 2G and 3G standards. 3G standards are widely referred to in commercials by telecommunication companies (Verizon, Sprint) , but can hardely provide the mobile internet services it promised. The increase of mobile internet, for instance only the apps downloads for the Iphone, create such a demand for data that we are really should look forward to 4G.  The world with 4G will look different. The battle for 4G technology is still ongoing – LTE , WiMax – , and it is still an IP network with the tradition problems like VOIP security etc. , but it will revolutionize the world like the Iphone did. You will be able to run very powerful programs and application on smaller and smaller devices, like phones and netbooks. Imagine watching High Definition football games live on your phone when you are travelling….

Filed Under FTTH news | Comments Off

Broadband boom in China expected

July 2009 -  In the next years a broadband boom in China is expected.  The main Chinese telecommunication companies (China Telecom, China Unicom and China Mobile) have agressive broadband expansion plans.  Both DSL type and Fiber to the Home type solutions will accelerate and it expected broadband penetration will double in the next couple of years.  Also more and more services are offered, two of these companies offer IPTV for low monthly subscription fees. Once China Mobile has completed its integration with China TieTong it is expected to return to its leading position in broadband deployments. Broadband penetration will grow to around 15% in the upcoming years.

Filed Under FTTH news | 2 Comments

keep looking »