FTTH News

Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) says it has completed the deployment of the first gigabit passive optical network (GPON) in Astana, the capital city of Kazakhstan. Kazakhtelecom will use the new network to provide broadband services such as IPTV, video on demand (VoD), and high-speed Internet access to residential and business customers, Alcatel-Lucent says. The deployment marks the beginning of Kazakhtelecom’s strategy to replace its existing xDSL access infrastructure with fiber to the home (FTTH) technology.

The use of GPON technology will enable Kazakhtelecom to boost the broadband Internet penetration in Kazakhstan while introducing new triple-play services that will increase average revenue per user (ARPU), Alcatel-Lucent adds.

Alcatel-Lucent deployed its GPON-based 7342 Intelligent Services Access Manager Fiber-to-the-User (ISAM FTTU), the related 5520 Access Management System (AMS), as well as a series of indoor and multi-dwelling unit (MDU) optical network terminals (ONTs). The systems house also provided Kazakhtelecom with professional services expertise, including civil works, installation, integration, testing, commissioning, maintenance, as well as training.

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Halifax, NS – Bell Aliant, with the support of the Government of Nova Scotia, today announced a $55 million investment to expand FibreOP^TM, its world-class fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network, to approximately 160,000 homes and businesses in the Halifax Regional Municipality.

The FTTH network for Nova Scotia was introduced last spring with Bell Aliant's $15 million investment to launch FibreOP services first in Sydney. This brings the total FTTH investment in Nova Scotia to over $70 million to serve approximately 190,000 homes and businesses.

"The response to our FibreOP service has been outstanding, and we're pleased to now expand this network to customers in our largest and most competitive market," said Karen Sheriff, President and CEO, Bell Aliant. "Giving our customers access to the most advanced technology available not only serves their communication needs today, but ensures they are ready for whatever the future holds. We know that the demand for bandwidth will only continue to grow, and we'll be ready."

The Government of Nova Scotia contributed $2 million to the project to help ensure economic development opportunities for Nova Scotia with leading edge technology infrastructure.

"To ensure Nova Scotia's economy continues to grow, the province needs to remain competitive in the global economy," said Premier Darrell Dexter. "That means making sure we have the right telecommunications infrastructure in place, right across the province. This is a significant step forward in achieving that goal."

The first in Canada to cover an entire city with fibre-to-the-home, Bell Aliant was recently recognized as the best in all of North America for innovation and leadership in FTTH deployment with the FTTXcellence Award, presented at the 2010 FTTH Conference in Las Vegas.

FibreOP Internet offers choices in speeds, including the fastest Internet available in Nova Scotia with 170 Mbps download and 30 Mbps upload service. These speeds enable customers to not only download music or movies and share video or photos faster than ever before, but also accommodate the growing need for multiple users within the home.  

FibreOP TV offers a 100 per cent digital TV service including High Definition television available on all TVs, and watch and record PVR. Customers can enjoy unmatched digital picture and sound quality on over 200 video channels, 70 HD channels and 98 music channels. 

FibreOP service will be available to customers in Halifax, Dartmouth, Eastern Passage, Cole Harbour, Sackville, Hammonds Plains, Waverley, Timberlea, Spryfield, Bedford, St. Margaret's Bay and Lake Echo starting in mid-2011. Customers in Sydney and Sydney River currently have FibreOP service, to be followed by Glace Bay, North Sydney, Sydney Mines and New Waterford later this year.

Customers can pre-register for FibreOP service by visiting www.bellaliant.net/fibreop or calling 1-866-FIBREOP (1-866-342-7367) and will be notified when service is available in their area.

By the end of 2012, Bell Aliant will have invested almost half a billion dollars to extend FTTH to over 600,000 homes and businesses in the areas we serve.

Figures from research firm Point Topic on global broadband trends have hinted at a robust market for the Asian region, in particular the developing markets of China and India.

The report, which examined changes to the worldwide broadband scene in Q3 2010, stated that broadband subscriptions exceeded 508 million during that period, up 11.9 per cent year-on-year.

Developing broadband markets such as China, India, Russia, Vietnam, Ukraine and the Philippines all grew by more than 20% in the last 12 months, with China and India reporting their best ever growth results that same quarter. China added the greatest number of subscribers at 6.1 million, while India was third with 762,000 adds.

DSL technology continues to be the dominant technology worldwide, the report said, with Asia leading the pack on its adoption. According to the report, China lay claim to the world’s largest DSL market with 98.2 million subscribers, followed by the USA (30.1 million) and Germany (23.34 million).

The charge for fiber was also led by Asia, which controlled over 81% of the market, an equivalent of 56.98 million lines. China also proved to be the world’s largest fiber market with 25.8 million subscribers, followed by Japan (19.1 million) and South Korea (9.3 million).

Japan and South Korea were the only two Asian markets to feature in the list of top five countries that spearheaded the adoption of broadband delivered via cable modem. The cable modem market was found to be dominated by the United States and Canada, who jointly held 51% market share.

On the Asian front, South Korea was found to be the only developed market to maintain continued overall broadband subscription growth.

Steady growth rates were reported for the Middle East and Africa region, with strong growth in Egypt, Turkey and South Africa. But barriers in terms of availability and cost prohibited much of Africa from mass broadband adoption, Point Topic added.

Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) today announced that it has completed the deployment of the first gigabit passive optical network (GPON) in Astana, the capital city of Kazakhstan. Leading Kazakhstan operator Kazakhtelecom will use the new network to provide advanced broadband services such as IPTV, video on demand (VoD) and high-speed Internet access to residential and business customers. The deployment marks the beginning of Kazakhtelecom’s strategic plan to replace its existing xDSL access infrastructure with optical fiber technology.

The use of GPON technology will enable Kazakhtelecom to boost the broadband Internet penetration in Kazakhstan –- all while introducing a wide range of new, high-quality triple-play services that will increase average revenue per user (ARPU).

“A key objective for service providers today is to not just build an access infrastructure that is capable of efficiently supporting current capacity demand. It should also provide a reliable foundation for the delivery of future, even more bandwidth-hungry multimedia applications,” said Alexander Tikhonov, Head of Alcatel-Lucent’s business in CIS. “Preparing for the introduction of the next generation of broadband services in Astana, Kazakhtelecom is leveraging Alcatel-Lucent’s GPON solution; yet another proof point of Alcatel-Lucent’s leadership in this space.”

Alcatel-Lucent has deployed its GPON-based 7342 Intelligent Services Access Manager Fiber-to-the-User (ISAM FTTU), the related 5520 Access Management System (AMS), as well as a series of indoor and multi-dwelling unit (MDU) optical network terminals (ONTs) – which are located at end-users’ premises and convert optical signals back into electrical voice, video or data. Alcatel-Lucent also provided Kazakhtelecom with its comprehensive professional services expertise – including civil works, installation, integration, testing, commissioning, maintenance as well as training.

Alcatel-Lucent is the worldwide leader in fixed broadband access, supporting the largest mass deployments of video, voice and data services. Today, one out of three fixed broadband subscribers around the world is served through an access network provided by Alcatel-Lucent. Alcatel-Lucent is involved in over 100 FTTH projects worldwide, over 85 of which are with GPON.

About Kazakhtelecom

Joint Stock Company Kazakhtelecom is the largest operator of Kazakhstan and one of the fastest growing telecommunications companies on CIS lands, provides a broad spectrum of telecommunication services. The central office is located in the capital of Kazakhstan – Astana. The company employs about 30 thousand people. JSC Kazakhtelecom has regional offices in each area of the country and in the cities of Astana and Almaty and provides services throughout the country. According to company data as of 1 January 2010 the company serves more than 3.6 million fixed-line subscribers and 2 million Internet users, including over 1.4 million users of broadband Internet. The telephone density in the Republic of Kazakhstan is an average of 23 fixed lines per 100 people. As the primary service provider of Kazakhstan, JSC Kazakhtelecom operates national backbone network with total length of more than 11,500 km linking regional centers, the cities of Almaty and Astana JSC Kazakhtelecom closely cooperates with more than 40 operators from both near and far abroad, manages representative offices in the Russian Federation, China, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan as well as has Points of Presence at key traffic exchange points of the world. For more information, visit external link http://www.telecom.kz/

JDSU (NASDAQ: JDSU) (TSX: JDU) says it has established an optical network test lab and scholarship program at Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications (BUPT). 

JDSU has provided a range of instruments for the BUPT lab that will enable live network testing for all stages of optical network development. JDSU is also funding an annual scholarship program for BUPT students pursuing advanced telecommunications and engineering degrees. 

Said JDSU President and CEO, Tom Waechter, "High-speed networks are driving economic growth and favorably changing the way people experience the world. We are pleased to partner with one of the world's leading research institutions as we prepare for the communications network of the future — and help train the future generations of engineers who will design them."

"The instruments and equipment donated by JDSU are of great value to experimental studies and teaching in universities — both teachers and students at BUPT will benefit," said Dr. Wang Yajie Chairman of the University Board, BUPT. "Establishing this lab serves as a good example of collaboration between an internationally renowned company and a university famous in China's telecommunications sector. It represents the satisfactory outcome of the efforts by both parties in bringing the role of businesses into play to support the research and teaching work of universities. I'm convinced that the cooperation between JDSU and BUPT will be mutually beneficial."

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Entropic Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq:ENTR) and BroadLight have partnered to offer Multimedia over Coax (MoCA) technology to designers of GPON optical network terminals (ONTs) for fiber to the home (FTTH) applications.

The partnership will leverage Entropic's MoCA 2.0 silicon and BroadLight's GPON expertise to create a silicon and software package for optimized MoCA 2.0 enabled ONTs.

The combined offering will provide 500 Mbps of MAC throughput between two nodes on a single channel or 1 Gbps of MAC throughput between channel bonded nodes, the companies say.

"Service providers are leveraging their FTTH model to offer innovative subscriber services, many of which have high bandwidth requirements that the typical home cannot handle," said Doron Tal, vice president, business development and product marketing, at BroadLight. "The pairing of the BroadLight BL23500 third-generation GPON processor with Entropic's newest silicon allows for unconstrained GPON bandwidth throughout the home, ensuring the capacity delivered to the home is carried throughout the entire home network."

Entropic and BroadLight have previously worked together to enable MoCA 1.1 GPON ONTs using Entropic's EN2210 and EN2510 MoCA ICs paired with BroadLight's BL2348 GPON Processor. This combination is widely deployed within Verizon's FiOS network, according to the companies.

SSP Yhtiöt Oy, part of the Finnet Group, has selected Alcatel-Lucent’s GPON technology as part of its effort to fulfill the Finnish government’s goal of providing 100-Mbps services to 98% of Finland’s households by the end of 2015.

The Finnet Group comprises 28 small and mid-sized telecom service providers across Finland.

Under a three-year frame agreement, Alcatel-Lucent will provide its GPON-based IP access platform, and its portfolio of customer premises equipment. According to Alcatel-Lucent, SSP chose GPON because of its operational cost savings due to its passive (maintenance-free) outside plant, shorter repair times when fiber cables are damaged, easier network design, and redundancy closer to the end-customer.

Said Pekka Granlund, planning manager at SSP, “Following a thorough study of the technologies and solutions that are available on the market today, we selected Alcatel-Lucent — as it clearly has the most future-safe GPON platform. Alcatel- Lucent’s products and services provide us with the flexibility we need, giving us the competitive edge we require to be successful in this market.”