Tag: fibre-optic broadband

Article

thinkbroadband :: Gigaclear partners with Fluidata to offer provider choice on network

My Comments

In the UK, a lot of small fibre-based networks are popping up in different country areas to offer real next-generation broadband to these areas. They are typically either a sole private effort or assisted by local or central government or even the local community.

But, unlike most next-generation broadband networks (including the National Broadband Network in Australia) and the ADSL broadband networks in most areas, there isn’t competitive access to the infrastructure. Here, it makes it hard for these markets to be approached with retail Internet service that competes on price or services offered.

Now, Gigaclear, whom I have been following on HomeNetworking01.info, have partnered with Fluidata to open their fibre-to-the-premises networks to other retail providers on a competitive-access model. This could allow a potential customer in Lyddington, Appleton or somewhere similar to benefit from a competitive tariff chart or sign up to a package that has “all the fruit” like VoIP telephony or IP-provided television.

There needs to be a platform for providing competitive access to infrastructure provided as part of any new next-generation-broadband project  This means that there is a company who looks after the infrastructure to the point of demarcation between the company’s responsibility and the customer’s responsibility at a customer’s installation.

But different companies can use this platform to provide a business or home customer access to the Internet using this infrastructure but in a competitive manner. Here, a customer then chooses which company provides an offer that best suits their needs and provides the best “bang for the buck”.

One could easily think that such a platform needs to be built or integrated at a later stage after the project is established but it is worth investigation any competitive-access systems as part of rolling out a next-generation Internet or rural-broadband-enablement project.

Article – French language

Fibre optique : le gouvernement lance une mission pour débrancher l’ADSL- m.01net.com

My Comments

France – another area to go full-fibre

It is not just Australia where there is a drive to head towards fibre-to-the-premises broadband. The same situation is also happening in France where a government committee is working on supplanting the country’s copper telephone network with a fibre-based next-generation broadband network.

They have an interim goal for a report by end of 2013 with a final roadmap by end of 2014, which will detail how and when to go about this project and who is being affected. An issue that was being raised was implementing VDSL2 which theoretically yields 50Mbps over a short copper link for areas where fibre isn’t practical or affordable. This technology was just lately accepted as a communications technology by ARCEP who are the governing body for France’s telecommunications.

There was also the Intent to indemnify France-Télécom because, as a classic telecommunications operator and being a spinoff of the Postes Téléphones Télégraphs government body, they own the copper network. This is similar to what has happened with Telstra in Australia when it came to the NBN.

I also see issues that are likely to be raised about the difficult parts of France Métropolitaine (L’Héxagone) and the Outre-Mer territories where fibre-optic installation may be considered difficult or costly. Could this also invoke implementation of technologies like fixed wireless?

Similarly, the competitive nature of France’s telecommunications and Internet-access sector could place requirements on this goal such as whether to cover more or less territory quickly. It can also encompass protection of competitive access to the new infrastructure such as the “multifibre” method or the “single-fibre” method.

It would be interesting to see who else would be daring to head down the full fibre-to-the-premises route while dumping copper for their telecommunications and Internet infrastructure.

Article

thinkbroadband :: Highlands and Islands in £146 million fibre boost

From the horse’s mouth

British Telecom

Press Release

My Comments

Another rural area in the United Kingdom is being enabled with real broadband. This time it is the Highlands and Islands region in Scotland.

The mighty Scots will have a fibre-optic infrastructure that will intend to pass at least 84% of homes and businesses in this area. The setup will be primarily of the FTTC (fibre-to-the-cabinet / fibre-to-the-curb) fibre-copper setup with some installations being FTTP (full fibre-to-the-premises) setups.

This £146m project is being primarily provisioned by BT but, like a lot of these projects, has a lot of public funding. There will be £19.4m pitched by BT and £12m coming from the Highlands and Islands Enterprise business group with balance being public money from BDUK (Broadband Delivery UK) and from Edinburgh.

This will be considered one of the most ambitious rural-Internet-enablement projects in the UK due to the geographical makeup of the are i.e. the hilly nature of the Highlands as well as the Scottish Islands separated by water. One of the main costs would be to run 19 undersea fibre links to the Scottish Islands that are in this district. As well, areas that are considered to be remote will be the target of a £2.5m innovation fund to get broadband in to them.

What I would see of this is that the Highlands and Islands project can he used as an example of deploying real next-generation broadband to areas that have a mixture of geographically-difficult terrains like mountains or islands.

Articles – French language

DegroupNews

Dordogne : le calendrier du très haut débit se précise – DegroupNews.com

L’Aquitaine se prépare au défi du très haut débit

My Comments

In France, there are greater plans to cover the Aquitaine region with next-generation broadband. This time, the Dordogne (24) département is now part of the blueprint to deliver this service through the region. Previously they have established the Lot-et-Garonne and Gironde départements as part of the effort. Initially the effort will be focused on the Gourdine and Bergerac population centres.

There has been work undertaken on coverage in the Bordeaux, Biarritz and Pau population centres with initial involvement from energy companies in that area.

Initial plans require the fibre trunks to be laid after 2015 and the work complete after 5 years.

France Télécom / Orange will be primarily behind the effort as far as the infrastructure is concerned. But a good question to raise is whether there will be local or regional public investment in the effort? This is although most rural-broadband-improvement / next-generation broadband efforts in the UK and France have a fair bit of public investment from local government.

Article

thinkbroadband :: Scilly Isles to benefit from fibre link and better broadband

From the horse’s mouth

Superfast Cornwall

Press Release

My Comments

Scilly Isles in Cornwall, United Kingdom is now to benefit from reliable real broadband thanks to a fibre-optic backhaul.

Previous, the inhabitants were serviced by a wireless link between Land’s End and the islands as their Internet backhaul. But reliability could be an issue due to the nature of radio links and this backhaul would not yield enough bandwidth for all the residents and businesses on those islands.

Here, the Superfast Cornwall initiative which facilitated this link made use of undersea “dark fibre” (unused fibre-optic links) that went out to the Atlantic Ocean to steer the Internet link to these islands. They intend to have the service up and running by 2014. 

Like a lot of these broadband-improvement efforts, this one is a public-private partnership with the European Regional Development Initiative and Cornwall Council putting their hands to the plough.

I also see this as opening up better pathos for people at the southern tip of England to benefit from the real fast broadband, whether you work or retire there. It could also allow for some form of financial regeneration to occur in these areas.

Article

Few NBN customers report higher bills after switch | The Age (Australia)

My Comments

There is a key issue being hammered out concerning the National Broadband Network, especially by the Federal Opposition and, to some extent, Sydney’s talkback radio hosts. It is where signing on to NBN ultra-fast broadband Internet service is going to lead to fixed-line Internet bills that are more expensive than with a legacy ADSL or cable service?

The article suggested that the costs would be the same or cheaper than the legacy Internet service. One situation that could cause this to happen is that a customer who moves on to National Broadband Network may use this as a chance to “right-size” their Internet-service package to their use. This can extend to the reality with most of these services that are sold by “data allowance” where people purchase more than they really use so they can create a buffer for sudden usage spikes. This also allows the customer to end up with a predictable bill that they can budget for.

Similarly, IP telephony including Skype, works as a cost-saver because you could effectively place long-distance calls for “pennies’ worth” or more likely for free, compared to paying an expensive bill for these calls. This includes the ability to have FM-radio-grade voice telephony on these connections as well as videocalls of the science-fiction calibre.

I also wouldn’t put it past the retail NBN carriers to follow France’s example and sell n-play service with broadband Internet, telephony, pay TV amongst other services on the one competitively-priced package.  But on the other hand, could we be seeing more of the “over-the-top” telephony and TV services being used with the National Broadband Network?

Sometimes we have to sort out the reality from the rhetoric concerning the next-generation broadband Internet services and pay attention to other larger countries who are operating these services already.

Article

thinkbroadband :: Frilford Oxfordshire to benefit from 1Gbps FTTH from Gigaclear

From the horse’s mouth

Gigaclear

Project Announcement Page

My Comments

Regular readers and subscribers of HomeNetworking01.info have noticed me covering Gigaclear’s activities in bring real next-generation broadband to the Berkshire and Oxfordshire rural communities in the UK.

Now Frilford and the neighbouring communities of Frilford Heath and Cothill are to benefit from this same technology. This is the same business-friendly service with 1Gbps upstream and downstream. Again this is a short drive (in an MG) west of Abingdon, like Fyfield and Tubney. This is another example of the villages and hamlets that exist close to a major town of employment “cottoning on to” the full business-grade broadband at the door in order to facilitate telecommuting for the businesses in that towm.

What I also like about this is that people who want the “tree-change” from Abingdon can value this option yet have access to the real broadband whether they still work or are considering retiring or setting up that small business.

Of course, like other Gigaclear services, this will primarily be a data-only service which will mean that people who want integrated telephony or TV service will have to source these services from “over-the-top” providers.

It is of course another example of pro-active thinking when it comes to bringing real broadband to rural, regional and peri-urban areas, and allowing these areas to become more “switched on”.