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By Ma Hongyan
FTTH deployment has a long history of cost and efficiency problems. To seize market opportunities, telcos need to speed up return on investment (ROI) and improve FTTH deployment efficiency. Huawei is dedicated to optical distribution network (ODN) innovation to cope with FTTH construction challenges, having developed floor distribution box (FDB) and pre-connection solutions that have seen action on Rostelecom and Telefónica networks, respectively.
FTTH is still a story of high cost, low efficiency, and slow ROI. ODN construction costs account for over 60% of FTTH investment, with the network planning and product selection involved complicated. Different ODN construction models (centralized/distributed splitting, level-1/level-2 splitting, fiber fusion/mechanical splicing) can lead to different costs overall. Therefore, flexibility in ODN networking and product standardization are key to FTTH construction in the early periods as they can improve FTTH deployment efficiency and reduce CAPEX.
Huawei focuses on the challenges telcos face and engages in a variety of joint innovation projects. It worked with Rostelecom to develop an FDB to facilitate the latter's FTTH development. It also worked with Telefónica to jointly design a pre-connection solution to help improve the telco’s FTTH deployment efficiency.
Joint FDB design
Huge investments and low installation rates
Rostelecom is the largest fixed network operator in Russia, offering telecom and long-distance transmission services in eight of the country’s nine federal districts. The Russian government has demanded that Rostelecom develop 13 million FTTH users by 2015. With the exception of a few major cities, Russia is sparsely populated, leading to extremely low actual installation rates. Thirteen million users in two years is a daunting task in such an environment, especially given the huge investments and low actual installation rates involved. Rostelecom needed a partner to help it increase actual installation rates and accelerate ROI.
Huawei and Rostelecom in tandem
In the early deployment stages of Rostelecom’s network, construction is done to user access points and floor distribution boxes (FDBs) are deployed as the interface between the outside plant (OSP) and the inside plant (ISP). In future network expansion situations, pre-made drop cables can be used for plug-and-play and quick service provisioning. Backed by this model, Huawei and Rostelecom customized an innovative FDB to meet this requirement. The FDB was designed in a step-by-step manner to meet different requirements during the different stages of FTTH construction, ensuring that only appropriate investments are made. In the initial stage, Rostelecom can deploy FDBs that provide access to only a single user. As the numbers of subscribers increase, the FDB can smoothly evolve to support four and even eight users, ensuring timely access. This method of expansion is innovative and flexible, requiring no splicing. Engineers can complete the expansion in just one minute, without the need for a single tool. This FDB solution is particularly applicable to sparsely populated areas where the actual installation rates are low and construction seasons are short. This solution will help Rostelecom build a flexible and scalable optical distribution network (ODN), improve deployment efficiency, maximize ROI, and reduce the total cost of ownership (TCO).
Huawei and Telefónica develop FastConnect solution
As a global leader in full-service operations, Telefónica has drawn up a grand plan for FTTH development, adopting Huawei's customized ODN solution to facilitate it. This innovative solution employs pre-connection, making for greatly improved outdoor FTTH deployment efficiency.
This solution uses aeronautic connector technology, with plug-and play pre-connection drop cables, saving the trouble of manual welding and enhancing engineering efficiency. The solution also supports IP68-level protection, allowing optical fibers to work at a temperature range from +70ºC to -40ºC, as well as environments of high humidity.
Daniel Paul, Telefónica's access network director, said, "ODN is the infrastructure for FTTH and is highly adaptive to tough environments. The plug-and-play ODN solution can effectively improve FTTH deployment efficiency through pre-connection to realize large-scale FTTH deployment."
You Yiyong, director of Huawei's access network product line, also remarked, "Global fixed ultra-broadband construction is in full swing. We focus on customers' challenges and conduct innovation accordingly. Huawei's patented pre-connection solution helps customers build ultra-broadband networks by improving FTTH deployment efficiency."
Huawei is committed to ODN innovation
Committed to technical innovation, Huawei provides customers with the FastConnect ODN solution to allow for fast deployment and intelligent management. In October 2010, Huawei announced the industry's first intelligent ODN (iODN) solution, which received the InfoVision Award at the Broadband World Forum (BBWF). In November 2012, iODN standards primarily developed by Huawei were also released by ITU-T. In July 2014, Huawei and Rostelecom cooperated to develop the innovative FDB and signed a framework procurement contract. In 2014, Huawei and Telefónica signed a two-year framework procurement contract for pre-connectorized products (FastConnect). Zha Jun, Director of Huawei's Fixed Network Product Line, and Javier Gutiérrez, Telefónica's Vice CTO, signed an agreement on joint ODN innovation. So far, Huawei has deployed over 60 intelligent ODNs around the world. Huawei will continue to work with global carriers to conduct innovative ODN research. It will apply the iODN architecture in product solutions and upgrade passive ODN to intelligent ODN to realize simplified and intelligent management of optical fiber resources.
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