In 2012, data traffic for networked devices per capita stood at below 1.5 per cent. This is expected to double by 2017. The IP traffic per capita was approximately 3.5 per cent, which would grow to more than 13 per cent by 2017.
Increasing telecom penetration, 3G network roll-out and the growing data demand due to the availability of affordable devices have made high speed broadband a necessity rather than a choice. Successful deployments in Japan and some European countries have made FTTH an obvious choice.
In India, FTTH penetration levels stand at less than 0.5 per cent as compared to the penetration of over 5 per cent in Europe and Japan. India has been witnessing the transition from copper to fibre access networks for over a decade now and replacing copper has been a key focus area of operators and companies specialising in cable deployment. The objective is to capitalise on the opportunities offered by the untapped broadband market beyond high speed internet.
With broadband speeds of 256 kbps to 100 Mbps, IPTV, HDTV and enterprise services on IP leased lines, the internet, the closed user group, MPLS-VPN, VoIP, videoconferencing, video calls, etc., have become logical solution offerings. However, for the average consumer, a key cost component is consumer premises equipment (CPE). Thus, the deployment of CPE ? Home Optical Network Terminal (HONT) ? consisting of 4×100 Mbps Ethernet ports and telephone ports, becomes a challenge for service providers.
According to data available till December 2012, 70 million subscribers were connected through FTTH globally, of which Europe accounted 4.5 million, Asia Pacific for over 57 million and North America 8.8 million. In India, this subscriber base is very small.
Technology options for FTTH deployment
The key technology options considered for FTTH deployment are:
? Ring architectures of Ethernet switches
? Star architectures of Ethernet switches
? Tree architectures using passive optical network (PON) technologies.
Currently, there are three standards for PON. The bandwidth varies from 622 Mbps (BPON) on downstream to 2.5 Gbps (GPON) and 155 Mbps on upstream (BPON) to 1.25 Gbps (GPON). This bit rate has to be shared by 16, 32, 64, or 128 customers, depending on the deployment scenario, which could be based on BPON, EPON and GPON. Data transmission would be undertaken through the asynchronous transfer mode, Ethernet or time division duplexing.
Issues and challenges in FTTH roll-out
The following are some of the key issues and challenges in FTTH roll-out:
? High cost of deployment: The effective cost of deployment of FTTH is more than Rs 2 million per km, which is very high as compared to DSL.
? Logistics: There are several issues in transporting high quality fibre. Operators have reported that most fibre-related issues result from improper installation and fibre handling practices. Fibre testing and deployment have not been given adequate focus.
? Limited government support: There are challenges in securing subsidies, etc.
? Lack of consumer awareness: Efforts towards the development of service infrastructure and increasing consumer awareness have been limited. Due to the lack of knowledge about the associated benefits, consumers are not ready to pay a high price for fibre-based services.
? Connectivity: Limited core network connectivity in rural areas; securing RoW; and the high cost of roll-out are key barriers to effective fibre deployment. Further, there is no business case for operators to deploy fibre in access networks due to the small user base.
