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Municipalities Cities Planning FTTH Networks Several cities are developing or reviewing plans for making fiberbased broadband available to homes and businesses. The city of Richland, Washington, is one of them. Inspired in part by the pending prepackaged bankruptcy of its cable franchisee, Charter Communications (which also provides the city’s institutional network), the city hired Columbia Telecommunications Corporation (CTC) to perform a needs assessment. CTC recommended that the city build its own institutional fiber network to serve city offices, schools and the municipal electric utility, and then expand it in four phases. The first expansion phase would bring fiber to large businesses and other major electric utility customers; the second phase would create wireless hot spots in parts of the city underserved by broadband; the third phase would address availability gaps in office complexes and MDUs; and the fourth and final expansion phase would make fiber connectivity available to all homes and businesses, at a cost of between $30 million and $40 million. The report discusses several business models and financing options for FTTP but does not recommend any in particular. CTC notes, “A fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) design has the greatest financial risk, but also offers the largest potential benefits. Demand for data will continue to increase. Data pipes to homes and businesses will become as important to Richland’s economic and cultural development as the streets that facilitate commerce and quality of life today.” CTC also recently performed a feasibility study for the city of Seattle, in which it identified five options for making fiber more available to city residents and businesses. Seattle has tentatively put on hold the idea of building fiber all the way out to homes and businesses, saying the plan is not economically feasible at present. The option being most “An FTTP design has the greatest financial risk, but also offers the largest potential benefits.” seriously explored is for the city to build fiber out to neighborhood nodes. Private companies would then be able to build out the last mile (using any technology) and deliver service to customers. Residents and businesses could also purchase their own connections from their properties to city fiber. The city of Northfield, Minnesota, hired CCG Consulting to study options for providing municipal fiber broadband services. In a survey of city residents, CCG found that even though 75 percent of residents already had a broadband connection, 81 percent supported the idea of the city entering the communications business and 78 percent would buy services from a city network. “These are among the highest percentages we have ever seen in this sort of survey,” CCG commented. The report identified several financially viable opportunities: the city could build the network and provide retail services itself; it could build the network and contract with a commercial partner to operate it; or it could encourage one of several private-sector entities to deploy fiber. (Another possibility is to partner with a private-sector entity and jointly apply for stimulus-package funding.) The one strategy that CCG did not consider financially viable was operating an open-access network. The city of Windom, Minnesota, which already operates a municipal FTTH network, has been in discussions with some nearby cities about extending its network to their residents and businesses. One of them, Lakefield, which operates a municipal cable TV system, was awarded a grant last year by the Blandin Foundation to perform a fiber feasibility study; according to local press reports, Lakefield’s FTTH project is now on hold (like many other potential network builds) while the city waits to find out whether it will be eligible for stimulus-package funding. The city of Jackson, which is also a municipal cable operator, has decided against a fiber upgrade for the time being because it is reluctant to raise rates for subscribers. Jackson is across a river from Windom and a fiber optic line from Windom would have to be dug under the river, a potentially expensive proposition. In Palo Alto, California, we reported last month that the city’s longawaited FTTH plan was coming unstuck; since that time, Axia NetMedia, the financing partner in the consortium with which the city was negotiating, has withdrawn from the project. In a letter to city officials, Axia NetMedia says, “At this point no solution appears possible within the constraints of the City of Palo Alto’s financial condition, bylaws and process.” A memo from the city manager to the city council (not yet acted on by the city council at press time) says Axia’s withdrawal was precipitated by the economic downturn, the city’s reluctance to increase its planned investment in the project, and the pending rollout of Comcast’s 50 Mbps/10 Mbps service. In addition, 180 Connect, the construction partner in the consortium, is no longer actively involved in the project, having been acquired by DIRECTV. The city manager recommends terminating the RFP process that led to negotiations with the consortium and instead developing a plan for phased build-out from the existing fiber backbone, using the city’s own funds and whatever federal funding it can obtain. The first phase would expand the backbone to businesses, educational institutions and health and human services agencies, and revenues from this phase would be applied to further build-outs in later years. BBP 12 | BROADBAND PROPERTIES | www.broadbandproperties.com | April 2009
RBOC UPDATE New Washington Apartment Buildings Offer FiOS Resurgence and revitalization have come to Washington, DC – to the Capitol Riverfront area, once home to vacant lots and auto repair shops and now a booming neighborhood full of new apartment buildings, offices, stores and restaurants. And where there is growth and revitalization, there’s bound to be fiber to the home. Residents at two new apartment buildings in Capitol Riverfront now have access to Verizon’s FiOS Internet, and a third building currently under construction will have FiOS service later this spring. The three buildings, owned by multifamily real estate investment company JPI, contain a total of 931 apartments. The two JPI buildings that now have access to FiOS Internet are the Jefferson at Capitol Yards and the Axiom at Capitol Yards. Verizon is currently installing fiber-optic cable in the third building, 909 Capitol Yards. Michael Stevens, executive director of the Capitol Riverfront Business Improvement District, says, “JPI’s partnership with Verizon illustrates the visionary ideals of the neighborhood that make it such an excellent location for living, business activities, recreation and entertainment.” In addition, Verizon is deploying FiOS services in JPI’s new and existing developments in Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Texas and California. JPI’s buildings in Washington – as well other residences throughout the District – will also ultimately have access to FiOS TV as the company rolls out the service over the next few years under a recently approved franchise agreement. In another recent announcement, Verizon said recently that FiOS TV for Business is now available for as little as $12.99 per month, with a one-year agreement. In an effort to provide greater value for small-business customers on a budget, Verizon offers a TV package that includes local network affiliate broadcasters, PBS, and public education and government (PEG) programming. Both local affiliate and PBS stations are broadcast in standard and high definition. The new package is available in the 14 states where FiOS TV for Business is currently offered, and is being used in waiting rooms, bars, restaurants and similar venues. BBP Fiber optic amentity providers Two New Projects for Connexion in Alabama Wyndham and Wyndham Gates communities in Opelika, Alabama, will soon bring their residents advanced entertainment and communications services over a fiberto-the-home network built by Connexion Technologies, a fiber optic amenity company. “We’re thrilled with the Connexion Technologies partnership,” says Lee Danielly of Knight Development, owner of both properties. “Many of our residents are first-time homebuyers, and we’re proud to offer them homes with this advanced network. It enables us to bring truly cutting-edge technology to affordable homes.” These properties’ networks will support an array of affordable services including ultra-high-speed Internet connections, more than 200 digital channels of entertainment and multifunction telephone service. BBP INTERNATIONAL DEPLOYMENTS Manchester Launches “Digital City” Initiative Manchester, known as “England’s second city,” has embarked on a pilot FTTP project less than a year after completing a feasibility study and setting a goal of reinventing itself as a “digital city.” The city’s overall digital strategy calls for creating a municipal open access network that includes both fiber to the premises, advanced wireless services and a new Internet hub exchange. According to a city planning document, “By creating this next-generation connectivity, we aim to link key employment sites across the Manchester city region to accelerate job growth, enhance the digital skill base and provide new opportunities for home access, flexible working and telecare services.” The pilot project involves connecting up 50 premises with fiber this year, 150 next year and 400 in 2011, April 2009 | www.broadbandproperties.com | BROADBAND PROPERTIES | 13
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Page 4 and 5: EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Scott DeGarmo PU
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Page 17 and 18: Deployer Spotlight International de
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Page 22 and 23: Strong Growth for FTTH Worldwide sa
Page 24 and 25: Municipal FTTH Deployment Snapshot
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Page 34 and 35: Fiber Here to the Single Family | M
Page 36 and 37: North American Deployments As the n
Page 38 and 39: Why FTTH, Why Now? Fiber to the hom
Page 40 and 41: Fiber and Bandwidth Q: What is band
Page 42 and 43: FTTH Users’ Stories The Power Beh
Page 44 and 45: The Inevitability of Bandwidth Grow
Page 46 and 47: Applications for FTTH Providers: Be
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Page 50 and 51: The Light Fantastic: Three Reasons
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Page 54 and 55: Questions Real Estate Developers As
Page 56 and 57: Focus on Municipal Priorities Munic
Page 58 and 59: Understanding the Technology in Gre
Page 60 and 61: Zeros and Ones If all pulses look t
Page 62 and 63: FTTH Versus Other Types of Fiber Ne
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FTTH and FTTB Network Architectures
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HOT PRODUCTS Industry Segments Area
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HOT PRODUCTS Broadband Integration
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HOT PRODUCTS Display Systems Intern
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HOT PRODUCTS EZ-Bend Optical Cables
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HOT PRODUCTS splitters and passive
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TECHNOLOGY passive network design -
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Connected Communities Necessity has
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