BROADBAND COMMUNITIES is the leading source of information on digital and broadband technologies for buildings and communities. Our editorial aims to accelerate the deployment of Fiber-To-The-Home and Fiber-To-The-Premises.
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SUMMIT COVERAGE Lessons Learned From Three FTTH Industry Pioneers Deploying FTTH in rural areas is a challenge, but it's become easier and more affordable over the years, say these industry veterans. The payoff is great – for the first time, young people can stay in their communities. By Cheri Beranek ■ Clearfield A t the BROADBAND COMMUNITIES Summit in April, I had the plea- sure of moderating a panel of three leaders who have deployed fiber to the home in very challenging rural areas – Vince Tyson of Plateau Telephone, Casey Quint of Wiggins Telephone and Ron Ellis of Rural Telephone. Following are highlights of our discussion. Q: I've heard many of you say fiber isn't all that mysterious – in fact, that there are more similarities to copper than one would expect. Vince Tyson: When we got into fiber, we found there was a stigma about its being expensive. I started to ask "Why?" and "What's the true cost?" What came to me fairly quickly is that it's just a dis- tribution network, so it made sense to build it like copper. Although fiber is a high-capacity network, the services car- ried over that glass still have the same value to customers as the services carried over copper. So, to be cost-effective, we looked at it and said, "OK, how can we build it like copper?" Now, clearly there are some differ- ences – splicing, for example, has to be done differently, and of course, the economics are different – but, by and large, today's fiber networks have a lot more in common with copper networks than some of the earlier fiber networks did. Tat's one thing we like about Clearfield. One of the reasons that we've continued to do business with them over the years, is, as Cheri says, that they lis- ten. Tey really did. We went to them Today's fiber networks have a lot more in common with copper networks than some of the earlier fiber networks did. and said, "You know the pedestals we've used for our copper network – can't you take those and just put some of your fi- ber management inside?" Deploying an open architecture for splicing drove down the splicing cost because the fiber splicers don't have to open up cases. Te fiber splicer that we were using in Minnesota devised a little mounting platform that could clip right onto the front of the pedestal, put a fu- sion splicer right there and worked right in front of the ped to get in and right out. Tis reduced our cost of splice from upward of $60 to more like $15. Ron Ellis: Fiber has changed a lot over the years. Back in 1996, Rural Tele- phone didn't want to throw away old plant, so we had an open tray lying in a pedestal with copper on the back side and fiber on the front. Now everything is inside with the newer builds, and we need an appointment to get into a customer's house to work on batteries. Other than that, everything we do, we treat like copper. Q: How about IP and IPTV? Certainly that's not a copper technology. Casey Quint: Wiggins is just getting ready to deploy the TV side of things. We've migrated everything over to IP. T1s are going away. Customers might have 10 T1s to a cell tower, and those are gone overnight when customers find out they can get Ethernet service at low cost. Tat's where fiber has really been great for us. We get a lot of work-from-home people who want a 10 Mbps dedicated service to their company in Denver, and we can do that now. It's been great to see that growth and be able to offer that service to our customers who before couldn't get any kind of Internet at all. Now they can get a 100 Mbps Ethernet connection to Denver – to wherever they want. About the Author Cheri Beranek is president and CEO of Clearfield, which designs and manufactures fiber management platforms and enclosure systems. Learn more at www. clearfieldconnection.com. 82 | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | www.broadbandcommunities.com | MAY/JUNE 2012