Copyright © 1996 BellcoreAll Rights Reserved

What’s Happening in Fiber-to-the-Home?

Paul W. ShumateExecutive Director - Broadband Local Access & Premises Networks(201) 829-4600pws@bellcore.comCLEO’97, May 21, 1997

Why Fiber-to-the-Home?

• All the usual physical benefits of fiber• A future-proof network (e.g. upgrades)• No EMC issues• No outside-plant actives ;; highest reliability

– No electrical powering– Immune to lightning, other transients

• Lowest powering costs• Lowest operations costs

– Maintenance, provisioning, and facilities planning

Why Not FTTH?Issues of the Late 1980s - Have Things Changed?Issues of the Late 1980s - Have Things Changed?

• Too expensive

• Incompatible with analog TVs

• Bit rates for digital video too high

• Any demand for other digital services?

• Lifeline powering

• No product standardization

Key Changes

• System cost down by 3X to 4X

– PONs

– Loop lasers $ / 10

– Fiber and other components (e.g., VLSI)

– Digital video $ / 10

• Cost savings large

• Established demand for digital services

• Regulatory and competitive environment

• International “standards” on fast track

Recent News on FTTH

• “By 2000, fiber all the way to the home will be used to replace local loop routinely.”D. Dorman, CEO Pacific Bell, January 1997.

• “FTTH is already cost-competitive with many newbuild HFC scenarios.... It is likely that FTTH will be cost-competitive with the average, as well as the high-end versions,

of HFC sometime next year.”E. Langenberg, Consultant, May 1997.

Home

Home

Home

Home

Home

FTTH (1988)

FTTC (1992)

PON FTTH (1996)

Reducing Costs thru Resource Sharing

HomeHome

Home Home

1:NActive

1:NPassive

Milestones in “Loop Lasers”

19861986 Simple, stable, coaxial laser packages

780-nm packages derived from CD technology

Late 80sLate 80s DIL packages

Silicon optical bench, passive alignment

Various coupling techniques (e.g., up-tapers)

19941994 SL-MQW 1300-nm lasers

Spot-size transformers

19951995 All-plastic packages

All-passive alignment

19961996 “Standard” DIL package

Loop LasersInexpensive Devices Operate from -40 to +85°CInexpensive Devices Operate from -40 to +85°C

• SL - MQW laser diodes require:– No prebias– No feedback control– No TE cooler

• Reliability >100 kh @ 85oC

• Large MFD couples efficiently and stably to SMF

• All-passive alignment

• All-plastic package

Inst

alle

d F

irs

t-C

os

t

Loop Length (1000 ft)

10 20 30 40 500

FTTHFTTH

FTTCFTTC

$ (FTTH) and $ (FTTC) vs. Distance

FTTH costs moreFTTH costs more

FTTH costs lessFTTH costs less

For Surburban Installations, Why NotStop With FTTC?

Gen-2 FTTC currently provides up to 52 Mbit/s, andGen-3 FTTC could reach 155 Mbit/s.

FTTH can provide significant additional savings thruadvanced testing, maintenance, and provisioning procedures, simplest and most-flexible planning offacilities and upgrades, and lowest electrical-powering expenses.

Suburban FTTHOperations Savings Offset Today’s Higher First-CostOperations Savings Offset Today’s Higher First-Cost

Equipment + Install

Maintenence, excl. drop

Drop maintenance

Provisioning

Electrical powering

Life-Cycle Savings FTTH vs. FTTC**

$220 ~ $460$220 ~ $460

**20-year life-cycle savings

~ $180

~ $200

~ $ 25

~ $200

~ $180

~ $200

~ $ 25

~ $200

* Installed first-cost suburban modeling based on 100k quantity; IFCs are per-residence

First-Cost Premium FTTH vs. FTTC*

Present FTTH Installations

FSAN Initiative (Also... “Gx”)

BT (England)BellSouth (USA)CNET (France)CSELT (Italy)DT (Germany)GTE (USA)NTT (Japan)Swiss TelecomTelefonica (Spain)Telstra (Australia)

AlcatelAscomBBTBosch TelecomEricssonFujitsuH-PItaltelLucentNECNortelSiemensSAT

OperatorsOperators SuppliersSuppliers

Key Full-Service Access Network SpecsFSAN Conference, March 5, 1997 (Atlanta, Ga.)FSAN Conference, March 5, 1997 (Atlanta, Ga.)

• Compatible with all current and future services.

• FTTx architectures:

– FTTCabinet: 155/155 or 622/155 Mbit/s

– FTTCurb: same

– FTTBuilding: same

– FTTH: 155/155 or 155/26 Mbit/s

• 1:16 or 1:32 ATM PON.

• VDSL for last connection to customer, except FTTH.

• TMN-compliant operations support system.

Summary

• FTTH becoming very attractive

– All-fiber plant

– Future-proof bandwidth potential

– Low powering and operations costs

– Cost parity now in rural areas, suburban closing fast

– International spec emerging

• FTTH technologies on fast tracks