FiOS On Fire: Verizon Unveils GPON Plans TelecomWeb Verizon, which still is only in the middle of building its vaunted multi-billion-dollar FiOS broadband passive optical network (BPON) fiber to the home (FTTH) network, yesterday disclosed that, before the year is out, it will begin an upgrade to gigabit passive optical network (GPON) technology.
The upgrade, which will let Verizon ratchet up the speed it can deliver to FiOS customers to 100 Mb/s, looks to be a pre-emptive strike against cable competition in the marketing game called "I can deliver faster than you can." Verizon's current FiOS suppliers Alcatel, Motorola and Tellabs will supply the GPON gear, starting with the deployment of Alcatel hardware before year's end. Verizon did not disclose any financial details of its plan, as it still needs to sign definitive contracts with the suppliers. It also didn't allude to what models of equipment it's ordering. Alcatel hardware is most likely first out the gate because it is needed to first build the GPON backbone. A major unanswered question is whether Verizon simply will change course in mid-stream, with all new installations to be GPON, or whether it will start by upgrading already installed BPON. At the end of 2005, FiOS had passed three million homes. By the end of this year, that number is supposed to double to six million, and the carrier expects to add another three million annually for the next few years. Economically, it might make more sense to start rolling out GPON with new installations, but Verizon is fighting a bitter war with cable companies, with downstream speed one of the battle points, particularly against Cablevision in the Northeast. Disclosure of the decision to upgrade to GPON follows by less than two week's Verizon's launch of 50 Mb/s service in the New York/New Jersey area, a direct response to Cablevision's launch of 30 Mb/s service in the region. In most of the rest of the United States, Verizon's top speed on offer is 30 Mb/s. While it is possible to deliver 50 Mb/s service using Verizon's current technology - obviously, because it is doing it - the availability ratio of such service using BPON is thin. With GPON, Verizon will be installing technology that gives it the ability to pump 2.4 Gb/s downstream and 1.2 Gb/s upstream to concentrators, each of which can serve as many as 32 customers. Its current BPON infrastructure supports 622 Mb/s downstream and 155 Mb/s upstream, again to a maximum of 32 users. "GPON is the next step in the evolution of the all-fiber-access network," said Paul Lacouture, Verizon's executive vice president for network and technology, in a prepared statement outlining the GPON plans. "When we first launched the nation's only large-scale FTTP program in 2004, we said that one of the most important competitive and cost- effective features is that we could increase speed and capabilities by evolving to more advanced electronics and without having to change the fiber we had already deployed or are deploying. Today's announcement begins to fulfill that promise." He continued, "In addition to the ability to boost our broadband Internet speeds on fiber, this new technology will enhance the video-on-demand capabilities of our existing FiOS TV product on fiber and sets the stage for an all-IP TV offering in the future." Lacouture did not discuss the fact that fewer than 10 Mb/s is required to deliver HDTV via Verizon's chosen IPTV system - Microsoft TV - and the reason Verizon isn't already delivering all-IP TV has nothing to do with FiOS bandwidth, and everything to do with when Microsoft will be able to deliver. As reported, AT&T has just started a cautious commercial rollout of Microsoft TV in San Antonio, Texas. Verizon is, no doubt, watching that experiment carefully. "This new technology also brings us substantial cost benefits, allowing us to reduce costs of the electronics portion of the FTTP platform by about 25 percent," said Lacouture. The bottom line is that this is an access network at the local level without peer in this industry." ------------------------------------------------------------------- Duane Whittingham (N9SSN) - Producer Tom and Darryl Radio Shows & Saturday Morning Confusion Heard on C-Band Analog Satellite (W0KIE) - Telstar 6 Ch 1 - 6.2/6.8 WTND-LP Macomb 106.3, WQNA FM, WBCQ 7415 kHz & the Internet. Heard Fridays 9pm ET, Sundays 12am ET and Tuesdays 2am ET (Folk) An Independent Freeform Eclectic Radio Show. http://www.tomanddarryl.org http://www.wtnd.us Reply with a "Thank you" if you liked this post. _____________________________ MEDIANEWS mailing list medianews@twiar.org To unsubscribe send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
