Next Generation Access

Ivan Boyd BT Research and Venturing

NGA - The Barriers

Barriers:

High upfront capital investment Large civil infrastructure costs and effort Uncertain Operational Cost Uncertain take-up rates Uncertain revenues from new broadband services

Regulatory Uncertainty

British Telecommunications plc

BT Current Position on FTTP

BT infrastructure operations in separate unit called Openreach
Openreach will own infrastructure of future Optical Access/ Metro Network Openreach provides equal access for all Communications Providers (CPs) - Equivalence of Input (EOI) FTTP viable in Greenfield sites with ~>20 premises (actual number depends on detailed economics)

GPON preferred FTTP solution

No commitment at this point to mass market roll out of FTTP.

British Telecommunications plc

Research to address the Challenges

Capital Cost - New architecture to eliminate equipment - Improved and more efficient deployment processes - Maximise the lifetime of infrastructure (plan day 1 for evolution) Operation Cost - Simplify the network - Consolidate nodes

British Telecommunications plc

Research Network Vision

1000-way split

10Gbit/s

10Gbit/s

100km
British Telecommunications plc

Steeping stones to the Vision

1. Extended Reach GPON (60km reach, 128-way split, 2.5/1.25Gbit/s)
ONU ONU ONU 4x32-way Split

Local Exchange

OLT W

4 X 4
OLT S
128-way total split

ONU

60km

2. Asymmetrical Long Reach (100km reach, 512-way split, 10/2.5Gbit/s)

ACCESS/ BACKHAUL
GPON
OLT Super Metro Node ONT Super Metro Node

CUSTOMER
Client Demo 1: Demo 3: Demo 2: Demo 3: ONT

METRO NODE

CORE NODE

CORE NODE

CORE NODE

METRO NODE

Jack PC Client Video Client HD CCTV Media PC

LR-PON
OLT

PE

IP/MPLS

P
Cisco CRS

PE
Video Services Server Jack PC Server HD CCTV

ONT Aggregator hiD 6630 Core Ethernet hiD 6670

Core Ethernet PBT/PBB-TE

Optical Core DWDM
GMPLS control

Core Ethernet hiD 6670

Switch

Demo 3:

Xbox 360

ONT

100km
British Telecommunications plc

Capex savings: Conventional FTTH vs Long reach PON

50% Penetration, No Duct Build
Duct Build ONU's

Rural
Cost per Customer

Fibre Enclosures Fibre Cable

Urban

Splitters Backhaul SDH Backhaul Exchange Electronics

Long Reach PON

FSAN PON 1:1

British Telecommunications plc

Long Reach PON

PON backhaul

PON backhaul

Infrastructure Research Deployment Cost savings

5% 3% 8%
Single

4%

7% 16%

E-side Duct D-side infrastructure On-site DiG duct Drop Fibre Enclosures Splitters BF Tube
E-side Duct

man blown fibre

Overhead Blown fibre

34%

23%

Duct congestion relief

8% 5% 11%

6% 2%

12%

D-side infrastructure On-site DiG duct Drop Fibre

31%

Enclosures Splitters

British Telecommunications plc

Cost reduced by ~1/3

25%

BF Tube

Evolution to Future networks-extending the infrastructure life

to metro node

Day 1 Greenfield GPON deployment

LR-ONU

backhaul
GPON GPON GPON

At day one install WDM couplers in local exchange

GPON

GPON ONUs with blocking filters Local Exchange Cable chamber Optical NTE to simplify ONU upgrade

Fibre lean cable back towards Exchange

GPON-ONU
GPON-ONU

GPON-ONU LR-ONU
British Telecommunications plc

GPON-ONU LR-ONU GPON-ONU

to metro node

Upgrade to Long Reach PON

LR-ONU

backhaul
GPON GPON GPON

GPON OLT removed from local exchange

GPON

Local Exchange Cable chamber

Fibre lean cable back towards Exchange

GPON-ONU LR-ONU
GPON-ONU LR-ONU

GPON-ONU LR-ONU
British Telecommunications plc

GPON-ONU LR-ONU GPON-ONU LR-ONU

Capex savings: Long reach PON + Optical NTE deployed with infrastructure
50% Penetration, No Duct Build
Optical NTE Duct Build ONU's ONU

Rural
Cost per Customer

Fibre Enclosures Fibre Cable

Urban

Splitters Backhaul SDH Backhaul Exchange Electronics

PON backhaul

PON backhaul

Long Reach PON

Long Reach PON

FSAN PON 1:1

British Telecommunications plc

Operational Cost High Density Pop, Head End Consolidation

OpEx Drivers as Fraction of Opex Costs
$90 $80 $70
Annual Cost per Sub

OpEx

$60 $50 $40 $30 $20 $10 $0

51% OpEx Savings

59% OpEx Savings

CO Related Fiber Related Hardware Related

5km Case 3 1x4,1x8

20km Case 4 1x4,1x8

20km Case 5 1x4,1x32

British Telecommunications plc

Fiber-Related OpEx High Density Pop, Head End Consolidation

$8

8.8% Savings/Sub/yr

Annual Cost per Sub

$6

47% Savings/Sub/yr

$4

$2

Even greater savings to be expected with LR-PON

5km Case 3 1x4,1x8 20km Case 4
Fiber Related OpEx 1x4,1x8

$0

20km Case 5 1x4,1x32

British Telecommunications plc

CO-Related OpEx High Density Pop, Head End Consolidation

$80 $70 $60
Annual Cost per Sub

Greater CO consolidation with LR-PON . Therefore much greater savings anticipated.

$50 $40 $30 $20 $10 $0 Case 5km 3 Case 4 20km CO Related 1x4,1x8 Case 5 20km

4 COs

75% Savings/Sub/yr

75% Savings/Sub/yr

1 CO

1 CO

1x4,1x8

1x4,1x32

British Telecommunications plc

Conclusions
There is no economic case for large scale FTTP roll out in the UK based on existing solutions
Research team investigating a radical Long Reach PON solution that changes the economic structure of networks: Longer reach access to eliminate metro networks Higher capacity 10GBit/s symmetrical Greater split/sharing to improve economics Network simplification and node consolidation to reduce opex Optical NTE and Self-install ONU to reduce capital cost of the infrastructure provider and simplify upgrades An intermediate step could be extended reach GPON There is an on-going need for infrastructure research that addresses more efficient fibre deployment

British Telecommunications plc