uTelcos Add Broadband to the Mix with FTTx

Laurie Spiegel, Marketing Director, Planning & Engineering Solutions, Telcordia

While mega-service providers continue to make headlines, a separate class of operator is emerging.  These companies are tackling and overcoming the same issues as the big players: diversifying revenue streams, leveraging assets, and retaining customers.  There are hundreds of them, from municipalities to utilities, all with a critical need for new approaches that will help them realize their investment in fiber.

I recently had the opportunity to visit several utility companies in the Jutland area of Denmark.  There are dozens of companies throughout the country providing local communities with natural gas, electricity, water, and now broadband via Fiber to the Home (FTTH).  Often referred to as uTelcos, they typically serve a combined residential and business customer base in the low hundreds-of-thousands.

Many large, incumbent service providers have been carefully assessing the return on investment of a massive broadband rollout, and taking only thoughtful steps in implementation.  The business case is daunting. According to Yankee Group, actual take-up has to reach 30% before the investment makes a positive return in fewer than five years.

The Danish uTelcos have also carefully laid out their business plans.  They know that FTTH services generate up to 30% higher revenue than competitive DSL, and that video content such as HDTV and Video-on-Demand – as well as service bundling – are key demand drivers.  They know that now is the time to step out in front of the incumbents.  They also understand that serving their communities means lifting them to the next level, via connectivity that allows Denmark to compete on the global stage.

Eliminating the Obstacles

The first hurdle was determining how to efficiently deploy fiber-based services in a highly competitive environment.  Careful upfront planning, centered on interweaving technology, systems, and processes, has helped to dismiss many obstacles from the start.  Beginning with network planning, it was essential to develop good network layouts.

The second hurdle was that the uTelcos needed to find a way to visualize subscriber status to help in proactive sales efforts.  For Kenneth Haaning, Network Engineer Lead at EnergiMidt, having control of all of their fibers – where each is used – was essential.  ”We can decide where and how each customer can be connected,” says Hanning.  ”We can trace from the customer all the way back to the active equipment.  We are in control of the total fiber network so our customers can get service better and faster.”

A Smooth Transition to Service Availability

The utilities I visited are deploying both point-to-point fiber access and a flexible passive optical network (PON) fiber access architecture. OSSs in support of network design and fiber management have been essential to success. Two key functions are:

• Designing and documenting the fiber network. Using an automated design tool so any planner or designer can quickly produce complex designs that adhere to company standards, one uTelco has been able to reduce technical design time by 80%.
• Recording the status of individual customers. This provides a single primary source for recording FTTH service status for each customer and prospect. The information is critical for successful marketing, sales, installation, billing, and repair.

Systems and processes work hand-in-hand with the technology to produce a smooth transition to service availability.  On average, several hundred customers are provisioned each week at each uTelco, enabling them to reach their sales targets this year, despite the financial crisis and stiff competition.  Upon service installation request, specialists use the engineering system to develop the splice plans for connecting a new customer.  In the field, the technician uses the plan to identify each of the connection locations and equipment to be used.  The customer access network build is completed by blowing fiber from the street terminal to the customer premises.  The process of blowing the fiber takes only a few minutes.

Every day, each uTelco receives call-before-you-dig requests for information on where plant is located.  All cable is buried and is not visible from the street.  The companies have mechanized their response using a self-service interface, and plans are underway to leverage a national system and fully automate the process using an e-mail interface.  One uTelco was able to reduce the time and effort needed to handle these requests by over 85%.

Realizing the Potential of FTTH

Telcordia’s partner in Denmark, Informi GIS A/S, has been working with many of these uTelcos in deploying Telcordia® Network Engineer to help plan, design, document, and roll out the fiber access network.  Network Engineer is central to the process, used in the planning/engineering domain as well as in the marketing/sales processes, as part of customer self-service, to automate the call-before-you-dig operations, and in conjunction with CRM, billing, and workforce management systems.  Informi has developed many customizations that help integrate systems and automate processes surrounding the entire FTTH lifecycle. They are familiar with the uTelcos’ strategies and operations, gaining unique experience in installing, configuring, customizing, and integrating Network Engineer in these operational environments.
 
At the companies I visited, FTTH deployments are about half-way completed in terms of ultimate coverage, and take-up rates are at or beyond the level needed to turn the return-on-investment positive.  Processes have been developed and support systems have been put in place to automate and streamline as much of the operation as possible.  Ongoing investment is focused on continuous improvement for faster in-service at lower overall cost.  Peter Andersen of Østjysk Energi claims, “It is still a young implementation, but without the Network Engineer system we could not keep track as the network gets built out.  It is used extensively in making our network plans and we have good network layouts.  Network Engineer provides us with a lot of flexibility in describing the layout.” 

The Danish uTelcos have the right combination of agility, technical savvy, and intimacy with their customer base. They are skillfully leveraging those attributes to roll out lightning-speed broadband service to the mass market, profiting while improving the communities they serve.

For more information, please contact Laurie Spiegel, Marketing Director, Planning & Engineering Solutions, Telcordia, at lspiegel@telcordia.com or visit our website.