Deployment & Operations Committee

Patrick Faraj, Chair of the Deployment & Operations Committee of the FTTH Council Europe, takes stock of the latest evolutions in FTTH deployment technologies, and looks at the most pressing operational challenges the industry is facing nowadays. While reviewing the latest technology trends shaping the FTTH rollout scenario in Europe, Patrick provides a series of thought-provoking inputs useful to all actors in place. In this episode, our guest will answer to these questions and much more:

Let’s start general: what are your views regarding the evolution of FTTH technology?
From your experience, what innovations or new technologies have been most effective in overcoming deployment challenges?
What is the profile of the Member companies joining the Deployment & Operations Committee?
What are the key differences in deploying fibre networks in urban versus rural areas and how does your approach vary between these environments?

Read the full interview below to get the answers to these questions.

Let’s start general: what are your views regarding the evolution of FTTH technology?

Optical fibre connectivity is becoming the backbone of every high-bandwidth application, supporting everything from streaming high-definition video to online gaming and telemedicine. If we talk about FTTH specifically, it was initially seen as a nice to have, however, the need for FTTH became particularly evident in end-user applications that require consistent, high-speed connectivity. As we recently experienced, amongst other applications, remote work and online education demand reliable high speed and most importantly stable internet connections to support video conferencing and large data transfers.

Driven by the continuous evolution of end-user applications requiring more advanced high-bandwidth connectivity, FTTH technologies have also evolved to support and enable that. Advanced FTTH technologies like XG-PON, XGS-PON, and NG-PON2 helped improve network efficiency and enable network throughput of up to 40 GB/s, while coexisting with current PON standards, thus providing a future proof highly scalable solution for network expansions both in terms of bandwidth and number of users.

As we move forward, I believe the FTTH infrastructure will become a key enabler in achieving converged networks for example 5G integration, enabling deployments in a cost-effective way as described in one of the D&O committee’s whitepapers: “Optimizing FTTH networks to enable convergence”.

In the picture on the left, action from the "FTTH Technologies for the Balkans" panel session at the FTTH Congress 2024, in Dubrovnik.

From your experience, what innovations or new technologies have been most effective in overcoming deployment challenges?

I always like to address FTTH deployments by navigating across the network deployment lifecycle: Plan, Design, Build, Operate, and Maintain. Removing the challenges that come with manual processes and implementing process and workflow automation across those phases is key to optimizing and accelerating network deployments. To name one example, the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for planning and managing deployments allows for more precise and efficient network designs. If you want more insights about this topic have a look at the D&O committee whitepaper published last year that specifically addresses this area: “The role of IT in accelerating FTTH Deployments and Operations”.

Moreover, continuous innovations in areas like deployment techniques and passive components connectivity continue to play a huge role in accelerating and simplifying FTTH deployments. What I particularly find impactful are those innovations that revolve around reducing the dependency on highly skilled labor, enabling failure-free and first-time right faster installation practices. Micro-trenching, direct buried compact cables/fiber bundles, and pre-connectorized hardened solutions are a few field-proven examples. Last but not least, innovative ideas around network sharing on different layers to create an Open Access business model would help reduce deployment overbuild and offer a strategic approach to optimize resources, reduce costs and environmental impacts, and accelerate network rollout.

What is the profile of the Member companies joining the Deployment & Operations Committee?

I want to describe the majority of the members of the FTTH Council Europe: I would say it typically comprises a diverse range of member companies, including telecommunications operators, service providers, network equipment/ passive components manufacturers, solution providers, etc. If we focus on the Deployment & Operations committee itself, the most active members are from the solution providers group who continuously thrive to address technological advancements and innovations to overcome common challenges in FTTH rollouts. I want to use this opportunity to encourage operators and service providers to use the Deployment & Operations platform to share their knowledge and experience and present their best practices in the deployment and operation of fiber networks.

In the picture on the left, action from the Deployment & Operations Committee workshop at the FTTH Conference 2024, in Berlin.

What are the key differences in deploying fibre networks in urban versus rural areas and how does your approach vary between these environments?

The FTTH Council Europe's mission and goal is to accelerate FTTH deployments and enable every European citizen to have access to high-speed broadband connectivity, basically full fiber to everyone, everywhere. In order to get to this goal, FTTH deployments needs to expand far beyond urban and suburban areas and efficiently reach rural and ultra rural areas.

Deploying fibre networks in urban areas typically differs compared to rural areas in terms of challenges to overcome, solutions utilized, and business case justification. In urban environments, the primary challenges consist of building a network in a dense infrastructure, obtaining permits, and minimizing disruptions to existing services. The higher population density in urban areas leads to a higher take rate, meaning more subscribers per km of fiber, which reduces the costs of deployment per home passed (HP) and home connected (HC).

In contrast, rural deployments face challenges such as longer distances between connections, lower population density, and difficult terrain which means that fiber deployment reaches far fewer subscribers per km, making it less economically viable.

In the picture on the right, Patrick Faraj is moderating the "FTTH Technologies for the Balkans" panel session at the FTTH Congress 2024, in Dubrovnik.

More about Patrick Faraj

Patrick Faraj is currently VIAVI’s Global Product Manager managing an end-to-end SW and HW Centralized OTDR Test Solution that is designed to optimize the qualification and certification of FTTx networks across all phases of the deployment lifecycle. Patrick is a proven subject matter expert in solutions/products development, value propositions creation, and deployment practices in global FTTx networks and markets, with more than 16 years extensive product management experience including 13 years of Global Product Management in FTTX passive solutions at Corning, Prior to his industry engagement, Patrick worked for 5 years as a research and teaching assistant at the university of Kiel, Germany, at the Chair of Telecommunications with focus on fibre optic transmission research topics. Patrick holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering and a Master of Science in Telecommunications from Riga Technical University in Latvia.

How to half energy consumption of broadband network equipment to meet sustainability targets

May 9, 2022

Company type: | Vendor/Reseller (Products) |

Back to library

Member company: Nokia
Country or geographical scope: Global
Period: 2019-2030
Company type: Vendor/Reseller
Product/service category involved: FTTP access nodes

Abstract
Investing in power-efficient network technologies can significantly reduce the carbon footprint of broadband access networks. Network operators should consider accelerating the phase-out of copper, selecting the most power-efficient network equipment, and upgrading PON networks to XGS-PON or 25G PON to increase the bits delivered per watt consumed. For this purpose, Nokia developed a new chipset that brings power savings of more than 50% in the broadband network and helps operators to meet their emissions goals with growing usage and increasing penetration of broadband.

Context

Climate change is the greatest challenge of our time and every organization has a role to play in minimising the carbon footprint of their activities. The ICT industry today accounts for more than 2% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions^[1], approximately the same as all air traffic. However, ICT helps consumers, businesses and other industries become more sustainable. Digitalization in general and broadband in particular contribute by cutting transportation, creating gains in productivity, and boosting economic growth for individuals, countries, cities, and society as a whole. So, despite its own carbon footprint, ICT actually carries a 7-fold net positive effect on emissions, reducing global CO₂ emissions by up to 15%¹. Nevertheless, network operators must continue to reduce the emissions created by their own activities.

Solutions

The power consumption—and hence the carbon emissions—of a broadband network is primarily dictated by the chipsets used in network equipment. Nokia has developed an optimized System-on-a-Chip (SOC) that now resides in all our network nodes. This chipset enables line cards for fibre and copper broadband with higher port densities and higher throughput per watt. In turn, this leads to smaller nodes, which occupy less space, use less power and can be passively cooled (up to operating temperatures of 65°C). When installed in street cabinets, they require less grid protection equipment, smaller power supplies and only “heatwave days” fan ventilation backup. We also have integrated energy-saving features, such as powering down unused optical modules (which is better than just switching the laser off per port, saving up to 1.5W for GPON), and improved intelligent fan tray control algorithms to reduce energy consumption and cooling when not required.

This brings power savings of more than 50% in fixed broadband networks and helps operators to meet their emissions goals. We are already shipping broadband solution with this chipset to more than 150 operators.

The second path for operators to reduce emissions is the transition from copper to fibre broadband networks. Future-proof scalability and higher capacity make full-fibre networks the most energy efficient solution. Replacing copper-based DSL connections with full fibre-to-the-home breaks the link between bandwidth demand and power consumption. VDSL requires many more active components in the network than PON and so consumes more power. But when one also considers the far greater bandwidth of GPON compared to VDSL, the net gain is a 12-fold improvement in bits delivered per watt consumed. XGS-PON takes this even further, delivering five times the bandwidth of GPON for only twice the power consumption, with another positive impact on the energy efficiency.

Results

Nokia joined the Science-Based Targets (SBT) initiative and are now targeting to cut emissions by 50 percent between 2019 and 2030 across our value chain. SBT provides companies a clearly defined pathway to take action on how much and how quickly they need to reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in line with the 1.5°C scenario.

Achieving this target requires efficiency improvements in network power consumption, continuously driving for more data bits per kilowatt of energy. As part of this commitment, Nokia and other industry players report product energy consumption according to the Code of Conducts for Broadband Communication Equipment from the European Commission. The Code sets the (maximum) electricity consumption for fixed broadband equipment sold in the EU and manufactured or procured by participating service providers, network operators, equipment and component manufacturers.

All this results in the cumulative effect of advances in technology on power consumption as shown in the graph.

The first few years of reductions are driven by the introduction of optimized, energy efficient chipsets, followed by the transition from copper to fibre. Our forecasts predict that we will be able to reach a 50% reduction from the Science-Based Targets initiative.

Note that this graph shows absolute values, and we take into account that across this decade we will deliver higher speeds to more people. XGS-PON and 25G PON will gradually overtake GPON. The blue line shows that the explosion in demand for data does not automatically lead to a massive increase in power consumption. Overall, since 2007, broadband power consumption has been reduced by 38% while speeds have increased by a factor of 64.

Conclusions

As broadband enables consumers and businesses to reduce their own carbon footprint, the more people connected to high-speed broadband, the better it is for the planet. Most fixed broadband operators are in the process of upgrading older copper and cable networks to deep fibre or full fibre-to-the-home networks. Accelerating these projects will accelerate the savings in power consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Selecting the most power-efficient equipment in these network upgrades will also contribute significantly to meeting sustainability targets. Finally, successive generations of PON technology—XGS-PON and 25G PON—further improve the bits delivered per watt consumed; accelerating PON network upgrades will further enhance the sustainability of a broadband network.

Contact

Filip de Greve, Product Marketing Manager, Nokia Fixed Networks
filip.de_greve@nokia.com

^[1] Source: European Commission fact sheet, “Supporting the green transition”, February 2020

View all