ftth

FTTH price sensitivity looking similar in Britain and California

1 May 2013 by Steve Blum
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But not at any price, luv.

Last month, British Telecom rolled out a fiber-to-the-home offering that relied on just over half of its users paying somewhere in the $1,000 to $2,300 range for installation, and the rest paying more. Now PC Pro, a UK-based newsletter, reports that BT is backing away from its previous goal of getting FTTH into 25% of its subscriber’s homes.

The report quotes a BT source as linking the pull back to success with its fiber-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) offerings, which are already touted as being in the 40 to 80 Mbps range and could soon go as high as 100 Mbps.… More

Two projects pulled as CASF challenges come thick as flying monkeys


Just set me down in Kansas. They have fiber there.

Two applications submitted by Race Communications for California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) subsidies are off the table, leaving twenty-seven still under consideration. Of those, incumbent carriers have challenged twenty projects, claiming that some or all of the areas proposed for funding already receive sufficient broadband service and are ineligible.

Race originally put in five proposals for fiber-to-the-home systems in Eastern California. Mojave and California City – towns in eastern Kern County – are already wired and receiving service that meets the California Public Utilities Commission’s (CPUC) minimum 6 Mbps download and 1.5 Mbps upload standard.… More

Provo council approves FTTH system sale to Google

23 April 2013 by Steve Blum
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Provo’s newest resident.

In a series of unanimous votes, the Provo municipal council voted tonight to approve the sale of the city’s fiber-to-the-home network to Google. The benefits to Provo and its citizens – free (more or less) Internet service for at least seven years, connections for city and school facilities and millions of dollars invested in finishing the build out of the system – were praised by the council and members of the public.… More

Details of Google's Provo FTTH purchase emerging

22 April 2013 by Steve Blum
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Did you really expect it would be free as in beer?

Provo residents will be paying at least $5.35 a month via their City utility bills for their otherwise free Google Internet service for the next seven years, according to the Associated Press. Documents released by the City of Provo back up that report and provide further details on the purchase, although some questions still remain.

Under the terms of the deal that the Provo City Council considers Tuesday, Google buys the FTTH system for a token amount (like, a couple of bucks), and agrees to build out the system to more or less every residence.… More

CEA report good news for connected homes, even with a grain of salt

21 April 2013 by Steve Blum
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Structured wiring is not necessarily Ethernet.

Broadband cabling is fast becoming a standard feature in new homes built in the U.S., with 92% being pre-wired to one degree or another. Many include sophisticated video and/or data distribution networks. That’s the conclusion of a report just released by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA).

The CEA’s eleventh annual State of the Builder study found that “structured wiring” is installed in 70% of new homes. That doesn’t necessarily mean all of those homes are completely wired for Internet.… More

Taking on Provo failure proves Google is serious about FTTH

17 April 2013 by Steve Blum
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You risk your mojo, you risk everything baby.

The troubled municipal fiber to the home system in Provo, Utah will soon be Google’s problem, assuming the city council signs off next week. The terms of the deal haven’t been released yet, but Google’s selling proposition is that it will connect all the homes along the existing fiber route and provide them free 5 Mbps Internet service for at least seven years. The only cost would be a $30 connection fee.… More

More competition means lower FTTH prices according to Swedish study


Sweden breeds competitors.

Competition drives prices down on open access municipal fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) systems. That’s the conclusion of a study completed by a graduate researcher in Sweden. Ziyi Xiong, a masters candidate at the KTH Institute of Technology in Stockholm, examined data from 290 Swedish municipalities – with and without FTTH service – and found that the cost of a 10 Mbps subscription dropped by about a dollar a month for every service provider on a given fiber network.… More

AT&T gets the Googlefinger

9 April 2013 by Steve Blum
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I guess it’s just coincidence your suit fits too, Mr. Bond.

“Mr Bond, they have a saying in Chicago: Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it’s enemy action.”

AT&T is reacting to Google’s Austin announcement with the same paranoia that Auric Goldfinger eyed James Bond on their second, not-so-accidental meeting. The Texas capital is now positioned to get gigabit service from both companies.

It’s Google’s second venture into fiber to the home service, which could mean they just want to check results from what is still an experiment in Kansas City.… More

British Telecom rolling out user-financed FTTH service


Brits surf different too.

The cost of directly connecting a home to British Telecom’s fiber network will be in the thousands of dollars range. BT has released details on the formula it will use to calculate the charge for running fiber from a neighborhood node – fiber to the cabinet in BT’s terminology – to a home or business.

The minimum charge is £700, about $1,075 at today’s exchange rate. BT says that 55% of its customers can fiber up for somewhere between £700 and £1,500 (about $2,300).… More

Modest FTTH growth benefit found in rigorous Swedish study


Blow fiber, not tumbleweeds.

Fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) systems drive growth in cities by a measurable amount, according to a recent study in Sweden. The analysis was done by Ziyi Xiong, a graduate student at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.

She crunched demographic and network data from 290 Swedish municipalities, factored out other possible influences, such as the degree of urbanization, and found that increasing fiber availability at workplaces by 10% results in population growth of nearly two-tenths of a percent (.17%).… More