ftth

Faster, cheaper fiber microtrenching gains acceptance

3 April 2013 by Steve Blum
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Verizon’s microduct ready to be installed near Sea Ranch in Sonoma County.

In what could lead to the first large scale urban use of fiber microtrenching in the U.S., Verizon and the City of New York have agreed to test it at 12 sites. Verizon has used microtrenching for other fiber projects, including one last year in a rural part of California.

You can see a video of the process here. It involves sawing a narrow trench – 2 cm wide and up to 30 cm deep – into the roadway, inserting thin, flat microduct, and then sealing it back up.… More

EU proposes "best practice" for broadband deployment

2 April 2013 by Steve Blum
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The bell system worked for missions, but Spain has moved on.

An international consensus on the best ways to encourage better broadband infrastructure is rapidly forming. The European Union is proposing to harmonise broadband development policy across its 27 member states, including…

  • Creating a central source of information about broadband assets to help network planning.
  • Coordinating civil construction/public works projects – sometimes called open trench or dig once policies – so opportunities to put fiber in the ground are maximised.
… More

Satellite first, FTTH (much) later

25 March 2013 by Steve Blum
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Not all crazy ideas are crazy.

Netflix is talking about delivering ultra high definition content to its subscribers, using the 4K video format currently under development. Real time streaming of 4K content will require something like a 100 Mbps to 1 Gbps connection. Or it could be downloaded, over time, to in-home hard drives at slower speeds.

Either way, it would strain existing networks. A gigabit is only possible with fiber. In theory, cable modem service can support 100 Mbps speeds, but only for a very limited number of homes in a given area and only intermittently over long periods of time.… More

HBO legend sees a long road to 4K television

23 March 2013 by Steve Blum
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Zitter didn’t just look into the future, he made it.

Bob Zitter, HBO’s revered chief technology officer, retires this month, ending more than thirty years at the cutting edge of television technology. In a valedictory keynote at the TV Connect conference in London, Zitter expressed near-term skepticism about the future of 3D and 4K television technology, but held out long term hope.

HBO tried offering 3D content, but Zitter said they never believed in it.… More

Netflix making consumer case for gigabit service

20 March 2013 by Steve Blum
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Building a business on 4K content.

Netflix is throwing its weight behind the new 4K ultra-high definition video format and, once again, potentially disrupting the broadband industry. Neil Hunt, chief product officer at Netflix, told The Verge “we expect to be delivering 4K within a year or two.” Sony has also floated the possibility of supporting 4K services in future networked products.

Network routers won’t start melting under the strain anytime soon. There’s not much content that meets the 4K spec yet.… More

Building a broadband economy pint by pint

16 March 2013 by Steve Blum
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Tapping into Cybeer space.

Ripping fast fiber optic-powered Internet access has found a worthy application this St. Patrick’s Day weekend: connecting a British pub to the Sierra Nevada brewery in California for an online beer festival.

The Celebration of Beer at the Driftwood Spars Inn in St. Agnes, Cornwall features a live conversation with Sierra Nevada’s Terence Sullivan and Ken Grossman in Chico and an onsite tasting of their signature Pale Ale. The “Cybeer tasting” event follows similar hook-ups between the pub and winemakers.… More

Race is on for five CASF proposals


Race’s High Desert project area, in the Tehachapi Pass area, west of the town of Tehachapi.

Last October, Race Telecommunications asked for $13 million from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) to build fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) systems in the desert towns of Mojave and Boron. The areas proposed were not completely unserved by CASF definitions – as required in the October round – so they’re back with expanded plans.

Race has five projects on the table now, totaling $38 million in grant requests.… More

Twenty-seven CASF applications accepted, now open to challenge

12 February 2013 by Steve Blum
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The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has posted the official list of thirty-one projects that are in the running for California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) grants and loans. The total comes to about $256 million.

Four projects, totaling about $32 million, are listed as “pending”. That means there’s still some work to be done before the requests can be considered.

As of 12 February 2013.

The challenge clock is running on the other twenty-seven applications. Competing service providers who disagree with an applicant’s assertion that a given area is under or unserved can contest a project’s eligibility for funding.… More

CASF grant requests triple the $75 million likely to be in the bank

The grant proposals filed with the California Public Utilities Commission CPUC) on Friday totaled about $246 million. It looks to be about three times the amount of money that will be available in the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) when the Commission votes on the requests later this year. Five of the thirty proposals were submitted with the assistance of Tellus Venture Associates.

In 2010 the California legislature gave the CPUC authority to collect an additional $125 million for CASF via a surcharge on phone bills.… More

Most CASF money requested is for fiber

3 February 2013 by Steve Blum
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The California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) proposal count is now an even 30, with a total of $246 million requested. That’s more than twice the available money in the CASF kitty.

A $13.3 million middle mile project linking Santa Cruz to Soledad in Monterey County is proposed by Sunesys, working with U.C. Santa Cruz.

Nearly half of the total – $119 million – is for the other middle project, a 2,200 mile fiber build through 16 rural Northern California counties.… More