In mid-May, Verizon Communications Inc. announced it had begun deploying FTTP technology in Keller, Texas, a growing community in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The $15 million deployment is a first for the Bell company, which plans to pass 1 million homes in parts of nine states, including Texas, with FTTP technology this year.
FTTP equipment already has been placed inside Verizon’s local CO as well as on aerial cables, in underground conduits and buried throughout neighborhoods in Keller, where more than 440,000 feet of fiber-optic cables have been laid.
Verizon plans to begin offering service over FTTP in Keller and other unspecified communities this year, says company spokesperson Mark Marchand. “Our initial product set will be traditional voice and a selection of super-fast broadband products — featuring download speeds of 5mbps, 15mbps and 30mbps — far surpassing anything that’s out there today,” he says, noting customers will be able to choose from one of the three options. Pricing was not released. Video products are on the drawing board for next year, he says.
The Keller deployment soon will join a growing list of optically-enabled communities, which now number 128, according to recent research published in mid-May by the Fiber-tothe- Home (FTTH) Council and the Telecommunications Industry Association. Prepared by consulting firms Render, Vanderslice & Associates and TeleChoice, the list tracks communities nationwide that are delivering broadband services to customers through FTTH solutions.
Thirty-six communities representing a cross-section of America were added to the list since it was last compiled in September 2003. These include Clovis, N.M.; Gypsum, Colo.; Holiway, Minn.; Indian Head, Pa.; Jamestown, N.D.; Joshua, Texas; Phoenix; and Scio, Ore. The list indicates that FTTH deployments continue to be driven mainly by municipalities, CLECs and residential developers (see pie chart). Other infrastructure providers include RBOCs, ILECs and power utilities. More than half of these deployments are confined to neighborhood developments, but a significant percentage (30 percent) extend throughout a municipality and a few (3 percent) throughout entire counties.
The new analysis also shows an increase in FTTH subscribers, with average subscriber rates exceeding 40 percent overall and more than 75 percent in some communities. Since launching its FTTH network in St. Marys, Ohio, for example, CLEC TSC has experienced a 75 percent subscription rate. TSC overbuilt the pre-existing copper network to provide high-speed Internet, telephone and cable television service to this city of approximately 9,000 people.
“This technology offers the most advanced communications in the world,” says St. Marys Mayor Greg Freewalt in a press statement. “We are confident it will help attract new businesses to our community.”
Attracting tenants to empty office buildings and residents to greenfield residential developments is a selling point for infrastructure providers like Verizon that are seeking buyoff from planners and builders. While state and city officials turned out for Verizon’s press conference announcing the buildout, they are not offering Verizon incentives, Marchand says. However, the carrier is partnering with local developers, and Marchand promises related announcements are forthcoming.
One of Verizon’s selected vendors, Corning Cable Systems, also announced in May a formal marketing initiative to partner with homebuilders to promote the benefits of fiber-optic infrastructure to builders and potential homebuyers. Pulte Homes, which has selected PAXIO Inc. to design, install and service fiber networks in the San Francisco Bay area, is a charter member of the Corning Connected Community Program. Relationships with other builders are expected to be announced later this summer.
To qualify as a Corning Connected Community, each connected neighborhood must provide at least 5mbps symmetrical service to all homes via fiber-optic connections using Corning products, which cover the outside plant from the CO to the home. In turn, Corning supports the community with marketing tools, such as signage, leaflets and advertising materials, designed to educate prospects about the benefits of owning an optically-connected home.
The company also has begun a branding campaign at HomeBuilders.com; users clicking on the “Find a New Home” tab will see the banner ad on the right side of the screen showing the Corning Connected Community logo.
“We also have a Corning Connected Community Web site to educate home buyers on the value that fiber-to-the-home brings you,” says Bernard Deutsch, director of market development. “We help them market their communities.”
Corning also will support builders’ public relations initiatives for individual developments as they come on the market.
Pete Mahnke, market development manager, says while builders like Pulte may already have selected their installers or service providers, Corning also can make recommendations or provide training to preferred contractors.
Corning touts advances in easing installation of FTTx deployments. In February at the 2004 Optical Fiber Communications Conference, for example, it introduced a pre-terminated access solution that combines the OptiSheath Advantage Terminal with up to 12 “pre-connectorized” OptiFit Advantage Drop Cable Assemblies. Deutsch says the ability to connect subscribers without re-entry into the terminal reduces the time to connect subscribers by 50 percent. In addition, he says ease of installation enables lower-skilled technicians to do the job.
