ALTO - NGN Call to ComReg

Tom Young

Silconrepublic report on NGN.

http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/news.nv?storyid=single7878

01.03.2007 - Telecoms competition in Ireland could effectively be wiped out if incumbent operator Eircom is allowed to proceed with its plans to roll out a next-generation network (NGN) without proper consultation, a body of independent telecoms companies warned today.

The Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators (ALTO) this morning expressed extreme concern over public statements by Eircom regarding its approach to the delivery of its next-generation network.

It warned that millions invested by other telecom companies in local loop unbundling (LLU) could be rendered obsolete.

It emerged in the past week that Eircom is planning to invest €60m in a plan to upgrade its central communications system to be able to deploy internet TV and achieve a minimum standard of 8Mbps within two years.

The news has been met with consternation by ALTO members who warned that if current plans proceed without a detailed and transparent consultation process, led by the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg), competition in the Irish market will be eliminated.

“If Eircom is allowed to proceed with its planned approach to the introduction of NGNs without proper consultation, future competition in the Irish telecoms market will effectively be wiped out,” ALTO said.

“Its proposal will serve only to further increase the ‘digital divide’ that already exists to the detriment of Ireland’s consumers”.

ALTO indicated that there are significant complexities, both technical and commercial, involved in the rollout of NGN service.

“To date, millions have been invested in telecoms exchanges nationwide and the future of these exchanges now hangs in the balance, as does the LLU network.

“ALTO members have very real concerns over the potential introduction of the planned development of the NGN which undermines and damages the considerable investment made by investors in this sector,” the organisation stated.

By John Kennedy

OfflerCrocGod

They hope to get 8Mb standard within 2 years by investing only €60 million. Surely with the state of our phone lines that's just madness

damien

Welcome back ALTO. Now is this the phoenix rising or the last dying gasp of another lobby group? LLU is pretty much dead and LLU operators and customers have been sold down the river by Dempsey and ComReg.

Blaster99

There seems to be some confusion out there. That €60m is just some backbone upgrade to handle more capacity and possibly a bit of IPTV on top of the existing stuff. The real deal is this FTTC lark that eircom will spend a lot of money on. If it happens, it will of course render all existing copper broadband obsolete in urban areas (which is where LLU makes sense).

watty

Either way, surely this only improves performance in areas already served by DSL and makes LLU investment wasted. Also much bitstream reselling out on a limb.

OfflerCrocGod

Blaster99 wrote:

If it happens, it will of course render all existing copper broadband obsolete in urban areas (which is where LLU makes sense).

Well surely you can have a fibre LLU process. It's not as if the copper LLU process is actually working.

crawler

The local loop is copper - Fibre is more to do with backhaul, so it's really backhaul not LLU.

The LLU process relates to the path between the exchange and the end user.

Now with NGN this is a bit more muddy - is it fttx or ftth - if fttx then where is the local path demarcation etc etc...

In ANY case the medium should be unimportant but you can be sure it will end in a mess!

Hacketry

this may be dumb question, but how will Eircom physically fit the fibre equipment (I read they're called Dslams?) into the cabinets which already have all the copper loop stuff in them?

damien

The goal is fibre to the estate, exchanges will no longer be needed with small cabinet boxes containing all the intelligence. So exchanges would be obsolete and could be sold off to developers at great profit.

uncle_sam_ie

damien.m wrote:

The goal is fibre to the estate, exchanges will no longer be needed with small cabinet boxes containing all the intelligence. So exchanges would be obsolete and could be sold off to developers at great profit.

Damien,
Despite the fact this could wipe out the other telco's, is this a solution for people living far from an exchange?

dahamsta

It generally moves the equiment closer to the users, so if they're still providing DSL it'll be much more likely that those users will be able to get it. Plus of course they will be providing fibre connections too, although given Eircom's history that might not happen until 2050.

adam

Solair

It's actually quite as expensive or as drastic as it may seem at first. They'd basically replace the existing kerb-side-boxes which are mostly just junction boxes with MSANs (Multiservice access nodes) i.e. a full exchange with DSL capabilities. This then has a fiber optic line running back to a parent switch. The fiber would go back through the existing duct work, so you wouldn't even need to dig things up.

Your copper line would only be running as far as one of these nodes, not the full way back to the exchange.

eircom already do this with "RCU"s (or RSUs) - Remote Concentrator Units.

The technology's now cheaper, more widely available and much smaller than it was 10+ years ago so it can be rolled out easily.

The problem for Local Loop Unbundling players like Smart or Magnet is that at present they only have to provide a DSLAM in a particular exchange and they can get access to thousands of lines.

In the architecture described above, the exchange has become a distrbuted thing effectively they'd need to have equipment in boxes at ever kerb side unless some kind of a deal to force eircom to provide backhaul was reached.

On the plus side, shorter copper lines = much faster DSL possibilities