The Cost-effective Deployment and Operation of Digital Infrastructure

Digital
Communications Philip Hargrave
CEO & Network Director
Digital Communications KTN
Creating a competitive advantage for the UK by facilitating the exchange of knowledge on Digital
Communications technologies and accelerating innovation

Digital
Communications
Introducing the Digital Communications KTN

• Established by an industry led group of key players in the sector,

with funding from the Technology Strategy Board.
• Our aim is to bring a competitive advantage to the UK by facilitating
the exchange of knowledge on Digital Communications technologies
and accelerating innovation.
• Key to our success is the establishment of a comprehensive network
of members spanning the entire value chain.
- Universities, Equipment Manufactures, Solution Providers, System
Integrators, Network Operators, Service Providers, Application Developers
and Broadcasters.
- Those working in adjacent sectors for which Digital Communication Digital
is a transformational technology. Communications

• Membership is Free.
Regional Workshops on Next Generation Access

• One of the priorities of the Digital Communications KTN relates to the

deployment of Broadband Next Generation Access Networks.
• We are part way through a series of Regional Workshops to engage
with companies both large and small, and groups representing local
communities, to explore the issues and needs in respect of the rollout
such networks.
• The objectives of these engagements are to:
- Explore the potential of future Next Generation broadband services.
- Understand how such services will be used, both by consumers and by
businesses.
- Identify factors that could speed up or delay the deployment of Next
Generation Access Networks.
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The Regional Workshop Schedule

Inverness
September 2009

Glasgow
October 2009
Sheffield
December 2009

Adastral Park
Wales
Ipswich
January 2010
March 2009

Bristol
Guildford
July 2009
January 2010
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Conclusions so far - what people are looking for

• Users want to move larger amounts of data.

- They want to do this more often and more easily than today.
• But it isn’t all about bandwidth.
- The need for symmetry is growing fast.
- Consumers and businesses both want to be able to send as much as
they receive.
• Customers expect performance guarantees.
- However they find it hard to separate the performance of broadband
access from that of applications on their PCs, and servers.
• In telecare applications, reliability is a ‘life or death’ issue.
• In business, it’s ‘make or break’.
- If services are limited or unstable, companies will struggle
and fail. Digital
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Conclusions so far - what we’ve learnt
• If we’ve learnt one thing, it’s that applications will evolve to fill
available capacity.
• Education, healthcare and other sectors could be transformed
through the imaginative application of broadband networks and IT.
• A wholesale rethink of how people live, travel and work is going to be
needed if the UK is to hit its targets for reducing carbon emissions.
• Many more will work at home and/or use conferencing and
collaboration services in place of travel.
• Businesses are keen to use broadband to transform their cost base
and develop new opportunities. They just need the bandwidth
• The demand for next-generation broadband is there
– the challenge is to meet it.
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The Wider Benefits

• Universally available, broadband could revitalise and regenerate

ailing communities.
• From child to adult, the way we learn could be transformed.
• Public services wouldn’t just be available online, they’ll be
available by video link as well.
• But the picture isn’t entirely rosy as the costs of digital exclusion
could be vast:
- Already, students who have broadband access appear to get better
GCSE results.
- In the future, the ‘online’ will be able to access services whenever
and wherever they want. The ‘offline’ will have to travel to offices
and queue.
• The problem must be tackled head on. Digital
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Analysis Mason Study For BSG

• Last year the Broadband Stakeholder Group (BSG) commissioned

Analysys Mason to undertake a study of the costs of rolling out a
nation wide fibre based Next Generation Access network
throughout the UK.
• Three options were modelled
- Fibre to the cabinet with a Very High Bit Rate Digital Subscriber
Loop (VDSL) final drop.
- Fibre to every home using a point-to-point architecture.
- Fibre to every home using a Passive Optical Network
(PON) architecture.

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Fibre Access Architectures
Fibre to the cabinet
VDSL Drops
DS1
DS1

SP

Point-to-point fibre
DS1

SP
DS1

Passive Optical Network

PON
DS1
DS1

SP

PON spur
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PON spurs
Deployment Costs for FTTH and FTTC
35

30
...
Deployment costs (GBP billions)

25

20

15

10

-
FTTC/VDSL FTTH/GPON FTTH/PTP

Optical distribution frame Cabinet Active equipment + splitters Line migration

Civils (exc. final drop) Civils (final drop) In-home / in-building CPE

FTTC = Fibre to the Cabinet DSL= Digital Subscriber Loop

FTTH = Fibre to the Home
PTP = Point-to-Point
GPON = Gigabit Passive Optical Network
Source: Analysys Mason for Broadband Stakeholder Group
VDSL = Very High Bit Rate DSL
CPE = Customer Premises Equipment Digital
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Costs as a Function of Population Coverage

6.0 35
AFTT BFTT CFTTC AFTT BFTT CFTTC
( “remote”) ( “remote”)
C C C C
( “urban”) ( “rural”) 30 ( “urban”) ( “rural”)
5.0
...

...
Deployment costs (GBP billions)

Deployment costs (GBP billions)

25
4.0

20
3.0
15

2.0
10

1.0
5

- -
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Cumulative population Cumulative population

FTTC/VDSL FTTH/GPON FTTH/PTP

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Source: Analysys Mason for Broadband Stakeholder Group
Summary of Analysys Mason Study Conclusions

• The national deployment of fibre to the cabinet – the cheapest

technological option - would cost £5.1 B.
• Taking fibre to every UK home using point to point fibre - the
.
most expensive technological option - would cost as much as
£ 28.8 B.
• The largest single cost component is the civil infrastructure.
• The costs of deploying in rural areas will far exceed the costs
in urban areas.

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Other Broadband Access Technologies
Hybrid Fibre
DS1
DS1

SP

Coax (HFC)

Broadband Fixed
Wireless Access

Broadband
Satellite

Broadband
Digital
Mobile Communications
Network
Higher Access Speeds Impact the Core
Network
Services Users

Packet
Packet
Network
Optical

Users • High contention ratios can be

Data Centre
problematical for services such as
video streaming.
Contention
• Higher access speeds and
lower contention ratios Digital
..
.

have a knock-on effect in Communications

terms of core capacity.
Feasibility Study Proposals Sought
• Proposals are invited in respect of feasibility studies on
innovative methods and technologies that confront the
challenge of the cost-effective deployment and operation of
digital infrastructure.
• Examples of such feasibility studies include those relating to
- Community initiatives or deployment models to increase the
coverage of next generation and wireless internet access to
customers who are currently under-provisioned, in a way that
reduces the cost of deployment compared to conventional
methods,
- Ways to reduce the amount of energy needed to run
telecommunications networks,
- Ways to use resources more efficiently during the
running of networks.
• The Technology Strategy Board is considering Digital
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launching a competition for projects in this area in 2010.
Visit www.dcktn.org.uk
Join us online at:
www.dcktn.org.uk
Or by e-mail:
info@dcktn.org.uk
Or by post at:
Digital Communications KTN
Russell Square House
10-12 Russell Square
London
WC1B 5EE

www.dcktn.org.uk

Registration and membership are free

Digital
Communications
Thank You

Digital
Communications