Critical Telecom goes street side in IPTV rollouts

When rolling out IPTV infrastructure, the cost and time in doing so can be extremely prohibitive. This means many Telco operators are looking at different ways they can reach the home with IPTV services in the most cost effective way possible.

At the recent Telco TV show, ipTV news caught up with Ken Davison, VP of Marketing at Critical Telecom who commented on the dilemma the Telcos are facing, “In driving IP over Ethernet many operators are having challenges accommodating the overhead of SONET/ATM. The demand for IP over Ethernet in the access network is increasing as broadband gets pushed closer to the consumer. Overhead costs of SONET and ATM become prohibitive and as a result all GigE access for residential Broadband becomes the most viable, cost-effective solution. In addition, rolling fiber past street side cabinets to the curbside can also be extremely cost prohibitive. Our estimate is that it is ¼ of the cost to go to the street side cabinet as opposed to the home. And with some 700,000 street side cabinets in North America, Telcos have the opportunity to deploy a hybrid fiber/copper solution that enables IPTV services without incurring the significant costs of pulling fiber directly to the home.�

The rapid expansion expected by Telcos into this market is reflected in the growth figures Mr. Davison outlined for the industry, “The market for worldwide capital expenditure (according to Dittberner Research) relating to access technologies will reach US $ 22.8 billion in 2013, from an estimated $3.7 billion in 2004.� It is the 2nd generation DSL services that Critical Telecom view as the most important.

Their view is the existing 1st generation DSL infrastructure, that mainly focused on delivering high speed internet access, may encounter problems when delivering IPTV. Davison outlines, “The problem is 1st generation DSL infrastructures will not be right for delivering IPTV because the end user will say I want to switch from standard definition to high definition, from 1.5 mb to 6/8mb HDTV, and they will want a range of services across multiple TV’s. We have to build an access network that is based on flexible functionality.�

Davison continues, “If you want to reach the home and drive IP over Ethernet you need a platform that is not only flexible but provides a cost effective alternative for Telcos.� Critical Telecom advocates that by using their GEmini Ethernet Remote DSLAM, Telcos have that alternative, “Take the cabinet, re-skin it, install the GEmini product, and then they will be able to service a complete 600 homes per cabinet with a penetration rate of 30-50%. Instead of an average APRU of $20 for full internet access, Telcos are getting to the higher APRU range.�

The key attribute Critical Telecom emphasizes is that you can get this ‘time to revenue’ model running in less than half a day. Critical Telecom is apparently very close to announcing a partnership with a worldwide tier 1 telecom vendor, and is in the process of solidifying field and lab trials for deployed rollout in the U.S.

www.criticaltelecom.com