KELOWNA – Bringing fibre to new homes in greenfield developments “is a no-brainer,” SaskTel’s FTTP planner Mike Nijman told CommTech Show and Seminars delegates Wednesday afternoon.
But bringing it to older neighbourhoods, especially where it has to be buried, presents a whole host of costly problems.
“This is an area where fibre to the home is a very big challenge,” he said.
The company recently tested installing FTTH to 200 homes in Regina, in a neighbourhood where the easements were in back yards and all utilities, because it looks nicer that way – are underground. “We had our troubles with it,” added Nijman.
The company generally hooked up four houses to a pedestal but performed single fibre splices only at the end of each block. But gardens, pools, tight spaces, mature trees and myriad other issues make a straightforward install of new fibre cable all but impossible. And when SaskTel executives hear Verizon is doing it for $400 per home passed, Nijman points out it’s far cheaper to do it aerially, as Verizon is.
In SaskTel’s test, it was more like $1,700 per home passed, he noted, plus a few hundred more for each drop. Just getting to each home’s outside demarcation point was often a problem due to concrete driveways and other obstacles. For half of the homes installed, the existing demarcation point couldn’t be reached and some creativity had to be deployed. And that’s just another expense since power is required, too, and most folks won’t want a new box installed somewhere else on their homes.
An electrician was needed in most cases, added Nijman.
As for the main fibre lines being put into the ground, he said companies must have horizontal drilling equipment with a top notch directional drilling front end man to make sure those bits don’t end up in basements or into water mains. “This guy must be paid,” said Nijman. “And you better have a good hydro vac crew.”
The surprise for Nijman was that “We didn’t have a lot of kickback from the customer,” he said. The company’s pitch was that the copper network was very old and needed replacing – and people agreed. “A lot of average Joes on the street know what fibre optic is,” he noted.
And if you’re going to build like this – do it in the fall when gardens are finished because equipment and conduit and cable will crush most tomato plants.
Nijman also praised AT&T and Verizon, the two big American firms pushing fibre deeper into their networks. “If it wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t even be talking about this. They have driven the prices (for technology) down.”
In a nutshell Nijman’s advice boiled down to:
* Plan thoroughly
* Push suppliers for best prices
* Budget carefully and know all your inputs
* Know your customers and their needs
This seminar was just one of 13 on day one of the CommTech Show, with 11 more on tap Thursday, and Cartt.ca is here in Kelowna covering the show for its readers.
– Greg O’Brien
