WHITE PAPER: THE FIRST FTTH DEPLOYMENT IN GREECE
INTRODUCTION
Fiber-to-the-Home networks do not exist in Greece. Although very advanced technologically they are still considered an expensive infrastructure to implement. This seems to be the same notion in Greece as in many other countries all over the world. Nevertheless an increasing number of FTTH installations were reported globally during 2009 as a result of demand for high speed services.
This paper presents the first FTTH deployment in Greece. The installation was studied, designed and implemented by OPTRONICS TECHNOLOGY SA in the City of Karditsa in Greece. This is the first installation of its kind in Greece. It serves as a pilot for future expansions and offers valuable experience to the company's engineers and technicians. Technical and financial results are also presented.
STUDY – DESIGN
For the particular FTTH network a Point-to-Point architecture starting from a Centnral Office was chosen so to offer an open access, open service, scenario that can accommodate any type of application and service.
In such architecture it is important to know from the beginning the total number of users that can be served for planning purposes. Therefore even if the houses are not connected at the initial stage there should.
During the study, a site survey took place to precisely count the number of houses and business buildings and mark the specific locations to install termination and distribution infrastructure (as allowed by the local authorities).
The total number of fibers needed were estimated. The design of the FTTH network infrastructure in the city center included placing the underground HDPE multiducts of 10mm and 5mm that are used for blowing cabled fibers. The necessary number of fibers was used for every block of flats while two fibers were reserved and inserted in every house/business connected. All fibers used were single mode G652D.
All ducts, cables, fibers and outlets were labeled and identified by unique number using the resident's name, flat, floor, and building postal address.
As a result of the study a detailed area map was created with a presentation of all infrastructure materials and connections.
The infrastructure was implemented below road surface using open mini trench technique with dimensions of 10X50 cm.The trench was filled with cement and covered with asphalt.
The appropriate number of ducts and multiducts was installed in the trench at every road.
Manholes/ handholes were also installed.
The access to every building was done on the outdoor wall where 1-2 ducts were installed in a protected tube.
Distribution panels with a total capacity as the total number of houses to be served were installed on the outdoor walls.
Indoor cabling involved low count cables up to the point of the wall outlet where two fibers were spliced ready to be used.
200 houses and business buildings were passed (ready to be connected) and a number of houses were connected as these were already cabled internally and ready for service.
Important part of the infrastructure is the connection inside the houses. This was accomplished with suitable fiber optic outlets placed on the inside wall.
At the Central Office (CO) all cables were terminated to patch panels that offer connectivity access to the particular houses. All connections were done by means of fusion splicing to ST or SC type of connectors.
Ethernet switches at the CO and IG fiber to UTP cable converters at the households. The switches and converters were all equipped with 1G SFPs.
NETWORK OPERATION
The particular FTTH installation is at pilot stage used from the Municipality of Karditsa New Technologies Department to offer high speed Internet Access to citizens.
The main scope is to evaluate the advantages of high speed services used by "online citizens" participating to Municipality's activities. Live video broadcast of the municipality's management committee meetings is an example. Online voting and online certificates issuing are others.
The network was implemented with Multiport Fiber Optic Gigabit
This allows independent open access services to all citizens connected. It is also possible that the Municipality Administrator allows for peer-to-peer connection to offer direct access to neighbors' PCs or family house PC connections through the FTTH network rather than internet. Home to office direct connections is also possible.
This application offers a new dimension to closed networks and makes their use much more effective.
RESULTS - CONCLUSIONS
The facts of the first FTTH installation in Greece are:
Homes passed: 200
Trench infrastructure: 450m
Multiducts used : 700m of 7X10mm, 300m of 24X5mm
Cables used: 900 m
Distribution points : 7
House outlets : 25
Patch Panels : 4
Fiber switches : 2
Fiber converters : 25
1GSFP 1310nm : 25
Rack: 1
Patchcords: 50
The average economic figures are :
Trench Length per house: 2,5m
Cost per home passed: < European average
Cost per home connected : < European average.
The facts of the first FTTH installation in Greece are:
Homes passed: 200
Trench infrastructure: 450m
Multiducts used : 700m of 7X10mm, 300m of 24X5mm
Cables used: 900 m
Distribution points : 7
House outlets : 25
Patch Panels : 4
Fiber switches : 2
Fiber converters : 25
1GSFP 1310nm : 25
Rack: 1
Patchcords: 50
The average economic figures are :
Trench Length per house: 2,5m
Cost per home passed: < European average
Cost per home connected : < European average.
The above figures offer a better understanding of the techno-economics of FTTH network implementations in a "real city" environment. This gave us a more precise design model and more exact economic features that will be used when scaling the network to cover a whole city.
NOTE : Optronics Technologies SA would like to thank Municipality of Karditsa for giving the opportunity of the first Pilot FTTH in Greece.