[LINK] FTTP soon normal

[Stephen Loosley]

American telco giant AT&T has revealed overnight that it will deploy Fibre to the Premises in 100 major US cities in the United States, delivering gigabit broadband speeds.

This FTTP model directly contradicts statements by Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull that the telco is focusing on the Coalition’s preferred Fibre to the Node model. In an interview on the Triple J radio station last week, Turnbull explicitly named AT&T, one of the largest telcos in the US, was deploying FTTN technology.

t is true that AT&T has deployed FTTN widely throughout the US. 

However, overnight, in a statement published online, the telco revealed it planned to upgrade that FTTN platform imminently to FTTP, in a major investment which will see 100 US cities receive gigabit broadband speeds.

http://about.att.com/story/att_eyes_100_u_s_cities_and_municipalities_for_its_ultra_fast_fiber_network.html

“AT&T today announced a major initiative to expand its ultra-fast fiber network to up to 100 candidate cities and municipalities nationwide, including 21 new major metropolitan areas. The fiber network will deliver AT&T U-verse with GigaPowerSM service, which can deliver broadband speeds up to 1 Gigabit per second and AT&T’s most advanced TV services, to consumers and businesses,” the telco said.

“We’re delivering advanced services that offer consumers and small businesses the ability to do more, faster, help communities create a new wave of innovation, and encourage economic development,” said Lori Lee, senior executive vice president, AT&T Home Solutions. “We’re interested in working with communities that appreciate the value of the most advanced technologies and are willing to encourage investment by offering solid investment cases and policies.”

Other countries which have also deployed FTTN services are also expanding plans to upgrade those networks with FTTP capabilities. For example, in June 2012 British telco BT revealed plans to modify its up to 76Mbps national fibre to the node rollout so that customers will be able to choose to have fibre fully extended to their premises, delivering a large speed upgrade to 330Mbps in the process and shifting its rollout model closer to Labor’s original, FTTP-based NBN policy.

opinion/analysis

Wow. Sounds like 1Gbps speeds are shortly going to become pretty standard across much of the United States. I wonder how long it will be before Australia will be able to say the same. Right now, NBN Co isn’t even committing to speeds above 25Mbps for the Coalition’s alternative FTTN vision. I’d say that’s a pretty substantial difference in vision.

The irony here is also incredible. Just days after Turnbull lists AT&T as a poster child for Fibre to the Node, the telco turns around and becomes a global poster child for gigabit Fibre to the Premises. Sounds like some old-fashioned Turnbullian logic there. It appears the Minister did not consult closely enough with AT&T during his recent visit to the US.

http://delimiter.com.au/2014/04/22/att-deploy-gigabit-fibre-100-us-cities/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Delimiter+%28Delimiter%29
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Cheers,
Stephen