Identifying and overcoming the challenges of implementing FTTH OPERATOR CASE STUDY
FTTx Summit Europe
London, April 24th 2012
Birgir Rafn Thrainsson, CEO
Reykjavik Fiber Network
Agenda
About Reykjavik Fiber Network The Business Model
Lessons learned
Take Rate Deployment
Service Providers Network Operations
About Reykjavik Fiber Network BACKGROUND
• Owned by Reykjavik Energy, a utility company for the city of Reykjavik in Iceland
• Building and operating an Optical Fiber Network:
For the corporate and public sector since 1999
For households (FTTH) since 2005
• FTTH status - April 2012:
Homes connected: 46 thousand
Subscribers: 17 thousand (3-play: 75%)
Take rate: 37%
• Around one thousand active
connections used by businesses
About Reykjavík Fiber Network BACKGROUND
Reykjavik Fiber Network overview BACKGROUND
The Business Model BUSINESS MODEL
Principles
Deployment • Point-to-point Active Ethernet – NGN
• Two phase approach:
• FTTH rollout to all houses in a selected area
• Order based Service delivery
Services • Active sharing with multiple Service Providers
• No end-user services provided by the Network Operator
Revenues • No startup fee for households
• Monthly fees once service is activated:
• Fixed access fee – paid by the subscriber
• Service fee based on service type – paid by the Service Provider
Lessons learned
Typical statements in favour of FTTH based services: • Increases average revenue per user (ARPU)
• Less customer churn
• Greatly improves Internet and TV experience
• Higher customer satisfaction (fewer “reboots”)
• Less load on customer support
• No legacy in network operations
• Increases real estate prices
Can you confirm or challenge
these kind of statements?
Take rate
LESSONS LEARNED
Rollout and subscriber progress
Homes connected Subscribers
Take rate
LESSONS LEARNED
Rollout and subscriber progress
Take rate (%)
Take rate LESSONS LEARNED
Consumer prices
Monthly fees very competitive to ADSL fees
+ No initial or start-up fees
= Easy purchase decision
Deployment LESSONS LEARNED
Fiber Network Rollout
1. Areas defined and prioritized
2. Get “rights of way”:
• House owner permission
• Municipality permission
3. Design
4. Fieldwork
• Pipes and manholes
• PoP station installation
• Fiber blowing and splicing
5. Quality measurements
6. Delivery to Network
Operations
7. Households and Service
Providers informed
Deployment LESSONS LEARNED
Order based Service Delivery
1. Service providers sell
Internet, IPTV and
fixed-line telephony
2. Place order to finalize
installation and
service delivery
3. Contractor installs
CPE and indoor cables
4. Service provider
installs the service
equipment and
activates the service
Deployment LESSONS LEARNED
Fiber Network & NGN Point of Presence
• We have 91 PoPs with active equipment
• Each PoP serves 300 to 2000 homes
• PoP housing owned by a utility company
or a municipality
Deployment LESSONS LEARNED
Summary
• Overbuild from the PoP to the house intake
– ready for service without any fieldwork
• No initial fees for homes
– connect ratio nearly 100%
• Households want fiber installed
– irrelevant of intended use
• Define the scope of each FTTH project
– well defined geographical area
• Deliver a bulk of connected homes
– Service Providers immediately target the
area with their sales forces
• Indoor cabling, fiber and CAT5
– included in the service delivery
Service Providers LESSONS LEARNED
• Network Operator a wholesaler and
Service Providers a retailer
• Larger SPs may not like or fully
understand the business model
- will push for a passive access
• Make sure emphasis is always towards
the subscribers
• Installation and troubleshooting may
require multiple customer visits
• Automate technical support through
web services
Network Operations LESSONS LEARNED
DOWNLOAD UPLOAD
60 Kbits/s
690 Kbits/s
330 Kbits/s
• Define scalability requirements in the beginning
• Services need to be clearly defined and not
assumed
• Don‘t postpone rollout of important network
features because you don‘t need them just yet
• Positive experience may be harmed due to
network congestions outside of your control
• Compare expected end-user behavior to reality
Thank you