Whether it’s a sport, a company or a country, we believe great leaders elevate their team members. Truly superior leaders appear to do it effortlessly. Is it always easy? No. Many times, it takes every ounce in a leader’s soul to dig in, take the high road, and make the best choice for the team. But, he or she does it without hesitation and, in the end, the entire team wins.

In this second installment of OSP’s 2010 Thought Leaders Forum, we explore several issues that will require leaders across the telecom industry to step up and make some significant changes for the greater good.

Recently, the F.C.C. chairman, Julius Genachowski, has advocated for a plan to rebuild the nation’s telecom infrastructure.* He observed that the country could build state-of-the-art computers and applications, but without equivalent broadband wiring, “it would be like having the technology for great electric cars, but terrible roads.”

Though this may be a great concept, the implications and challenges surrounding it are daunting. Since it’s unfeasible to rip up all of the telecom “roads” in our country, now’s the time our industry’s strongest will shine and find the best ways to meet that objective.

Does it matter if they are VPs or technicians? No. Their titles are unimportant. Their character alone will help them transform our challenges into opportunities. Why? Because that’s what true leaders do.

Welcome to our IOC Thought Leaders of 2010.

*See Question #3 for details.

TOPIC #1: OPERATIONAL EXPENSE CONTROL
Background: New market data from ABI Research shows that global broadband service revenue has continued increasing over the past few years regardless of the recessionary pressures.

According to ABI Research market data, fixed broadband service revenue totaled $164 billion in 2009, an increase from $145 billion in 2008. ABI Research practice director Jason Blackwell comments, “The increasing demand for broadband helps increase subscriber numbers as well as service revenue. Global fixed broadband service revenue is expected to exceed $210 billion in 2014.”

Among the broadband technologies, DSL still maintains the largest market share, followed by cable and fiber broadband. Service revenue for DSL broadband totaled nearly $100 billion in 2009. ABI Research expects DSL broadband service revenue to reach just over $103 billion in 2014 with a CAGR of 0.6% from 2009 to 2014.

Many operators are improving DSL broadband by deploying VDSL, which is cheaper to deploy than fiber as carriers can use existing copper infrastructure. “The higher speed of VDSL broadband helps operators to provide more services such as video on demand and interactive gaming. That can help to generate more revenue for operators,” notes research associate Khin Sandi Lynn. “Some operators currently offering VDSL are Telus Canada, O2 Czech, OTE Greece, and Tele2 Netherlands.”

Fiber broadband service revenue is increasing fast, with a forecast CAGR of 23.3% between 2009 and 2014. ABI Research forecasts service revenue for fiber broadband to reach $24.4 billion in 2010.

QUESTION: Many argue that operational savings for FTTH is substantially higher than that of FTTN or FTTC strategies. But copper is still a viable and effective tactic in areas that don’t financially warrant deployment of FTTH. What is/are the answer(s) to decreasing copper’s maintenance costs in the future while simultaneously increasing its bandwidth potential?

TOPIC #2: RURAL INFRASTRUCTURE UPGRADES
Background: It seems there is a universal desire to help bridge the technological divide in rural and economically challenged areas to boost economic growth, create jobs, and improve education and healthcare. The realities are more challenging, however.

Many providers, for example, can offer up to 40 Mbps downstream and 20 Mbps upstream to urban and suburban customers. In contrast, the aim for rural communities is more in the 5 Mbps range.

QUESTION: How can service providers truly begin to meet the needs of rural and hard-to-reach customers? What concrete tactics would your company employ to upgrade its backbone infrastructure (or its clients’ backbone infrastructure) for rural communities to deliver comparable speeds that exist in higher-density areas?

TOPIC #3: FCC DREAMS V.S. INFRASTRUCTURE REALITY
Background: “Effort to Widen U.S. Internet Access Sets Up Battle” by Brian Stelter and Jenna Wortham. The New York Times, March 12, 2010. (www.nytimes.com)

The Federal Communications Commission is proposing an ambitious 10-year plan that will reimagine the nation’s media and technology priorities by establishing high-speed Internet as the country’s dominant communication network.

The plan, which will be submitted to Congress on Tuesday, is likely to generate debate in Washington and a lobbying battle among the telecommunication giants, which over time may face new competition for customers. Already, the broadcast television industry is resisting a proposal to give back spectrum the government wants to use for future mobile service.

The blueprint reflects the government’s view that broadband Internet is becoming the common medium of the United States, gradually displacing the telephone and broadcast television industries. It also signals a shift at the F.C.C., which under the administration of President George W. Bush gained more attention for policing indecency on the television airwaves than for promoting Internet access.

According to F.C.C. officials briefed on the plan, the commission’s recommendations will include a subsidy for Internet providers to wire rural parts of the country now without access, a controversial auction of some broadcast spectrum to free up space for wireless devices, and the development of a new universal set-top box that connects to the Internet and cable service.

The effort will influence billions of dollars in federal spending, although the F.C.C. will argue that the plan should pay for itself through the spectrum auctions. Some recommendations will require Congressional action and industry support, and will affect users only years from now.

Still, “each bullet point will trigger its own tortuous battle,” said Craig Moffett, a senior analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Company.

For much of the last year, Julius Genachowski, the F.C.C. chairman and the plan’s chief salesman, has laid the groundwork for the Congressionally mandated plan by asserting that the United States is lagging far behind other countries in broadband adoption and speed. About a third of Americans have no access to high-speed Internet service, cannot afford it, or choose not to have it.

In a speech last month, Mr. Genachowski observed that the country could build state-of-the-art computers and applications, but without equivalent broadband wiring, “it would be like having the technology for great electric cars, but terrible roads.”

The plan envisions a fully Web-connected world with split-second access to health care information and online classrooms, delivered through wireless devices yet to be dreamed up in Silicon Valley. But to get there, analysts say the F.C.C. must tread carefully with companies like Comcast and AT&T that largely control Internet pricing and speeds. Already, there are questions about the extent to which the F.C.C. has jurisdiction over Internet providers.
                                                           [Article continued on www.nytimes.com]

QUESTION: In an article recently published by The New York Times, the F.C.C. believes it is time to “reimagine” the country’s communication system. Please read the article above (Topic #3) and share the pros and cons of such an overhaul.

TOPIC #4: WIRELESS BACKHAUL

QUESTION: Improving wireless backhaul is a top priority for many service providers. How do we know enough capacity has been created? And what are the most cost-effective and best ways to do this?

TOPIC #5: FIBER TO THE SMB
Background: Business Fiber Availability Rises to 22.9% in the U.S. and 15.1% in Europe.

New FTTx deployments during 2009 increased Last Mile business fiber availability to 22.9% of U.S. sites and 15.1% of sites in Europe, according to Vertical Systems Group’s latest research. Detailed findings show that while most large enterprise locations in the U.S. and Europe are fiber-connected, small and medium business (SMB) sites are underserved with fiber from any service provider (i.e., incumbent carrier, competitive provider, Cable MSO, PTT, etc.). Fiber is the preferred access technology for network services like Ethernet or IP VPNs in support of business applications that require up to gigabit per second bandwidth rates. (Source: www.verticalsystems.com)

QUESTION: While overall accessibility to business fiber has more than doubled over the past 5 years, the challenge ahead is to extend fiber connectivity to remote business locations and small-to-medium businesses (SMBs). What is your company’s plan to do this? Or, what do you think are the best tools and tactics to increase FTTx to businesses? When will we see that percentage jump from 22.9% to near 50%?

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Brian Schrand, Sr. Specialist, NE&C, Cincinnati Bell

What is/are the answer(s) to decreasing copper’s maintenance costs in the future while simultaneously increasing its bandwidth potential?

The best way to decrease copper’s maintenance cost is to support it with fiber. Like it or not, due to the physical limitations of twisted pair, its days are numbered. The only solution in providing the highest bandwidth possible is to shorten copper’s distance from the C.O. to the customer. The only way to do that is to place fiber and the active electronics out closer to the customer.

Whether placing fiber or maintaining copper, the largest expense is in the labor. This is usually around the 70 percent mark. The difference is that the copper is in place and the capital cost to maintain it on an annual basis is small, whereas building a fiber backbone is significantly more. However, over time the maintenance cost on fiber is lower. So, it’s a pay-me-now-or-pay-me-later situation.

Improving wireless backhaul is a top priority for many service providers. How do we know enough capacity has been created? And what are the most cost-effective and best ways to do this?

The only way to ensure that you’ve got enough capacity for cellular providers in the future is to install fiber. Traditionally, T1s on twisted pair provided enough capacity for providers. With the popularity of mobile devices growing more and more each day, the demand for Ethernet and bandwidth is increasing. Fiber will provide the bandwidth that copper lacks.

Another added benefit to fiber is that in most cases the requirement to provision a service only takes key strokes where copper requires physically building or changing spans. The big question on how to be cost-effective is to decide how to build the fiber to the cell site. Incorporate it into FTTx or keep it as a stand-alone network?

While overall accessibility to business fiber has more than doubled over the past five years, the challenge ahead is to extend fiber connectivity to remote business locations and small-to-medium businesses (SMBs). What is your company’s plan to do this? Or, what do you think are the best tools and tactics to increase FTTx to businesses? When will we see that percentage jump from 22.9% to near 50%?

At CBT we’ve coined a term known as “Smart Build” for developing our FTTH network. What this basically means is that when we design an area for a FTTH we add additional fibers to FDHs along the backbone route for SMBs. Building to SMBs after the services are sold keeps costs down. It also gives Sales a good tool to strategize when and where they want to sell.

The recurring revenue from SMBs is greater than residential customers’, so that portion of the market will be a major focus for Telcos to consider as they build their networks.

Brian Schrand is a Senior Specialist for Network Engineering, Construction and Operations. With more than 22 years of experience in the telecommunications industry, he has held positions with the City of Cincinnati’s Telecommunications Division and with Cincinnati Bell Telephone. While at the City of Cincinnati, Brian assisted in engineering and constructing the city’s fiber network in 1991. Since joining Cincinnati Bell Telephone in 1995, Brian has held various management positions within the company, including Outside Plant Construction, Installation, Information Technology (IT), and Outside Plant Staff. Brian can be reached at email brian.schrand@cinbell.com.

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Joy Eldred, Regional VP -- Engineering, Frontier Communications

What is/are the answer(s) to decreasing copper’s maintenance costs in the future while simultaneously increasing its bandwidth potential?

Incumbent telephone companies are rich in copper plant, so it makes economic sense for the consumer and the provider to leverage the existing copper infrastructure to provide cost-effective products to the communities being served. Ethernet-over-copper technologies allow copper to continue to provide bandwidth requirements until a fiber installation is logistically and economically feasible. Frontier has successfully deployed Ethernet-over-copper to meet customer demands. It is a technology that delivers from both a bandwidth and a reliability perspective. At Frontier, we go to great lengths to maintain copper; every time a terminal/pedestal is opened our technicians make sure bonds and grounds are tight, exposed copper is cleared and capped, and terminal housings are weather-tight and rodent-proof. As opportunities and business cases arise, Frontier is placing fiber deeper into the network in a fiber-to-the-home, -node, or -curb application.

How can service providers truly begin to meet the needs of rural and hard-to-reach customers? What concrete tactics would your company employ to upgrade its backbone infrastructure (or its clients’ backbone infrastructure) for rural communities to deliver comparable speeds that exist in higher-density areas?

Frontier is one of the largest rural communications providers in the country and takes the needs of customers in more remote areas to heart. We have deployed DSL loop extenders to service hard-to-reach customers. To increase customer speeds, we deploy wireless backhaul where copper or fiber facilities are not available. We take a lot of pride in that more than 90 percent of all of our current customers have broadband availability. We know it’s vital to meeting a community’s economic, financial, educational, and health needs. Our backbone infrastructure is being upgraded all the time. Frontier operates a 20 Gig National Data Backbone with circuits interconnecting all our rural markets. This allows Frontier to provide high-quality and competitive Internet service to our customers.

While overall accessibility to business fiber has more than doubled over the past 5 years, the challenge ahead is to extend fiber connectivity to remote business locations and small-to-medium businesses (SMBs). What is your company’s plan to do this? Or, what do you think are the best tools and tactics to increase FTTx to businesses? When will we see that percentage jump from 22.9% to near 50%?

Frontier’s practice is to plan and construct fiber routes based on joint planning with our customer, business growth, increased product demand, and greenfield environments. In the Frontier network, fiber has been deployed to the node, business parks, single family homes, and multiple dwelling units. Frontier aggressively looks for every opportunity to push fiber deeper into our network. Business customers are a major driver of bandwidth requirements that make fiber the best solution. Frontier looks at a customer’s overall requirements and future needs (e.g., its business plan, use of wireless backhaul, and speed requirements) when deciding to install fiber.

Joy Eldred is Regional Vice President of Engineering at Frontier Communications, overseeing its service territories in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Her responsibilities include planning and design of voice and data networks, OSP engineering, and network provisioning. Since joining the Company in 1977, Joy has held progressive management positions in operations, construction management, accounting, and engineering. She was appointed Regional Vice President in July 2008. Joy can be reached at email Joy.Eldred@frontiercorp.com.

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Loren Sprouse, VP Engineering of Access Services, CenturyLink

What is/are the answer(s) to decreasing copper’s maintenance costs in the future while simultaneously increasing its bandwidth potential?

• CTL is testing our copper loops to ensure we can offer the higher speeds. We are removing all bridge taps and load coils on the lines. And we are fixing problems that we find on the cables.
• CTL will set up a continuous testing program to ensure our copper loops can offer the higher speeds.
• Over time CTL will continue to shorten the copper loops. This allows for higher speeds, but also reduces the copper plant that needs to be maintained.

Improving wireless backhaul is a top priority for many service providers. How do we know enough capacity has been created? And what are the most cost-effective and best ways to do this?

• Getting fiber to the cell site is the ultimate way for a service provider to know they have enough capacity to handle increased traffic.
• CTL is provisioning many high-use cell sites with fiber. We have a large number of fiber-fed cell sites today, with plans to provision additional cell sites each year for the next several years.
• In many cases, we are using GPON fiber technology, which has lowered our deployment costs considerably.

While overall accessibility to business fiber has more than doubled over the past 5 years, the challenge ahead is to extend fiber connectivity to remote business locations and small-to-medium businesses (SMBs). What is your company’s plan to do this? Or, what do you think are the best tools and tactics to increase FTTx to businesses? When will we see that percentage jump from 22.9% to near 50%?

• CTL’s preferred technology when businesses want high-speed communications services is fiber.
• CTL deploys fiber to any business for services with speeds for 10meg or higher.
• Additionally, as CTL deploys fiber deeper in the network for activities such as wireless backhaul, fiber becomes available to smaller businesses, schools, etc., that are along the fiber route.
• CTL standard deployment of multi-service access devices (BBDLC) for all new service activations which allows for economic fiber/Ethernet transport back to the CO.

Loren Sprouse, VP Engineering of Access Services, CenturyLink WC 76
As VP Engineering of Access Services, Loren Sprouse is responsible for company-wide access network planning, capacity management and capital budgeting; and access network engineering and construction across CenturyLink’s 33 states, including the sourcing and approval of all engineering, network installation, and construction contracts. He has been active in a number of industry advisory groups including serving on the Board of Directors of ATIS. He currently serves on the Dean’s Engineering Advisory Council for the University of Missouri-Columbia. To contact Loren, email loren.v.sprouse@centurylink.com.

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Dean Mischke, P.E., V.P., Finley Engineering

What is/are the answer(s) to decreasing copper’s maintenance costs in the future while simultaneously increasing its bandwidth potential?

Copper has made tremendous gains in bandwidth capacity: experimental systems struggling to transmit 50 Mbps 100 feet in 1988 to now achieving 100 Mbps 1,500 feet. Presently, there is some debate about the possibility of additional gains in copper’s bandwidth potential. The industry typically starts talking about the next evolution of a product approximately 5 years before it actually reaches the market; however, to date, I have heard primarily about fiber development and very little buzz surrounding the next generation of copper-based transport. Copper’s susceptibility to internal and external disturbers will continue to keep copper’s maintenance costs higher than fiber. This issue will further worsen as providers attempt to deliver higher bit rate real-time video. It appears the only known cure thus far for the problem is shortening loop lengths as much as possible.

How can service providers truly begin to meet the needs of rural and hard-to-reach customers? What concrete tactics would your company employ to upgrade its backbone infrastructure (or its clients’ backbone infrastructure) for rural communities to deliver comparable speeds that exist in higher-density areas?

The economic justification for FTTH has been a difficult business case; however, many independent telephone companies are successfully deploying FTTH in rural markets. For many, this has been possible only through the current settlement process. Given the constant increase in demands for bandwidth, however, it is now apparent that it will become more difficult to cost effectively meet those demands with a copper plant. For service providers who cannot afford the whole scale deployment of FTTH, Finley is looking to retain copper where it will meet current demands (POTS and low-speed data) in order to free up CapEx funds to build fiber where the demand for advanced services warrants the expense. In areas where the existing copper plant will not support POTS, Finley has advocated installing fiber instead of repairing existing copper cables. In many cases, it is difficult to justify the higher cost of fiber for that individual segment, but there is a need to start the process, and if fiber is placed I can assure clients that they will not need to replace it in the long-term future to accommodate capacity or service
capability issues.

In an article “Effort to Widen U.S. Internet Access Sets Up Battle”, recently published by The New York Times, the F.C.C. believes it is time to “reimagine” the country’s communication system. Share the pros and cons of such an overhaul.

People have already voted with their portable devices for voice and low-speed data communications. Land line toll is a diminishing product with very little promise of maintaining the economic force it once had, and low-speed data services have become a commodity offering where the lowest price wins. As a result, the economic model used to provide ubiquitous voice services, and possibly key in the development of high-speed data services, will no longer suit many companies as the network evolves. Many independent telephone companies serving rural markets are concerned the evolution to the next generation settlement system may take too long to develop, be too complex to manage, and be designed to support too many service providers that are looking to serve only a portion of an exchange rather than the entire exchange.

Dean has been with Finley Engineering for more than 19 years. Dean is a BSEEE graduate of California State University and earned his Professional Engineer License in 1994, maintaining active licenses in 5 states where he provides consulting and engineering services. Dean is the Vice President and General Manager of Finley’s Wisconsin office. He has been active in designing fiber networks since his first project at Finley. In addition, Dean works in all aspects of central office, IP, and video implementation. For more information, email d.mischke@fecinc.com or info@fecinc.com.

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Mike Edl, Senior VP, Network Services, Hawaiian Telcom

What is/are the answer(s) to decreasing copper’s maintenance costs in the future while simultaneously increasing its bandwidth potential?

I am amazed at the speeds and bandwidth that are deployed over copper today. Who would have thought that copper would be transporting speeds for video services at 30 Mbps? It does. Technology to increase speeds over copper continue to enable network providers to continue to utilize their investment.

While maintaining copper facilities is typically more expensive than fiber deployments, the initial capital cost to replace copper is significant and the ability to continue to leverage copper is critical for companies. I believe you get out what you put in. If service providers have a good proactive cable maintenance program, the newer modem technologies will enable providers increased bandwidth. Even for companies who have not invested in a good maintenance program, if speed is required the incremental cost for grooming copper would typically outweigh a fiber build in the short term.

The bottom line is that a balance needs to be struck on expense versus capital and the long-term plan for the areas served and speeds required by the users.

Improving wireless backhaul is a top priority for many service providers. How do we know enough capacity has been created? And what are the most cost-effective and best ways to do this?

Considering that wireless carriers are going to 4th generation networks and broadband services for wireless continue to grow at a tremendous rate, the ability to serve the wireless carriers cell sites with fiber should be considered the ultimate goal. I believe that partnering with the wireless carriers to enable them with fiber, while improving the local exchange carrier’s ability to serve higher speeds to customers along the way, is a win-win for both the wireless carriers and the local service provider. For real bandwidth, towers should be served with Ethernet as they will need it. I don’t know any other way around it. Looking at the broadband services being delivered with 4G and the number of subscribers that have wireless phones, it is the only way to be able to keep up with the demand.

While overall accessibility to business fiber has more than doubled over the past 5 years, the challenge ahead is to extend fiber connectivity to remote business locations and small-to-medium businesses (SMBs). What is your company’s plan to do this? Or, what do you think are the best tools and tactics to increase FTTx to businesses? When will we see that percentage jump from 22.9% to near 50%?

New IP services will provide SMBs with more feature functionality and require higher bandwidth, forcing service providers to shorten the copper facilities to the customer.

If the location of the SMB is on our fiber route, we would consider a lateral into the business. If not along our existing route, we would evaluate the cost versus benefit to our Company; if it opens more opportunities, we would consider this in the ROI.  At the end of the day, it is a financial decision and that is probably the reason for low penetration with fiber to date.

The jump to 50% for FTTx could be within the next 2-3 years, particularly due to the bandwidth needs of new applications. I believe service providers can shorten copper to increase bandwidth via an FTTN approach to deliver the bandwidth demands within this timeframe.

As Senior Vice President of Network Services for Hawaiian Telcom, Mike Edl oversees Network Planning, Engineering, and Operations. He joined the company in August 2008. Mr. Edl brings more than 30 years of experience in telecommunications operations to Hawaiian Telcom. Most recently he served as Senior Vice President of Network Operations at PAETEC, a New York-based telecommunications company that purchased McLeodUSA in February 2008. To contact Mike, email mike.edl@hawaiiantel.com.

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Larry Boehm, Director -- Network Implementations, TDS Telecommunications Corp.

What is/are the answer(s) to decreasing copper’s maintenance costs in the future while simultaneously increasing its bandwidth potential?

This is another aspect the IOCs have the edge versus larger companies. Our approach requires engineering site-by-site to determine the best investment whether that is deployment of a VDSL2 box to get ample speeds to the customers within the selected radius or GPON deployment.

It is a given today that each VDSL2 site will require fiber transport. If you have to get new fiber into an area for VDSL2 transport then you must make the call on if this should be a stepped deployment with VDSL2 first, then GPON, or decide to go right to GPON. Understanding the area’s current penetration rates and the services we want to deliver are the last bits of information in solidifying that choice by service area. As customer demand and services warrant increased speeds, above those VDSL2 can support, you will have to upgrade to GPON coverage for that area.

How can service providers truly begin to meet the needs of rural and hard-to-reach customers? What concrete tactics would your company employ to upgrade its backbone infrastructure (or its clients’ backbone infrastructure) for rural communities to deliver comparable speeds that exist in higher-density areas?

For the most rural areas we must have a deployable Ethernet over copper transport solution that works with our embedded copper that can get us VDSL2 speeds at each DSA site. The customer density of these very rural areas cannot support fiber deployments even to the node. The loop lengths these sites need to support will also make the technology a blend of VDSL2 for the right loops and ADSL2+ for the longer loops with a focus on maximizing the customer’s speed. Bonding does have play in this, but most hard-to-reach areas are fed on very-low-count copper cables.

In the less rural areas we must make the most of any opportunity to get fiber transport first to enable VDSL2 along with serving GPON to smaller clusters of homes along the way. It all works better when you can add a few commercial customers and those remote cells towers along the way.

While overall accessibility to business fiber has more than doubled over the past 5 years, the challenge ahead is to extend fiber connectivity to remote business locations and small-to-medium businesses (SMBs). What is your company’s plan to do this? Or, what do you think are the best tools and tactics to increase FTTx to businesses? When will we see that percentage jump from 22.9% to near 50%?

Understanding the needs of our commercial customers and then building a solid business case to extend fiber that has more than one driver is optimal. Fiber transport requirement to predominantly residential DSA sites continues to rise as bandwidth demand grows. Having another need, like a commercial customer, is a perfect complement.

The last piece would be in understanding the areas, by partnering with the sales team, to determine possible routes that could make the business cases work better without taking on more risk. Products like hosted IP Centrex help make businesses more productive which drive the increased demand. So just like TV drives additional revenue to support higher speed residential broadband, hosted IP Centrex helps make the business case for commercial fiber deployments.

Larry Boehm leads a team of 94 employees and numerous professional contracted engineers in the Network Services department at TDS Telecommunications Corp. (TDS) in Madison, Wis. He started his 28-year career at TDS as a  Technician and has worked his way up to a Director level position for the 8th largest telecom company in the U.S. For more information, visit www.tdstelecom.com.

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Jon Beckman, Dir. of Strategy for Test Instruments, JDSU Communications Test & Measurement

What is/are the answer(s) to decreasing copper’s maintenance costs in the future while simultaneously increasing its bandwidth potential?

Effective upfront planning and engineering of the project is a cornerstone to maximizing copper bandwidth potential while minimizing future maintenance cost, a process that should encompass a thorough assessment of bandwidth demand drivers of the planned service of today and the future. It should also include a practical assessment of the real-world limits for the DSL technology to be employed. Combined with solid knowledge of the existing outside plant itself, these considerations should help form a sound copper test strategy and repeatable test criteria for proactively ensuring the copper plant is capable of supporting the service prior to the initial customer turn-up today, and well into the future.

We have found no single “smoking gun” root cause behind most problems -- all too often it is the confluence of a number of smaller problems that have led to excessive maintenance after initial deployment, including smaller problems that could have been proactively addressed had they been detected earlier. Resistive faults typically don’t get better with age, and the impact of mixed gauge plant on longer loops can be addressed if you know it is there.

In an article “Effort to Widen U.S. Internet Access Sets Up Battle”, recently published by The New York Times, the F.C.C. believes it is time to “reimagine” the country’s communication system. Share the pros and cons of such an overhaul.

Broadband availability brings tremendous benefit and opportunity to individuals, our institutions and our society and nation as a whole. The vision for wide broadband availability is to be applauded -- the challenge lies in how we achieve it. The industry and government play critical roles in meeting this challenge. A great many service providers across the country -- from the largest carriers to numerous small ILECs, co-operatives, and even municipalities -- are at the vanguard today of deploying next-generation broadband networks capable of scaling to meet the 100M vision set forth in the plan. And, today, there is widespread competition and a continually evolving array of enabling technologies. This overall landscape promises to pave an evolutionary path toward achieving the vision.

Improving wireless backhaul is a top priority for many service providers. How do we know enough capacity has been created? And what are the most cost-effective and best ways to do this?

To meet the rapidly rising bandwidth demand driven by new mobile devices and applications, many service providers are turning to Ethernet as the most logical, cost-effective, and scalable means to provide needed capacity. Ethernet brings its own challenges, primarily related to the complexities of configuration and testing, especially compared to traditional TDM-based circuits. Additionally, mobile user application performance expectations have contributed to increasingly rigorous backhaul service level agreements (SLA). Therefore, testing of the backhaul circuit in key critical areas has become increasingly crucial. Turn-up testing of the circuit to ensure it has been properly configured to support conditions like bursty traffic typical of many non-voice applications is the first key area. The second is monitoring to ensure that the conditions of the SLA are being met. The final core requirement is having the capability to troubleshoot problems, for example, to isolate why a data service does not run jitter-free at the required speed.

Jon Beckman is director of strategy for test instruments, JDSU Communications Test & Measurement. With more than 10 years in the communications test and measurements industry, Jon has served in product management and marketing roles with a focus on access network and broadband technologies and applications. JDSU enables broadband and optical innovation in communications, commercial, and consumer markets, and is a provider of communications test and measurement solutions and optical products for telecommunications service providers, cable operators, and network equipment manufacturers. For more information, email jon.beckman@jdsu.com.

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Kenneth W. Trawick, President -- Telecommunications and Cable Television Operations, Quanta Services, Inc.

How can service providers truly begin to meet the needs of rural and hard-to-reach customers? What concrete tactics would your company employ to upgrade its backbone infrastructure (or its clients’ backbone infrastructure) for rural communities to deliver comparable speeds that exist in higher-density areas?

The challenge of reaching rural customers with broadband services has gained significant attention in recent months. Network evolution has led us to this transition from the copper wired network of the past to the fiber network of the future. Fiber-to-the-premises is the long-term solution that will bridge this gap to ultimately enable high-bandwidth options to rural users.

While wireless solutions will be a lower-capacity option dictated by economics for some customers, fiber makes sense as a long-term solution for the majority of rural users. To reach the goal of service to this important group of end users, service providers will benefit from a strategic approach and tactical oversight to network expansion. This deployment plan should maximize internal resources, core expertise, and strengths while tapping into an external service provider well-versed in rural service deployment of fiber networks.

Improving wireless backhaul is a top priority for many service providers. How do we know enough capacity has been created? And what are the most cost-effective and best ways to do this?

The networked world is in the early stages of “game-changing” technology advancement. With new applications emerging daily and smart devices increasingly multitasking, this evolution will continue for the next several years, placing significant capacity constraint across the wireless network. It will take years to achieve network capacity adequate to support these new technologies and deliver the new and wonderful capabilities to end users.

To accommodate these bandwidth demands, fiber-to-the-cell-site is the ultimate infrastructure platform to be able to scale up to meet increasing bandwidth demands at minimal incremental costs. By tapping into the resources of a contractor well-versed in fiber deployments, service providers will be able to increase success rates while minimizing costs.

While overall accessibility to business fiber has more than doubled over the past 5 years, the challenge ahead is to extend fiber connectivity to remote business locations and small-to-medium businesses (SMBs). What is your company’s plan to do this? Or, what do you think are the best tools and tactics to increase FTTx to businesses? When will we see that percentage jump from 22.9% to near 50%?

Improvements in construction techniques and lessons learned from the FTTx deployments over the last 5 years have driven down the cost of fiber installation. These lower costs increase accessibility for small- and medium-sized businesses to access and deploy these new, high-bandwidth networks.

While it may not be cost-effective to deploy a private network, often, depending on the location, there is the potential to access an existing dark fiber network. Many dark fiber networks that have been built for licensing to healthcare, education, and other large, campus-oriented organizations have significant, unused capacity that can accommodate smaller bandwidth-intensive businesses.

For high-speed, high-bandwidth service, fiber is, without question, the right answer. And, as market penetration increases, as does viability for this important business sector.

Building on the success of this micro-trenching process in residential and urban communities, Quanta believes it is the most effective tool for service providers to ensure that they continue to meet the increased mobile backhaul demands.

President of Quanta Services’ Telecommunications and Cable Television Operations, Kenneth W. Trawick oversees telecommunications and cable television operations. Prior to being named to his current position in June 2004, Trawick served as president of Trawick Construction Company, Inc., a telecommunications specialty contractor and a subsidiary of Quanta. Trawick joined Trawick Construction in 1974, and served as its executive vice president from January 2000 until May 2001. For more information, email ktrawick@quantaservices.com.

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