Fwd: Innovative Fiber Network Solutions for Rural-Remote areas

[Gene Hastings <hastings@info-ren.org>]

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Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2000 12:06:53 -0500 (EST)
From: CAnet-3-NEWS@canarie.ca
Subject: Innovative Fiber Network Solutions for Rural-Remote areas

For more information on this item please visit the CANARIE CA*net 3 Optical
Internet program web site at http://www.canet3.net
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http://www.techweb.com/wire/story/TWB20000208S0014

New facilities-based carriers are learning that broadband services can often
be provided for rural and lower-income citizens at a cost lower than
traditional telecom services.

At last week's Duet Conference on telecommunications convergence, sponsored
by the University of Denver, executives from new service providers came with
stories of how a mix of physical-layer last-mile and metropolitan links can
provide business and residential customers with data and voice packet
services that are far less costly than DSL and cable modem services.  Many
carriers, in locations ranging from rural New Mexico to urban neighborhoods
in Brazil, are using fiber loops, often without Sonet multiplexing, in
conjunction with wireless local loop (WLL) or local multipoint distribution
service (LMDS) last-mile access.

The key to profitability, according to panelists at one Duet session, was to
adopt hybrid mixes of wireless, copper, and fiber services that suit the
geographical and economic constraints of the region being serviced.

This strategy can be used in both low-income rural areas and in upscale
suburban neighborhoods. In northern Colorado Springs, for example, the Kings
Deer property management association created its own fiber-optic
telecommunications company that eventually resold bandwidth outside of its
area to challenge US West Communications, the regional phone company.
Tri-Corners Telecom in northwestern New Mexico is providing providing
do-it-yourself networking, using power-line conduit for fiber optic rings.

The common factor is not the physical channel but the common Internet
Protocol transport, and the use of IP with quality-of-service definitions to
carry all traffic, including voice.


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Bill St. Arnaud
Senior Director Network Projects
CANARIE
bill.st.arnaud@canarie.ca
+1 613 785-0426

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