Suffolk, United Kingdom, 10 June 2015: The long-running debate between copper and fibre could soon be answered with consumers beginning to place more emphasis on quality of service than ever before.
That was the message from Max Penfold, of UTEL, a leading research and development company, following this year's CommunicAsia Conference and Exhibition.
According to the International Sales Manager, the show revealed that a network's quality of service is the most important factor for people - which could see copper pull ahead of fibre in the ongoing battle with the majority of operators yet to install centralised fibre testing systems.
"It doesn't matter whether it is fibre or copper, people are more and more looking to get quality of service out of the network and, to a lesser or greater extent, these people are hoping and praying that operators are beginning to realise it is important too," said Penfold. "We are beginning to see evidence that this is starting to happen. Malaysia Telecom, for example, is currently looking at how it can have a proper managed network which will not only give their customers a better future but also reduce operating costs."
UTEL's Fast Light is used as the basis for such a centralised G-PON fibre management system - the only technology in the world available today that is able to reliably detect ONT reflections through 128 split PONs without expensive wavelength dependent reflectors.
Consistency and speed of response are not the only benefits to come from a centralised testing system, continued Penfold, as OPEX can be reduced at the same time through using Fast Light.
Another major gain for operators, Penfold went on, is that each time a network is modified a new reference can be generated which ensure records are up-to-date and field staff are always directed to the exact location of any problem found.
"This was a hot topic at CommunicAsia as it is an issue we have found to be particularly relevant in the APAC market due to the rapid growth of its fibre networks," concluded Penfold. "Now is certainly the time for operators to act on the reliability of their fibre networks. Those that don't could be in danger of losing out to those that can guarantee customers an uninterrupted connection - even if that means moving back to copper."
