60
61
BUSINESS
TELECOM
Text by KASIA KRZYZANOWSKI
Photography by JULIEN BECKER
THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS It is not an optical illusion: the Grand Duchy is in middle of rolling out high speed fibre internet connections nationwide. Just in time to host a pan-European conference.
P
rofessionals from across the European fibre optic communications sector will come together this month at Luxexpo for the 13th annual FTTH Conference, which will be held in Luxembourg for the first time this year. Organised by the Fibre to the Home Council Europe--an industry trade group that promotes fibre-based, ultra high speed internet access for both consumers and business--the three-day event features a programme of presentations, workshops, exhibitions and hands-on demos. FTTH stands for “fibre to the home,” which is the use of optical fibres to connect homes directly to a central operating point to provide high-speed internet access. Fibre optic communications uses pulses of light to transmit information over flexible and transparent optical fibres, that are just slightly thicker than a human hair and allows for much higher bandwidth than traditional copper wires. Reaching download speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second (Gbps), the potential of FTTH becomes clear when compared with the copper wire DSL internet connection speeds of 10 to 30 megabits per second (Mbps) still used by the average individual consumer in Luxembourg.
COVERAGE IN LUXEMBOURG With the government’s strong interest in attracting new businesses to Luxem bourg and stimulating the local ICT economy, it is perhaps not surprising that the Grand Duchy would be an early adopter of the technology. As Philippe Bolle, managing director of Skylane Optics, an international February 2016
manufacturer of glass optical fibre products with offices here, notes: “Luxembourg has been investing in fibre since the beginning. It was one of the first countries to believe in the fibre to the home concept.” Yves Koch, an engineer at Post Technologies, part of the state-owned telecom group, confirms this, explaining that the firm began deploying FTTH infrastructure as far back as 1997. “As of late last year, we have connected more than 50% of households to fibre, which is one of the best developed networks in Europe.” On top of this, 100% of industrial zones are already connected to fibre across the country.
CONSUMERS LAGGING Despite the rapid increase in FTTH infrastructure across Luxembourg, consumer take-up of the technology has been slower. One reason is a lack of awareness. “As there hasn’t been a general rollout, operators are not so keen to announce an ultra high speed service above 100Mbps that they can’t yet provide to half of the population,” says Marc Kohll, in charge of statistics and market research at the Luxembourg Institute of Regulation, the government’s utility regulator. 100Mbps is fast enough to download a high definition movie in less than 10 minutes, according to tech industry press. Kohll
says that internet connection services are currently labelled based on their speed, with ultra high speeds on other types of networks, such as cable and VDSL, also promoted as “fibre-speed.” A recent study by the ILR found that many households in Luxembourg can choose between high speed internet services from a number of different providers and different technologies. Copper DSL remains the most popular, with 79% of consumers currently using it, but there is now clear evidence of a migration towards fibre, with a 20% average annual increase in subscribers since 2012. But Bolle notes: “There is a limitation with copper cable. Even if it is possible to reach high speeds now, in the longer term, optical fibre will be the only solution for delivering high bandwidth to the consumer.”
AMBITIOUS GOALS Post Technologies continues to deploy FTTH infrastructure to meet the government’s ambitious targets on broadband coverage, providing wholesale access to telecom operators. Though it began by laying a hybrid copper and optical fibre network in 1997, in 2010 it switched to a pointto-point infrastructure to enable higher broadband network capacity. And, importantly, as Kohll observes:
YVES KOCH Luxembourg’s public telecom operator began laying fibre back in 1997
" WE HAVE CONNECTED MORE THAN 50% OF HOUSEHOLDS TO FIBRE, WHICH IS ONE OF THE BEST DEVELOPED NETWORKS IN EUROPE."