Ottawa company ramps up production for overseas FTTH rollout

Fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) modem developer Enablence Technologies Inc. has entered into a contract manufacturing agreement with Advantech Advanced Manufacturing Services to allow Enablence to move from prototypes to an initial low-volume assembly line. The company has its sights on building a high-volume production capability to meet demand of FTTH rollouts, but unfortunately it is not doing business in Canada yet. "Our target market is really Asia – Korea and Japan – where about 250,000 homes in Japan alone are being installed with fibre ," says Ottawa-based Enablence’s CEO Arvind Chhatbar. "We anticipate Canada to come into play in about three to four years." He adds that Enablence is also in discussions with all of the big players in the United States, where Verizon Communications Inc., SBC Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp. are accelerating the fibre rollout. Network Letter reported in April that Bell Canada was using a hybrid deployment approach in Canada – taking fibre to the node, then extending it to the home – resulting in full FTTH in the next 20 to 25 years (NL, April 27/06). While fibre will clearly be extended to some homes sooner than that by Bell and other telcos, Enablence will have to wait for this to happen; its modem only facilitates an FTTH location. Once installed, the modem enables high-speed data, voice and video services such as IPTV and video on demand. Chhatbar adds that FTTH can facilitate the possible adoption of broadcasting medical and educational services, because the speeds provided will be about one hundred times faster than the high-speed Internet available today. He also says that Enablence’s optical components, which use its proprietary Planar Lightwave Circuit dispersion bridge platform, are superior to the existing thin-film technology, its biggest competitor. "We are replacing that technology," says Chhatbar. "Once our technology goes into the market the other one will become obsolete and so a huge demand will be placed on our product....Our cost is below one-third of the existing product in the marketplace and we meet all of the capacity requirements and specifications of the existing product. So there would be no reason for the existing product to be in the market." Indeed, Chhatbar says existing suppliers of the old technology have already approached Enablence for supplies of its product. Chhatbar says long-term, worldwide projections show that by 2009-2010, between 32 million and 64 million homes will have fibre installed. It will be towards the end of this period that the Canadian market will open up to Enablence, according to Chhatbar. "We don’t anticipate discussing Canada for another year or two," he says. Also in April, Network Letter affiliate Canadian Communications Reports reported that one of the main drivers behind a fibre rollout will be so that telcos can have a television option to bundle with their Internet, home phone and wireless offerings (CCR, April 21/06). Chhatbar concurs, saying bandwidth-hungry video services will spur the necessity of FTTH. "The video-on-demand is already heating up and cable companies are already having difficulties with the demand increase to keep the necessary bandwidth to be able to supply this," he says. "And there is the requirement to phase out analog signals as well, so all of that is going to increase demand in the marketplace in very short order." In North America, the US will be leading the way, but it should aid the rollout north of the border. "When Canada catches up," says Chhatbar, "all of the products and services will already be in the market so the Canadian situation will be a very rapid installation."

Ottawa company ramps up production for overseas FTTH rollout

News | September 1, 2006

Unlock all the Canadian telecom, broadcasting and digital media news you need.

FREE TRIAL

SUBSCRIBE

Inside The Wire Report

Information

Hill Times Publishing

Get in Touch With Us