Telecom carrier spending to pick up early next year, says FSO product developer

Vancouver-based fSONA Communications expects to begin shipping volume quantities of free space optics (FSO) products in the third or fourth quarter of this year, a signal of greater spending by telecom carriers to come, according to the company’s president and CEO. Despite renewed reports from telecommunications equipment manufacturers and analysts that the telecom turnaround will take longer than previously anticipated, Theresa Carbonneau says fSONA is well positioned to capitalize on a rebound in spending. "To reach the milestone breakthrough for carrier purchasing, it’s either going to happen in North America at the end of this year or early in 2003," Carbonneau tells Report on Wireless. The FSO firm plans to use a major infusion of cash from the federal government to beef up research and development efforts. Earlier this month, the company announced that it had received a $10-million loan from Industry Canada as part of the government’s Technology Partnership Canada (TPC) program. fSONA plans to use the money to develop future product versions. Carbonneau admits that telecom spending decreased across the board in the downturn in the market, but it also made carriers look at lower build-out costs and that’s where FSO can be beneficial. "I would say the flurry of interest and activity on the part of the carriers has actually been pushed by the downturn because they were looking for low-cost solutions to their infrastructure build-out, and free space optics is a way of doing that," she says. "There are some obvious negatives that you have to take into account, but you’ve got to weigh that up against the benefits of the very quick deployment, the ease of reach of new buildings and the number of new customers that you can bring on with one low capex payment," Carbonneau explains. fSONA has already set the stage for some healthy deployments in the near term. It is present in enterprise and carrier markets in nearly every region of the world and is testing with 22 telecoms. What makes this type of technology attractive is its licence-free status and it is well suited for various types of network applications. "It can fit into so many different applications from plugging holes to expanding capacity in existing, sophisticated, advanced networks where there’s been a lot of investment to totally greenfield infrastructure build in developing countries," Carbonneau says. Current mix between enterprise and carrier customers stands at 70-30 in favour of the enterprise market. But Carbonneau expects that to change dramatically by the middle of next year. "I see that changing to almost the opposite in 18 months when the carriers start buying again," she says. The company is also looking to accelerate carrier deployment as well through a potential original equipment manufacturers (OEM) agreement. Customer announcements will be made once volume shipments begin. Even wireless carriers are looking to fSONA for cost-effective network expansion solutions, according to Carbonneau. "This is one of the big applications for mobile network backhaul and upgrade," she says. The company’s product roadmap calls for faster, higher bit rate products with more features. Carbonneau says the company is focused on its SONAbeam 155 and 2 Gbps products at the moment, but is also working on its active pointing system, which should be available within the next quarter. Wave division multiplexing products and fibre couple systems are on the development table as well, but Carbonneau cautions that these are dependent on market demand. "We’re not making these for fun; there has to be real demand," she says.

Telecom carrier spending to pick up early next year, says FSO product developer

News | April 30, 2002

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