Network Planning in a nutshell

R. MeersmanR. WessälyU. Scheu

ComsofatesioScheu-Netzplannung

Outline

Network Planning in a nutshell

• Overview and common aspects• Strategic Planning • High-level Planning• Detailed Planning

FTTH Network Environment

Network Planning in a complex task

Single FTTH project• Thousands to tens of thousands of households / businesses (customer)• Expected investments (homes passed): 500 – 3000 Euro/customer• It’s all about costs and expected revenues

Why Network Planning is important?

A well planned network delivers direct value for your project

• Making the right strategical decisions• will avoid financial risks• will minimize investments• will improve adoption rates and average profit per customer

• Making the right structural decisions• will lower the overall required investment• will improve uniformity of network designs• …

• Making the right practical decisions• will ensure that the plans can be technically realised• will ensure the network components can be identified and located

during future operational processes like maintenance and repair

Strategic planning

High‐level planning

Detailed planning

Network Planning – Data & tools

Key components of a network planning solution…

1. The fuel of network planning: DATA (in all 3 planning stages)a) Geo-referenced data (GIS)

b) Hardware specificationsc) Costs

2. The engine of network planning: TOOLS (based on increasingly detailed data)a) Not only CAD, but also GISb) Data model / databasec) Automationd) Optimization

Strategic Planning High‐Level Planning Detailed Planning

Minimal dataset Detailed Highest possible detail

Structurally important All types All details incl. connect

Average unit costs Detailed unit costs Real costs from RFQ

+ ++ +++

+ ++ +++

+++ ++ +

+++ ++ +

Network Planning – Data & Tools

… with different requirements depending on the network planning stage

DATA

TOOLS

Stage 1: Strategic Network Planning

FTTx Network deployments involve big money but the right answers to network planning questions are never the same

• How strong is my business case?• What is the best architecture and technology for my network?• Where and when to start deploying my network?

Strategic planning

High‐level planning

Detailed planning

Stage 1: Strategic Network Planning

Typical questions

• Where and in which order to deploy the FTTH network? Compare different regions, making accurate estimations of costs

(derived from GIS) and revenues (derived from geomarketing)• What methods, components and technologies to use?

Compare different scenarios, considering:• Different architectures (“x” in FTTx, see Ch 2) • Different active technologies (PON vs. P2P vs. hybrid, see Ch 3)• Different levels of fibre concentration (see Ch 8)• Different cable deployment techniques

(micro-cables vs. conventional cabling, see Ch 8)• Different splitter architectures (see Ch 8)• Different in-house cabling and customer equipment methods

(see Ch 4 and 8)• Different infrastructure sharing strategies

Strategic planning

High‐level planning

Detailed planning

Stage 1: Strategic Network Planning

FTTH network deployments involve big money but the right answers to network planning questions are never the same• Costs and revenues of FTTH projects differ significantly, depending on

• Geography (streets, buildings)• Technological choices• Market conditions (type of families, service adoption, revenue)• Regulatory environment (open access obligations, right of way, …)• Existance of reusable infrastructure• …

(An example of how cost can evolve for changing conditions (in this case coverage))

Strategic planning

High‐level planning

Detailed planning

Stage 2: High-level Network Planning

… goes much more in the specifics of a planning region and delivers the structural decisions to the detailed planning

Strategic planning

High‐level planning

Detailed planning

Stage 2: High-level Network Planning

• Where will the POPs be located?Unclear how many POPs (depends on size of serving area,

availability, network architecture, maximum failures rates, ...)• How many fiber concentration points?

Depends on the capacities of the cabinets and closures (cassette trays, cables terminations, …)

Define the structure including the individually served buildings• Which cable routes serve which distribution and feeder areas?

Define topologically how buildings are connected to fiber concentration points (assuming permissions on public ground)

Optimized with respect to distance and re-use of existing infrastructure• What is the expected bill of materials?

Defines expected quantities for ducts, cables, closures, splitters, …, which can be used in negotiations with hardware suppliers

Typical questions

Strategic planning

High‐level planning

Detailed planning

Stage 3: Detailed Network Planning

convert the results from high-level planning into ……….

• How to built plans Strategic planning

High‐level planning

Detailed planning

• “As built plan” documentation

• Working side management

Stage 3: Detailed Network Planning

How to built plans

• underground constrution

Strategic planning

High‐level planning

Detailed planning

• labeling

• micropipe connections

• detailed drop connection

• fiber blow list

• splice planning

Stage 3: Detailed Network Planning

Documentation

• as built plan

Strategic planning

High‐level planning

Detailed planning

• OTDR test and measurements data

• walk in protocol

• landlord permission

• permissions under building law

• technical information

Stage 3: Detailed Network Planning

Working side management

civil engineering

Strategic planning

High‐level planning

Detailed planning

blowing the cable fibre splicing OTDR activation

Network Planning in a nutshell

Thank you for your attention!

www.ftthcouncil.eu