Open Access: Laying the Groundwork for Endless Possibilities

Ahead of his speaking engagement at ISE Expo in Dallas this week, Dura-Line’s Senior Global Product Manager, Robert Petruk, reflects on his experience heading up a co-op in rural Canada, successfully spearheading their first foray into FTTH.

You’ve been in this industry a long time – tell me a bit about how you got into it and what kept you going.

I got into it by accident -- a friend was working at Bell Canada, and so I put in an application and started at the bottom as a residential technician.

I stayed in it because it’s always been one of the coolest industries that exists. From 25 years ago when I started, it's only evolved, and that evolution accelerates every year. When I started, it was dial-up over copper lines, to 1-MB modems, et cetera. At the beginning, I never dreamed we’d be installing fiber optic cables underground.

What was the community in rural Canada like? Who were you serving?

It’s a very low-density suburb of Windsor in the Detroit metro area. It’s very rural with a core cluster of people in the center. Many residents live there and commute to Windsor or Detroit.

What need were you trying to meet for them? What was the infrastructure or technical challenge?

The task was to increase revenue and upgrade our existing equipment. The decision was taken that the best way to do this would be to expand and start building fiber to the home.

It was a classic middle mile challenge – we were dealing with mandated high rates and outdated rules, and the only way around it is to either negotiate a deal, and/or build to where the major backbone carriers are.

What does “open access” mean for you?

The traditional definition of open access is that anyone has access to your network. For me, it meant open to possibilities and creative solutions to do the best that we could at the time, leveraging our assets to create opportunity to offset other costs.

We found there are lots of opportunities for creative use. Some examples of the possibilities include things like:

• Jointly building with other utilities.
• Leasing capacity to other municipalities.
• Leasing over an indefeasible right of use (IRU) agreement for a certain amount of time, which could include things like trading backhaul to a WISP.
• Once connected to a major backbone, you can leverage the access you have to industrial, commercial, and agricultural businesses that a backhaul provider wouldn't have access to.

Why did you end up choosing open access over another service model?

In addition to the wide range of possibilities for creative use, we realized that there was much more flexibility outside the incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) area, where there were regulations that govern pricing, and fixed prices to access backbone. But as soon as you're outside that zone, there’s much more flexibility. It allows you to realize all those creative services and opportunities.

Now, all carriers in Canada are mandated to be open. At the time, we knew it was going to happen anyway, so we wanted to think about how we could make the best of it. We found there were multiple innovative revenue opportunities.

For example, in our current age of low-voltage and LED lighting, the cabling used to run streetlights is low voltage – the same as used for telecom services – which opens you up a lot of opportunities for Smart City applications as the provider of the foundation for these novel applications.

It can take a long time, but once you get everything lined up, you’re only limited by time and the type of services you want to provide.

What was the network architecture?

It was a centralized split, with a trunking fiber backbone to a cabinet, splitters in the cabinet, and from the cabinet to homes. Sometimes there was a pedestal, but it was easy because all the splitters were in one location.

This arrangement allowed better segregation of electronics and components. When you have newer or less-trained technicians, it leaves a lot less room for error. We also wanted to ensure we had significant amount of space and capacity to explore all the possibilities.

How did MicroTechnology fit into this picture?

Firstly, we discovered aerial wasn’t an option. There was simply no room in the public right of way, and every pole required make ready. Then I was introduced to the advantages of microtechnology.

I could immediately picture the benefits -- the size of everything kept shrinking but with all the necessary pathways and fitting into public right of way with a much smaller trench.

In any future aerial deployments, it also could provide a great way to insulate your infrastructure from the environmental damage we typically see while still providing a lot of flexibility.

In the build that took place, it was just the best possible way to maximize the public right of way with knowledge that we might need the capacity in the future, especially with the potential to lease the excess capacity to others.

What lessons did you learn? Anything you'd do different next time?

All of the creative uses of the network really allowed us to build a foundation to overcome the challenges we were facing. Compared to when we started that project, the methods of delivery, switching fabrics – all this technology has evolved significantly. Now there are even more ways to facilitate opening your network to other carriers and create a "marketplace" of internet. I’m a big advocate of the open access model now.

Any advice to others considering open access?

First, I’d say to plan your network and build from day one to support more than just you and traditional service for internet, cell, and TV. Think about wholesaling, intercarrier agreements, transit and transport, and of course, leasing space. Design it so you’ll have the capacity to take advantage of all these possibilities and more.

And above all, try to do as much as you can to serve your customers. Price will always win, but service will give you an edge. Service providers tend to spend the most time with customers, so providing white-glove service whenever possible should be the goal.

To have happy customers, you have to over-serve. It’s worth noting that another advantage of the open access model is that it allows you to see how other people are operating and adjust your service – it’s an opportunity to have free access to observe how your competition interacts with their customers.