In what appears to be a major switch in policy, an NBN Co executive has said the company may use so-called skinny fibre to upgrade its fibre-to-the-node (FttN) areas to fibre-to-the-distribution-point/curb (FttDP/FttC) network technology in future.
“If we choose to deliver FttC in an area served by FttN, all we need to do is link into the fibre that is already serving the cabinet and then – with a very small amount of work at the nearby pit – we can run ‘skinny fibre’ from that pit through existing ducting into the streets to deploy FttC,” NBN chief network engineering officer Peter Ryan explained. “We run that fibre into the distribution point units (DPUs) in the telecom pit in front of people’s homes and connect into the existing copper line serving the home.”
NBN Co CEO Bill Morrow last year told media that skinny fibre’s obviously smaller diameter means it can be fed through ducts a lot easier. “It’s not as complex: you don’t have the cabinet that sits on the street,” he told ZDNet.
“It goes underground, so there’s far less civil works, and that’s what enables us to do it cheaper, and four weeks faster, than what it typically takes.”
