Fault management and service provisioning process model of next generation access networks

Network operators are nowadays upgrading their access networks to cope with the increasing number of users and the increasing bandwidth required by services. However, cost plays a crucial factor. In order to decide which next generation access network will be implemented, an accurate cost evaluation should be performed. This evaluation requires a total cost of ownership model including a detailed model of the most costly operational processes: fault management and customer provisioning. These models help identifying the most costly sub-processes, where network providers should improve their cost efficiency. This paper presents detailed models for these operational processes and gives an approach to use them for estimating future operational costs

Stimulating green FTTH networks using home router virtualization

Telecom networks consume a considerable amount of electrical energy and according to the environmental guidelines, just as other businesses, telecom should aim at continuously lowering this consumption. Still in a telecom network a lot of the energy consumption is hidden under the radar, as a large part of the energy consumption is caused by the customer premises equipment (CPE), often installed by the network operator. As this equipment is consuming energy from the customer's side, the telecom operator is not confronted with the energy consumption of this equipment. This also means that the operator gains by any reduction in the cost of the CPE, regardless of whether this involves the installation of less energy efficient equipment. In this paper we investigate the use of a bridged CPE solution and a home router virtualization network solution, in which part of the functionality of a CPE is moved into the network operator equipment and as such reduce the energy consumption by equipment aggregation and specialization. In this paper, we show that this will at the same time reduce costs and as such could be a positive action for the operator, simultaneously reducing the power consumption of the CPE. On top of this bridged CPE, the incentives required to stimulate operators to introduce more energy efficient CPE equipment faster in the network are estimated. Finally, by means of game theory, we propose a method to investigate how the incentives should be placed in order to stimulate green FTTH massive deployments

Optimized synergy in FTTH infrastructure deployment: pragmatic as well as structural approaches

Underground installation of utility infrastructures such as energy and telecoms is prevalent in large parts of Europe. As this labor-intensive trenching comprises 70% - 80% of deployment cost, the overall investment for Fiber-to-the-Home installations can be significant. Important reductions in these costs are possible by performing road works in synergy. With the increased level of detail in the geographical information bases containing all information on the installation per operator, opportunities for synergies are easier to spot and could lead to very important reductions in the operators' costs. Policy measures recently also give a lot of focus in facilitating the rollout of high-speed broadband networks and cross-utility coordination. Several approaches can be considered to really capture potential savings and benefits in the deployment phase. This paper discusses pragmatic as well as structural approaches towards deployment cost optimization based on synergetic rollout schemes