Characteristics of FTTH Development in China
Currently, China ranks among the world's leading countries in EPON technology research. As a major project under the national "863" Program, EPON has achieved breakthroughs in key technologies and reduced costs, thereby gaining the initiative in subsequent commercialization and enabling domestic EPON equipment to achieve significant development in applications. In terms of standardization, China is also formulating specifications and standards for EPON equipment interoperability and network management.
To meet the rapidly growing demand, TC6WP2 of the China Communications Standards Association (CCSA) has already conducted research on [FTTH](
Characteristics of FTTH development in China:
- Significant cost reduction
The price of optical modules has dropped from 1,000–2,000 RMB a few years ago to the current 200–300 RMB; the price of optical fiber has dropped from 1.2 RMB/meter a few years ago to the current 0.1 RMB/meter; ASIC chips have dropped by 30%–40%; the cost of GPON has declined from 2,500 RMB/line in 2004 to the current 1,500 RMB/line; the cost and usage fees of FTTH will reach levels close to or even the same as ADSL. This has laid the foundation for the large-scale development of FTTH.
- Strong potential market demand
User demand for bandwidth, IPTV services, high-definition digital TV services, etc., requires 20 Mbit/s of bandwidth for transmission, and the bandwidth of access methods such as ADSL can no longer meet business requirements. Therefore, FTTH will have tremendous room for development.
- Huge industrial market scale
If China's future FTTH subscriber count is calculated at 100 million, the market scale for related equipment and terminals will reach 150 billion RMB; telecom operator service revenue will approach 150 billion RMB annually; the associated price radiation effect will drive 50–100 billion RMB annually in related products, totaling approximately 200–280 billion RMB. Within the next 10 years, China's total FTTH market scale may exceed 1,000 billion RMB.
- Profound impact on the national economy
China's large-scale FTTH construction requires substantial quantities of optical fiber, optoelectronic devices, optical transmission equipment, and system equipment, which will greatly stimulate related manufacturing industries and drive the rapid development of the entire industrial chain, especially the optical communications industry and the electronic information industry. This will therefore have a profound impact on China's entire national economy.
- Fiber getting closer to users
Operators' fiber network construction aims to achieve FTTN (Fiber to the Node), FTTP (Fiber to the Premises), and [FTTH](
Main factors triggering the rapid development of FTTH:
- Government policy factors
Governments in many countries have introduced strong policies to promote the rapid deployment of broadband. In many Asian countries such as Japan, regulations are formulated around encouraging investment in fiber optic networks, greatly promoting the development of FTTH. China should learn from foreign experience in developing FTTH.
- Economic factors
Currently, many local exchange carriers and incumbent operators worldwide have begun to choose [FTTH](
- Technical factors
Numerous high-bandwidth applications such as mobile video, IPTV, and online gaming remain the driving force behind the growth of the PON market. The global number of PON subscribers will also grow from 4.1 million in 2005 to 38 million in 2009. PON is called a "passive" network because active components (amplifiers, optical transceivers, transmission medium converters, etc.) exist only at the two ends of the network (i.e., the CO and the subscriber end), and its characteristics and advantages are favored.
(1) Power sharing
The efficiency of PON lies in power sharing, where the same optical signal is shared by multiple users. The optical power provided by the CO or CPE must compensate for all losses, including all components, connectors, splices, and the fiber itself, and must also have sufficient margin for the receiver to receive the signal.
(2) Single-point maintenance in the network
With a single OTDR, testing can be performed in both directions from the local convergence point (LCP) to the CO/HE and from the LCP to the subscriber premises, enabling single-point maintenance.
In addition, the advantages of high splitter port utilization, low coupler/splitter port cost, and minimal optical loss are also prominent.
Looking at domestic and international development experience, although FTTH technology represented by GPON has the greatest development potential, GPON equipment is currently still relatively expensive and difficult to promote on a large scale domestically. China is a developing country with generally low consumption levels of telecommunications products, and FTTH promotion is still in its infancy. Therefore, selecting FTTH technology suited to China's national conditions is crucial to promoting the popularization of FTTH in China. The approach combining fiber-based Ethernet access technology with copper wire transmission technology, namely EPON technology for FTTN combined with DSL access, will become the primary broadband access method in China due to its relative maturity and low cost, as well as its ability to provide stable high-speed broadband service access and powerful service management capabilities. Developing and utilizing FTTH to achieve triple play will promote the rapid development of related manufacturing, online services, and service businesses, drive online services to expand in breadth and depth, and bring unlimited business opportunities to all links of the industrial value chain.