The Telecom Infra Project (TIP) is expanding its work in the wireline space, with its Fixed Broadband (FiBr) Project Group forming a new sub-group aimed at creating open solutions for PON access networks. European operators Telefonica, TIM and Vodafone are leading the effort.
The Open Fixed Access Networks group will primarily focus on developing an open optical line terminal (OLT) that can be deployed in a local exchange environment. The group will issue an RFI before the end of the year to assess the technical capability and readiness of suppliers to create such an offering.
Paolo Pellegrino, Access Innovation Project Manager at TIM, said in a statement “The disaggregation of OLTs represents a valuable opportunity to broaden the telecoms supply chain, which we’ve seen has become more important than ever during recent times.”
This initial effort is part of the group’s broader plan to disaggregate hardware and software to boost interoperability and diversity in the access network.
In its founding Use Case document, the Open Fixed Access Networks group argued disaggregation will help created a healthier and more robust supplier ecosystem and enable operators to unlock operational efficiencies currently unavailable to them. It noted that while many open standards already exist, interoperability remains an issue.
“Poor interoperability between supplier implementations means that operators instead find themselves locked in to homogeneous single-vendor networks, or obligated to follow a time-consuming process of tests and changes to achieve it,” it reads. “These issues mean that the operational costs to manage and operate the network are artificially high, and that operators face a very high cost of change.”
Though it plans to home in on OLTs, the group acknowledged that its interoperability goals will require it to explore additional areas, including “integration points with adjacent ONT/ONUs, as well as integrations and use cases/processes implemented by northbound controllers.”
Announcement of the new sub-group comes nearly a year after TIP launched its FiBr group in November 2021. That project is focused on developing Broadband Network Gateways (BNGs) and technologies for fiber to the home (FTTH) access networks. Telefonica and Vodafone are also leading the FiBr group.