The challenges of fiberisation
The challenges of fiberisation
The challenges of fiberisation
The challenges of fiberisation ,ahead of India’s 5G deployment
Why are optical fibre cables necessary for accessing 5G technology?
The story so far: India is preparing to auction off about 72 Ghz of airwaves to rollout 5G services in the country. However, the infrastructure needed for such a rollout requires existing radio towers to be connected via opticalfibre cables.
What is fiberiation?--The process of connecting radio towers with each other via optical fibre cables is called fiberisation.It helps provide full utilisation of network capacity, and carry large amounts of data once 5G services are rolled out with backhaul support.
The backhaul is a component of the larger transport that is responsible for carrying data across the network. It represents the part of the network that connects the core of the network to the edge. As a result, fibre backhaul remains an important part of transport across all telecoms.
Fibrebased media, commonly called optical media, provides almost infinite bandwidth and coverage, low latency and high insulation from interference.
With 5G, it will also be necessary to increase the density of mobile towers to provide better coverage to consumers and businesses. This calls for increased requirements for fibre Deployment.
To transition into 5G, India needs at least 16 times more fibre, according to estimates by STL, a technology company specialised in optical fibers and cables.
In India, currently only 33% of the towers are fiberised, compared to the 65%70% in South Korea and 80%90% in the U.S., Japan and China, according to a 2021 report by India Infrastructure Research.
The fibre kilometer (fkm) per capita in India is lower than other key markets. Ideally, a country needs 1.3 km of fibre per capita to ensure good fiberisation. India’s fkm is just .09 compared to 1.35 in Japan, 1.34 in the U.S. and 1.3 in China, the report noted.
There is also a need to increase data capacity in the fiberised towers. These tower sites which are connected via fibre are called fibre point of presence (POP)
challenges-
To reach the targeted level of fiberisation, India requires about ₹2.2 lakh crore of investment to help fiberise 70% towers.
About 2.5 lakh crore will be needed to set up 15 lakh towers in the next four years, according to estimates by the National Broadband Mission and Cellular Operator Association of India (COAI). Government programmes like BharatNet and Smart Cities will further add to the demand of fibre deployment, necessitating a complete tower fiberisation.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his 2020 Independence Day speech, laid out the vision to connect every village in the country with optical fiber cable (OFC) in 1,000 days.
One of the biggest issues in the way of fiberisation remains the Right of Way (RoW) rules. The DoT’s GatiShakti Sanchar online portal as a way to simplify RoW approvals and help deploy cables for 5G. This initiative will enable centralisation of RoW approvals for telecom infrastructure projects, including 5G and help operators to deploy required infrastructure for the upcoming 5G rollout in a timely manner.
Satellite communication- can provide highcapacity backhaul connectivity to large numbers of edge servers over wide areas, thereby complementing the terrestrial network with costeffective scalability, but not feasible to deploy terrestrial infrastructure like remote villages, islands or mountainous regions.
Satellitebased networks are the only means for delivering 5G broadband to users on board moving vessels, including cars, ships, airplanes and highspeed trains. In addition, spacebased broadcast capabilities support overtheair software updates for connected cars anywhere in the world.
Spacebased backhaul will also provide disaster relief services, support emergency response teams as well as deliver broadband connectivity for oneoff entertainment or sports events anywhere in the world,
The lowEarth Orbit (LEO) satellites will be wellsuited to offer not only backhaul, but also direct connectivity. As the 5G standard is adopted, new markets will open up for satellite operators, including IoT, private 5G, and cellular backhaul for densification to enable more cell sites and edge devices