SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Verizon Communications Inc.'s "VP of transformation" Sowmyanarayan Sampath has told the Genband Perspectives 2015 conference that migrating its central offices from copper to fiber enables huge savings:
Verizon has transformed only seven of its central offices from copper to fiber, but the benefits realized from the first seven have convinced it to do the same with its remaining 2,000-plus central offices. [...] The numbers, as Sampath broke them down, are pretty compelling. Verizon has 50 million square feet of CO real estate today, he said, 60% to 80% of which it does not need. It can take these locations down from 13 floors to only one or two, bringing about cost savings by paying less property tax and leasing the space for other usage.
And fiber has proven to be 70% to 90% more reliable than copper depending on the typology, he said. Verizon can pass some of the savings on to the customer. Overall, Verizon ends up realizing about 60% savings in dispatches and about 60% savings in energy and is able to create new revenues from upgrading its customers.
As to why Verizon is taking on this huge project now, at a time when no one is complaining about their copper networks, he said it's because copper revenue declines 8% to 10% every year and remains a fixed cost. The transition takes out a huge amount of cost for the carrier.
"The copper network today does not serve the need of our customers," Sampath said. "This is our way of truly transforming the network."
Verizon also plans to switch to fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) for all of its customers. The Register has this extra tidbit for Australians:
Regarding maintenance, Vulture South notes Australia's telecommunications minister Malcolm Turnbull has posted a "FTTN myth-busting" FAQ that states "No telecommunications company in the world has identified avoided copper maintenance costs as a compelling reason for deploying FTTP". That statement is no longer true. Turnbull's also often suggested to the Australian media that it consider overseas broadband rollouts as they represent useful experiences with which to consider development of Australia's National Broadband Network (NBN). The Reg has contacted Turnbull's office seeking comment on Verizon's experience.
(Score: 1) by danaris on Wednesday May 20 2015, @07:05PM
Verizon also plans to switch to fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) for all of its customers.
If this is true, that would be a huge shift in their policies, and an amazing boon to those of us frustrated with the lack of meaningful choice in ISP.
I mean, yeah, sure, it's Verizon, so I'm not expecting them to actually care about their customers, but even having another option above DSL-over-ancient-copper speeds should be enough to cause Time Warner's prices to drop, even if I don't actually end up switching.
Now, the real question is, first off, is there a source for this? It doesn't appear to be explicitly stated in the linked article. Secondly, will they actually do it? I don't mind waiting another 5-10 years for fiber if there's an actual promise it's going to come...to the relatively rural area of Upstate NY that I live in.
Dan Aris
(Score: 3, Funny) by bob_super on Wednesday May 20 2015, @07:35PM
Their plan is to support the right politicians, so that the US infrastructure crumbles. Step 2 is then to dig the trenches to actually route millions of miles of FTTP fiber down the streets. The initial cost of politicians is easily recovered from the easier digging, as well as "it was shitty before I started, don't ask me to level and repave" savings.
This plan is approved by your friendly neighborhood tire shop.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 21 2015, @09:02AM
That's not the optimal solution. The optimal solution is to tell the state: "This street urgently needs repaving; if you pay us enough for it [translation: more than it costs], we can do this repaving for you. Oh, and while we at it, we want to lay our fibers.
So you not only don't have to pay for the new pavement, no you even get extra money for it. And you can tell the public that you've improved both the communication and the road infrastructure, what better marketing could you hope for?
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday May 20 2015, @07:51PM
LightReading:
The Register:
I didn't want anyone to get too excited, so I didn't put in the headline and stuck it in the middle.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by CoolHand on Thursday May 21 2015, @01:38PM
Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job-Douglas Adams