Open Access Fibre - How "open" is it?

David

David

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Have been doing a lot of reading on FTTH and researching the various players in the Open Access Fibre space, in an effort to try to better understand FTTH and what open access really means. in the European FTTH handbook, they describe open access as follows:

"The term “open access” implies a resource that is made available to clients, other than the owner, on
fair and non-discriminatory terms; in other words, the price for access is the same for all clients and
is hopefully less than the cost of building a separate infrastructure...."

It goes on to describe the differences between Passive open access infrastructure and Active open access infrastructures. (Page 16 for those interested in reading this document)

Based on this, I am starting to wonder just how "open" open actually is and are all the various players, currently given equal "rights" to the various open access infrastructure owners networks?

Also I am sure their are ICASA license of some sort in place between various players in this space, so does anyone know what would differentiate a Open Access Infrastructure owner from and actual ISP?
 
As far as I can tell in SA there is no Open Access fibre yet. The companies running fibre infrastructure "pre-select" who can offer layer2 fibre-services or who can be an ISP on their layer2 fibre service. If a service provider puts fibre down, you as a customer can not just decide on any ISP. I am sure that this will change over time (was not different during the early ADSL days).
 
MagicDude4Eva said:
As far as I can tell in SA there is no Open Access fibre yet. The companies running fibre infrastructure "pre-select" who can offer layer2 fibre-services or who can be an ISP on their layer2 fibre service. If a service provider puts fibre down, you as a customer can not just decide on any ISP. I am sure that this will change over time (was not different during the early ADSL days).
Click to expand...

This text is taken directly off the Vumatel Website:

"The Vumatel fibre network is open access which means that the infrastructure is available to Internet Service Providers (ISPs) on equal terms. This results in healthy competition ensuring that you get the best deal at the end of the day."

And this comes from the FiberHoods Website:

"Open Access means all Internet Service Providers that wish to make use of the fibre infrastructure will have the ability to do so. This will mean, should you wish to continue with your existing internet package from your current provider, all you will need to do is switch to the Fibrehood Network. In order for a service provider to make use of the fibre infrastructure, each service provider will have to sign agreements with Fibrehoods, we are in the process of adding more service providers in the near future."

And this text taken from the Metro Fibre Webiste:

"Metrofibre owns and manages South Africa’s first globally compliant Carrier Ethernet 2.0 (CE 2.0) open access fibre network, connecting over 60 cloud, application, voice and Internet service providers with their customers. Our CE 2.0 Carrier Class open access fibre network with ultra-high speed and low latency connections help businesses to gain the maximum value from cutting-edge technologies and is ideally suited to support the most demanding cloud applications, next generation data centre connectivity, high speed file transfer and business continuity solutions."
 
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David said:
This text is taken directly off the Vumatel Website:

"The Vumatel fibre network is open access which means that the infrastructure is available to Internet Service Providers (ISPs) on equal terms. This results in healthy competition ensuring that you get the best deal at the end of the day."

And this text taken from the Metro Fibre Webiste:

"Metrofibre owns and manages South Africa’s first globally compliant Carrier Ethernet 2.0 (CE 2.0) open access fibre network, connecting over 60 cloud, application, voice and Internet service providers with their customers. Our CE 2.0 Carrier Class open access fibre network with ultra-high speed and low latency connections help businesses to gain the maximum value from cutting-edge technologies and is ideally suited to support the most demanding cloud applications, next generation data centre connectivity, high speed file transfer and business continuity solutions."
Click to expand...

It's true with Vuma.. Fought onto Metro too
 
I want to stay with Afrihost, but getting Vuma fibre. Afrihist say they can't help me :(
Not sure how "open" this is then?

Must ISPs pay some kind of connection/joining fee to have access to "open access" fibre?
 
ab-user said:
I want to stay with Afrihost, but getting Vuma fibre. Afrihist say they can't help me :(
Not sure how "open" this is then?

Must ISPs pay some kind of connection/joining fee to have access to "open access" fibre?
Click to expand...

That is not Vuma's fault, Afrihost are welcome to join Vumatel (any ISP can), they (Afrihost) have just chosen not to.
Go Vuma and Crystalweb and get on with life :-)

Must ISPs pay some kind of connection/joining fee to have access to "open access" fibre?
Click to expand...

Joining networks like Vuma are WAY! cheaper than say the Telkom/IPC ridiculousness, so that is not why Afrihost have not joined yet, more likely a logistical issue
 
eddief1 said:
That is not Vuma's fault, Afrihost are welcome to join Vumatel (any ISP can), they (Afrihost) have just chosen not to.
Go Vuma and Crystalweb and get on with life :-)



Joining networks like Vuma are WAY! cheaper than say the Telkom/IPC ridiculousness, so that is not why Afrihost have not joined yet, more likely a logistical issue
Click to expand...

Or Political!
 
ab-user said:
I want to stay with Afrihost, but getting Vuma fibre. Afrihist say they can't help me :(
Not sure how "open" this is then?

Must ISPs pay some kind of connection/joining fee to have access to "open access" fibre?
Click to expand...

As far as I know, the ISP pays VUMA a fixed fee per month for each line they have on the network. ie if you have 1 line, you pay R350, 2 lines = R700 etc. The usage on the line does not matter. I think faster lines will cost slightly more than slower lines, but I am not sure.

As for connection fee, I believe they do charge the ISP a once off fee per line, but this is only R1000, DJ explained it in another thread
 
eddief1 said:
That is not Vuma's fault, Afrihost are welcome to join Vumatel (any ISP can), they (Afrihost) have just chosen not to.
Go Vuma and Crystalweb and get on with life :-)



Joining networks like Vuma are WAY! cheaper than say the Telkom/IPC ridiculousness, so that is not why Afrihost have not joined yet, more likely a logistical issue
Click to expand...

We tried to join Vuma, Neil told us to wait few months..
 
For the smaller players, getting access to another ISP through "Open Access" fibre can prove to be a complete mission due to the consumer having to contact their chosen ISP and request that they interact with the "Open Access" fibre provider in order to provide services. Usually any ISP won't bother with this and will simply turn customers away.
 
I think the whole Open-access scenario will eventually get to where it needs to be. From the provider or main ISP's perspective they also need to know the new, potential chosen ISP has the means to provide an adequate service over their fibre infrastructure. Agreements must be signed, the providers network has to be configured and setup so as to cater for the new ISP, procedures need to be worked out between the 2 parties etc....
There's a number of details that have to be addressed - its not as easy as 'hey your an ISP, well feel free to use my network'. Having said that I think the Open-Access fundamentals are there - don't forget another paramount feature is the ability to switch from an under-performing ISP to another just like that. You may not be able to choose ANY ISP but its getting there. I have been employed with Metrofibre for 9 months and in that time the list of approved ISP's has gone from 2 to 8! So it does also take time to build everything up to 'true open access'
 
I know in our fibre project an ISP needs to be able to handle the support well. No garage IPSs allowed.
 
Not sure about this information, but perhaps the ISP's that are following this thread can verify: I was told that the signup process to choose an ISP and get internet access for FTTH on Vumatel is as follows:

1. Vumatel comes and installs the fibre and the ONT.
2. Once this is done, their are some tests etc and then they will inform you that all is good and you are ready to go.
3. Then you need to connect your PC or Laptop directly to the ONT, I assume with ethernet or wireless if the device has WiFi.
4. Once connected you go the Vumatel page and look for the ISP options, then choose your ISP of choice, and signup.
5. Once all signed up and verified the ISP will then pre-configure a router and send it to you.
6. Once you receive the router you plug it into your ONT (I assume) and off you go??

Apparently this is the only way for the FTTH user to signup for a ISP of choice? IS this true??
 
David said:
Not sure about this information, but perhaps the ISP's that are following this thread can verify: I was told that the signup process to choose an ISP and get internet access for FTTH on Vumatel is as follows:

1. Vumatel comes and installs the fibre and the ONT.
2. Once this is done, their are some tests etc and then they will inform you that all is good and you are ready to go.
3. Then you need to connect your PC or Laptop directly to the ONT, I assume with ethernet or wireless if the device has WiFi.
4. Once connected you go the Vumatel page and look for the ISP options, then choose your ISP of choice, and signup.
5. Once all signed up and verified the ISP will then pre-configure a router and send it to you.
6. Once you receive the router you plug it into your ONT (I assume) and off you go??

Apparently this is the only way for the FTTH user to signup for a ISP of choice? IS this true??
Click to expand...

Yes, you need to use the VUMA portal to sign up, that is correct. But you can choose all the isp's and products from there, and 15minutes after sign up, your internet is working.
 
DERoestorf said:
Yes, you need to use the VUMA portal to sign up, that is correct. But you can choose all the isp's and products from there, and 15minutes after sign up, your internet is working.
Click to expand...

So then you don't need another router from the chosen ISP?
 
The important point to appreciate is that, unlike with copper and ADSL, specific FTTH equipment is required (ONT) to allow access to the fibre.

THEN on top of that you may (in most cases) also require a router specified or supported by your chosen ISP. It depends on what you want to do as well.

I notice that somewhere on the forum, MickeyD did create a thread about FTTH and the technologies currently available. The references he posted in that thread are well worth a read .

BTW, World Wide, "FTTB" does NOT stand for "Fibre to the Business", but stand for "Fibre To The Building".

FTTC - Fibre To The Curb
FTTB - Fibre To The Building
FTTH - Fibre To The Home
FTTx - Fibre to wherever you want it to go to
 
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