Cincinnati Bell gets its GPON grove on

Cincinnati Bell may be a bit less vocal than its larger ILEC counterpart Verizon around its FiOS Fiber to the Home (FTTH) drive, but it appears to be making progress. The Ohio-based service provider announced it will use Motorola's GPON, edge modulation, encryptor and encoding video solutions for its FTTH network. Over the Fioptics network, Cincinnati Bell currently offers users three competitively-priced bundled packages: Deluxe TV with DVR and 10 Mbps Internet for $75 a month; digital TV with DVR and 10 Mbps for $85 a month; and Digital TV with DVR, 10 Mbps Internet and unlimited calling for $95 a month.    

Cincinnati Bell is currently rolling out its FTTH services to single-family and multi dwelling units (MDUs) throughout its southern Ohio and Kentucky markets and will use the GPON and associated video equipment to expand its broadband and video services reach. Specifically, Cincinnati Bell will leverage Motorola's AXS2200 optical line terminal (OLT) and the 1 GHz capable ONT1400 single-family optical network terminal (ONT) and Motorola ONT6000 for MDU environments. Similar to Verizon, Cincinnati Bell is also leveraging an RF video approach so the Motorola equipment, which supports both SCTE-55-1 and Motorola RF return path functionality. This equipment can be integrated with Cincinnati Bell's installed base of Motorola STBs.

And while details on the actual FTTH deployment are somewhat lacking, it appears that Cincinnati Bell is placing emphasis on MDUs. "In selecting a next-generation video network solution, we looked for a partner with extensive fiber experience including the proven ability to serve the MDU market," said Darrick Zucco, general manager, Fioptic Services of Cincinnati Bell, in a release.

For more:
- see the release here [1]

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Middleburgh Telephone Company injects fiber into access network [2]
Verizon enhances FTTP reach into MDUs [3]