Cincinnati Bell employs Calix's C7 for its VDSL2 expansion effort

Cincinnati Bell (NYSE: CBB) has selected Calix's (NYSE: CALX) C7 Multiservice Access Platform (MSAP) as the platform of choice in expanding the hybrid copper/fiber-based VDSL2 portion of its Fioptics service initiative.

Calix C7 MSAP in use by Cincinnati Bell

Calix's C7 MSAP.

Upon completion of the VDSL2 rollout, Fioptics service will reach over 150,000 homes in southwestern Ohio and northern Kentucky.

Initially, Cincinnati Bell will use the C7 will be for VDSL2, but the platform can be upgraded to support GPON-based services.

In June, Cincinnati Bell decided that the best way to expand its Fioptics service would be to use its existing copper network in places where it was still viable. By leveraging its existing copper network to deliver IPTV, it will be able to reach three times as many homes today than it can deliver over fiber.

Serving as a complement to Cincinnati Bell's ongoing Fiber to the Premises (FTTP) drive, the use of VDSL2 will enable the service provider to reach an additional 70,000 homes with its Fioptics broadband and video service. The VDSL2 rollout will complement the 80,000 homes in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky that Cincinnati Bell has already passed with FTTP.

Jeff Carr, Cincinnati Bell's CTO, who was, interestingly, one of the technologists who helped build the telco's Zoomtown (Cincinnati Bell's DSL product) in the late 1990s, said that VDSL2 gives it another option to deliver higher speed broadband (up to 40-50 Mbps) and video to more customers.   

"If you're willing to (use) both copper and fiber, you're not subscribing to the FiOS versus U-verse mentality," he said in an interview with FierceTelecom. "Cincinnati Bell does not have the scale of Verizon (or) AT&T so we have to maximize our ability to use that stuff."

When the VDSL2 connection gets to the home, Cincinnati Bell is deploying two home gateways by bonding two copper lines.

"From a bonding standpoint, we're putting in two lines right now with just two home gateways," Carr said. "I have a two line solution and anyone that wants to buy 20 Mbps Internet service will get two lines with entertainment, and when the CPE that supports bonding comes out we'll go ahead and replace the CPE."

For more:
- see the release

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