BT Openreach (NYSE: BT) has decided to employ the help of ECI for its aggressive Fiber to the X (FTTX) deployment program.
Under the terms of the $800 million deal, ECI will provide its Hi-FOCUS Multi-Service Access Node (MSAN) for Openreach's Fiber to the Premise (FTTP) and Fiber to the Cabinet (FTTC) network in addition to customer premise equipment, street cabinets and service integration and commissioning. Set to begin this July-August, ECI will help Openreach deploy the FTTX equipment to serve up to 18 million households.
As the wholesale arm of BT, Openreach will be able to leverage the ECI MSAN to support multiple wholesale service provider customers that would offer services to end-customers through the same access fiber loop.
Openreach has ambitious goals for its FTTX network. By 2015, the service provider said it would invest another $2.5 billion to extend FTTP and FTTC to about two thirds of Britain. In preparation for the 2012 Olympics, BT Openreach has also stepped up both its respective FTTC and FTTP deployment schedules.
For more:
- see the release here
- Reuters has this article
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BT raises bar for its FTTX plans
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