GTA TeleGuam adds another community to its FTTH buildout

Soon even more customers on Guam will be able to get a fiber-based broadband connection as GTA TeleGuam is expanding its Fiber to the Home (FTTH) buildout to the Toto community.

GTA TeleGuam has been aggressively rolling out FTTH services since last October. Reminiscent of the approach AT&T has taken with its FTTX build, the provider is targeting existing homes with a hybrid copper/fiber Fiber to the Node (FTTN) and then targeting Greenfield areas with FTTH. To ensure uptime for basic POTS service in the event of a power outage or typhoon, GTA TeleGuam will maintain existing copper facilities in fiber-fed homes.  

The difference with the Toto community buildout is that unlike the previous FTTH builds that were done underground, GTA TeleGuam will trial an aerial distribution approach. In this trial, the service provider wants to understand how aerial cable stacks up against the typhoon-resistant buried cables it has laid out for the first phase of its FTTH buildout. Building underground fiber facilities, especially in existing areas, can be a time consuming and costly process to secure rights of way and permission to dig up streets.

Lawrence P. Perez, executive VP of operations for GTA TeleGuam, said in a statement that installing aerial cable could potentially help it "accelerate the reach and access" of its FTTH network "to more homes on Guam."   

When the Toto build is completed in October, GTA TeleGuam says it plans to reach about 300 homes and businesses located near Harvest Christian Academy, bringing the total of neighborhood homes passed with FTTH to around 800.

For more:
- see the release here

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