Estate Living Digital Publication Issue 11 November 2015 | Page 65

incumbent. That is not truly open either.If an operator is
sharing their network using this thing called ‘bitstream’
then again that is not open access. You can’t see a
supermarket of services to pick from. Yes, you can change
to another provider but the pricing can be prohibitive
for them and even if you do change, then you’re stuck
with the new provider. Ask the following questions of
any potential Open Access provider to understand their
offering more fully and avoid painful mistakes.
1. Can multiple different service providers deliver
services at the same time over the network?
2. Can end users see these services and select freely
from them?
3. Can service providers create new services and easily
add them to the offers presented in the online services
supermarket to end users themselves without the
need for assistance? (E.g. in an open access network,
an ISP should be able to create and add a new service
such as a 100 meg package to their list of offers and
this be presented to end users automatically without
software development or the third party help)
4. Can the estate development and management
add their own IP based services to the system such as
CCTV cameras? This is important as some operators
just want to put their own services on and not help
the developer with security, access control and other
applications. True Open Access makes adding these
things easy.
5. Is the software already developed, stable and
proven at scale? If not, selecting this provider risks
the classic IT problem in telecoms of long delays,
high costs and lots of problems. That won’t make a
Residents Association very happy or popular.
6. Can we see a demonstration of a deployment
with multiple service providers and services please?
Simple, but it’s better to see a live demonstration of
a working system than mere promises in a proposal.
7. Can we talk to some existing customers please?
Again, a good Open Access partner will be happy to
let you talk to customers.
8. Do different services providers pay the same price
for accessing the network? It is all too easy for a
big telco to cross-subsidise services to disadvantage
competitors. E.g. they could charge a rental for the
fibre to other operators that are 90% of the retail
price – making it impossible for any other operator to
compete.

9. Can you explain what hardware choices you have
made and how these help deliver high performance
and uptimes? Some components last 75 years
between failures while 50% of some pieces can fail
in three years. Better to know that your provider has
thought of this and is choosing wisely.
10. Will the system be capable in the future of
offering/ delivering multiple HD (and one day UHD)
TV services to end-users?
This is a trap. If they are choosing to use GPON
(Gigabit Passive Optical Networks) then quite simply
they won’t be able to. In Sweden, the home of Open
Access, there is not one Open Access operator using
GPON. All use Active Ethernet.
11. Can we understand how you will maintain the
network?
12. Does the business model mean the provider is
committed to the development in the long term or
can they run away early (e.g. if you paid for everything
up front)?
13. What track record does the provider have? Better
to work with someone that has seen and done it all
before.
Today the telecommunications industry looks very
different to what it did a decade ago and there are
many telecommunications operators and service
providers to choose from, and many companies can
offer you a next generation broadband network.
Fibre Optic with open access network, opens door to
consumer self-empowerment, and validates the smart
community concept. The smart community concept is
so much greater than operating your CCTV from your
mobile. It is the opportunity to take education to rural
areas, can positively affect deurbanisation and over
population for city hubs, provide opportunities for
tertiary education to households that cannot afford
classic tertiary education,even with the #feesmustfall
campaign.
Smart Living is a open forum to discuss relevant and
topical information as it pertains to the residential
community. Please contact us should you wish to
participate in the discussion or if you have a