African telecom operator Safaricom has selected Huawei to deploy a fiber to the home (FTTH) network in Kenya – as part of its strategy to enter home broadband market.
Safaricom will be utilizing Huawei’s end-to-end (E2E) FTTH solution to rapidly deploy the FTTH network and expand its capability to new home broadband services.
The investment in the fixed broadband by Safaricom is expected to enhance the rate of broadband penetration which is lower than 1 percent in Kenya. At present, telecoms are not failing to meet the network requirements of home and enterprise users.
Safaricom has many challenges in the Kenyan fixed broadband market. Main challenges include scattered user distribution, high network construction costs, and low early phase service provisioning rates and revenues.
“By using Huawei’s E2E FTTH solution, we can quickly build the FTTH network. We are keen to broaden the development space for new fixed broadband services,” said Thibuad Rerolle, director of technology at Safaricom.
For precise investment, based on the idea of value-oriented network construction, Safaricom uses analytics to determine network rollout in line with customer demand as its first step. Safaricom deploys Huawei’s E2E FTTH solution to achieve efficient network construction and operation.
Safaricom can utilize existing metropolitan area network (MAN) optical cables and preferentially use aerial cables. Through the synergy of fixed broadband optical distribution networks (ODNs) and mobile backhaul networks, Safaricom can deploy mini optical line terminals (OLTs) and wireless base stations in the same cabinet, decreasing network construction costs.
Huawei said its lightweight mini operations support system (OSS) helps Safaricom to reduce the system integration period and complete deployment within only three months, down from 18 months.
Huawei also provides a smartphone App that integrates installation, maintenance, and operations, supporting on-site service provisioning and acceptance, shortening service provisioning period from two weeks to less than 48 hours, and doubling installation rates.
“The top challenge that operators face is shortening the ROI period. To solve this challenge, Huawei released the E2E FTTH solution. It features precise investment, fast network construction, quick service provisioning, and efficient O&M, enabling operators to shorten the ROI period and achieve business success,” said Jeff Wang, president of Huawei’s Access Network Product Line.
Huawei has provided ultra broadband (UBB) access services for 500 million home users around the world.
