Openreach selects Viavi to automate testing fibre broadband

Openreach has selected Viavi Solutions to automate testing the quality and speed of the Openreach Full Fibre broadband network using Fusion, a virtual performance monitoring system.
Fusion will deliver an on-demand network speedometer, showing near real-time views of the speeds that end users can achieve. This will be the first time that proactive network testing of end user speeds has been deployed in fibre access networks across the UK independent of the customer’s internet connection.

VIAVI Fusion incorporates both hardware and software, which will isolate and troubleshoot faults on the network. Diagnostics will be automated for any issues as they’re raised by Openreach’s Communications Provider (CPs) customers.

Customer service will be enhanced as contact center procedures will be automated, equipping operators with near real-time test results for rapid pass/fail interpretation. This allows troubleshooting to be focused on the root cause, whether inside the Openreach network, or back with the CPs.

Openreach said its broadband usage has more than doubled with 50,000 Petabytes (PB) of data being consumed. The customer base of Full Fibre broadband has reached over 1.5 million customers to-date.

“The deployment of VIAVI’s automated testing solution is one part of the technical innovative solutions we’ve adapted to help determine potential issues we detect on our network in near real-time or when a request comes through from our CP customers,” Trevor Linney, Network Technology Director at Openreach said.

Openreach in March 2021 confirmed that it was using the VIAVI Optical Network Monitoring System (ONMSi) for remote testing of its network.

Openreach is on track to reach 25 million premises by December 2026 with current footprint of 6.5 million homes and businesses, including 2 million in rural areas across the UK.