Power crisis looming?

Telecom power is a little like Rodney Dangerfield … it gets no respect! Well, not really. But, DC power is one of the last elements to be designed into a telecom network, after the packet-this and optical-that systems are selected.

Some recent developments show just how critical, and strategic, telecom power is for running an always-on, any-media broadband network. Consider these examples …

AT&T is betting its broadband future on its U-verse triple-play services. AT&T will deploy 60,000 to 80,000 new VRAD nodes as part of its Project Lightspeed fiber-to-the-node (FTTN) architecture. The VRAD is an outdoor cabinet that houses an IP-DSLAM, fiber and copper cable terminations, and a DC power plant with batteries for 8-hour back-up. The batteries chosen were advanced, and expensive, lithium metal polymer (LMP) units made by now-defunct Avestor. Big problem – the dang batteries kept blowing up the cabinets! AT&T tried to keep it quiet but explosions happened once too often. Now AT&T is replacing around 17,000 Avestor batteries in VRAD cabinets. Better to spend a few million bucks for new batteries than to have your future revenue streams eaten by the cable guys.

Likewise, Verizon is placing its billion dollar broadband bets on FiOS. There have been no explosions, but powering FiOS could still be its Achilles’ heel. Here’s why. FiOS is a passive optical network (PON) with an Optical Line Terminal in the CO and an Optical Network Terminal at the customer’s house with just fiber, and no electronics, between the two. The OLT runs off the CO power plant. A separate power pack, with a 4-hour battery, is installed at the ONT. The battery back-up is there to keep the phone line working for a short time if the utility power fails. The battery is rechargeable; Verizon estimates a battery life of 1-4 years.

When it runs down and is due for replacement, guess who is supposed to change the battery? The customer! Think about this for a minute. Years ago, with deregulation, the telcos got out of the customer premise equipment (CPE) business. Customers could buy phones and plug them into wall jacks. The telco is responsible for operation and maintenance of the telephone line up to the network interface device (NID) on the side of the house. With FiOS, Verizon will not dispatch a technician if the battery fails, only if something happens to the ONT. Verizon pitched FiOS to the industry and Wall St. on the basis of massive opex savings because PON eliminates the electronics, ergo maintenance, in the local loop. With FiOS, Verizon is actually creating millions of potential failure points in its network. Leaving all that in the hands of untrained and unprepared customers is a huge risk that makes no sense, especially in the face of cable alternatives.

Normally, if the utility power goes out and our wired phones stop working, we think we can simply use our cell phones. Not quite! In Hurricanes Rita and Katrina, and the great Northeast blackout of 2003, utility power was out for days, and cell sites too went off the air. Now the FCC wants wireless carriers to double back-up power at cell sites to 8 hours. This way, first responders and emergency service providers still have viable communications (except, of course, if the tower is blown away). Wireless carriers respond well to market conditions, not regulations. So they would rather be left to come up with their own solutions rather than meeting an FCC directive. But skimping on power capex is not the way to go, either.

Whether with more batteries, batteries with generators, or alternative energy sources, powering expansive broadband networks, both wired and wireless, is a critical business decision, not an afterthought. Carriers and suppliers, note bene.

John M. Celentano is President, Skyline Marketing Group, a Baltimore, MD-based, telecom market analysis and consulting firm. He can be reached at john@skylinemarketing.com.