GPON contest moves to 2006 second half

Those who expected Bell carriers to select suppliers for anticipated gigabit passive optical networking (GPON) deployments by the end of this year’s first half have been disappointed. Some suspect the timetable for the selection process has elongated, though Verizon Communications dismissed the notion.

“Although a topic of debate, we suspect the [GPON equipment vendor] selection process has slid out by several months,” Morgan Keegan analyst Simon Leopold wrote in a research note based on conversations with equipment vendors at last week’s Globalcomm trade show.

A Verizon Communications spokesman confirmed that final selection of GPON equipment suppliers has not yet been made but added that the expectation among some of a decision on that front in the first half of this year was merely industry “speculation.” Verizon never publicly specified such a timetable, the spokesman said.

The Verizon spokesman reiterated the company’s plan to begin deploying GPON either “later this year” or in next year’s first quarter. Final selection of GPON equipment vendors, he said, would take place “sometime between now and then.”

Three months ago, Verizon’s technology director Vincent O’Byrne said the GPON request for proposals issued jointly by the country’s three biggest telecom carriers late last year included a requirement that products be generally available by April 3, 2006. Verizon wants to deploy the technology “as soon as possible,” O’Byrne said then.

That same month, analysts were speculating that the list of potential Bell GPON suppliers had narrowed to five: Alcatel, Hitachi Telecom USA, Motorola, Tellabs and Entrisphere (partnered with Ericsson). Equipment vendors have generally declined comment on the process, citing non-disclosure agreements with the Bells.

If it exists, any drag on the timetable for GPON vendor selection could benefit both Tellabs and Motorola, whose roles supplying Verizon’s current PON deployment would be theoretically extended. It might further suit Tellabs, whose GPON gear (unveiled for the first time last week) doesn’t become generally available until sometime in this year’s second half. It could also improve both Tellabs’ and Motorola’s chances of getting their GPON gear “caught up” to those from Entrisphere and Alcatel, Leopold wrote. Entrisphere formally announced its entry into the GPON space in March of this year. Alcatel did so in May 2005.