Kitz Forum
Announcements => News Articles => Topic started by: Bowdon on March 08, 2018, 10:51:31 AM
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https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2018/03/openreachs-uk-dark-fibre-alternative-to-launch-3rd-april-2018.html (https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2018/03/openreachs-uk-dark-fibre-alternative-to-launch-3rd-april-2018.html)
Openreach’s new Optical Spectrum Access product (OSA Filter Connect / FSP3000), which has been created as a sort of soft alternative to Ofcom’s stalled Dark Fibre Access (DFA) solution, will officially be made available to ISPs from 3rd April 2018 and initially offer data speeds of around 10-20Gbps.
The operator was originally due to launch a DFA product last year, which would have enabled rivals to gain “physical access” to Openreach’s existing fibre optic cables (i.e. allowing them to install their own equipment at either end of a fibre within cable ducts). But this plan was cancelled after BT won a legal challenge against Ofcom’s “incorrect” market definitions) and as a result the regulator is currently having to re-run their Business Connectivity Review (i.e. they’ll try DFA again).
In the meantime Openreach has prepared a new OSA Filter Connect product, which is a kind of virtual (grey) dark fibre style solution where ISPs connect their own active equipment alongside managed wavelengths on a common OSA bearer. Some ISPs see this as being an “inadequate alternative” to Ofcom’s DFA proposal but others have shown more interest.