Better understand the fibre optic offers on the market

Last mile connection infrastructure

The "last mile" connection infrastructure, between the NRO and the end customer site, concentrates the structural characteristics that determine the final performance and guarantees mentioned in the contracts. The possible configurations can be summarised as follows:

Delivery of the various fiber products

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In the case of a dedicated optical fiber between the backbone and the NRO (FTTO), several prioritization modes are possible. The priority flow is a standard FTTO offering a symmetrical and guaranteed flow, while the non-priority flow is a FTTO light. The latter is called FTTO access, basic or burst according to the commercial names of the operators. Its price is lower, in spite of SLAs equivalent to the standard FTTO, except for the non-priority flow.

Prioritisation can be effective on different perimeters: voice, television, data, etc.

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BLOD and BLOM

Shared and dedicated local loops, respectively BLOM and BLOD, refer to passive infrastructure networks allowing the connection of users (individual or professional). The BLOM has a shared optical fibre between the NRO and the PM, while the BLOD has a dedicated fibre.

BLOM

From the point of mutualization, the BLOM can remain mutualized and is associated with FTTH services, serving individual homes or buildings. The associated quality of service offers only a GTI (guaranteed response time), and no GTR (guaranteed recovery time).

If the optical fibre becomes dedicated from the pooling point, it is associated with the FTTE service, intended for professionals or small businesses. The quality of service is better than FTTH, thanks to a GTR.

The BLOD

As the optical fiber is dedicated from the NRO to the PM and all the way to the end customer, the quality of service associated with this FTTO offer is higher: it includes GTR, symmetrical throughput, and potentially a throughput guarantee depending on the prioritization of upstream flows.

What role for SLAs (service level agreements)?

Unless a specific option is subscribed to, FTTH generally offers little commitment to quality of service, whether in terms of guaranteed speed, guaranteed recovery time or intervention. The speed indicated when subscribing to FTTH corresponds to the maximum downstream speed. It is asymmetrical, which means that the upload speed is lower.

FTTE implies little or no commitment to quality of service, except for certain infrastructure operators who offer SLAs identical to FTTO. The GTR is often of the order of D+1. Weak QoS commitments exist in terms of ITSM and maximum service interruption (MSI).

FTTO, on the other hand, is characterized by high quality of service commitments. The data rate specified is generally guaranteed, meaning that the subscribed data rate corresponds to the actual value available. It is symmetrical, i.e. of equal level whether upstream or downstream. The standard GTR is 4 hours on working days, and can often be extended to 4 hours 24/7. In the event of non-compliance with these commitments, penalties are applicable by the operator. These are generally expressed as a percentage of the monthly payment due.

Proposal for labelling of commercial offers

This multitude of distinctions in data collection technologies, routing and guarantee levels makes it difficult to put forward clear, precise commercial offers. The specificity of the information architecture must be reflected in the commercial name, so that the end consumer (business or private) knows what level of service to expect. Alternative telecom operators in particular suffer from this lack of legibility, due to the difficulty of simply and clearly explaining the nuances compared to the competition.

This is why Netwo proposes an additional label, with an additional notion that accompanies the name of the commercial offer.

Identification of market offers and proposal for labelling:

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