ingTel Uses ZTE GPON FTTH to Build an NBN

Singapore Telecommunications Limited (SingTel) is the largest telecom operator in Singapore and has 133 years of experience in public telecommunications. SingTel has operations and investments in many countries and provides voice and data services via fixed lines, wireless, and internet.

SingTel has an operation center in Singapore and an operation center in Australia, which is run by Optus, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SingTel. SingTel has offices in China, United States, Britain, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Through these offices, SingTel delivers reliable and superior network solutions, either independently or by working with local partners. 

SingTel has made strategic investments in India, Indonesia, Philippines, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Thailand. Collaboration with regional partners has helped SingTel grow into the biggest multimarket communications operator in Asia Pacific and a top global carrier that serves more than 434 million customers and 5000 enterprises across the world.

Communications Wisdom of an “Intelligent Nation”

Singapore is a small country with an area of 700 square kilometers and a population of five million. It has world-leading broadband penetration and relatively low tariffs for fixed line, mobile, and broadband internet services. In 2006, Singapore launched the “Intelligent Nation 2015” (iN2015) initiative to promote information and communications technologies in various sectors.

The Info-communications Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) reported that, in 2008, revenue for the infocomm industry in Singapore grew by 12.4%; export revenue accounted for 61% of total infocomm revenue; and the number of people employed in the infocomm sector increased by 6.6%. Also, 90% of Singaporean enterprises with more than 200 employees had a website, and all of them used the internet in their work. Ninety four percent of households with children had at least one computer at home.

The next-generation nationwide broadband network (NGNBN) is the infrastructure for iN2015 and will carry Singapore’s existing and future infocomm services, including voice, high-speed internet access, IPTV, VOD, enterprise leased lines, and mobile broadband. The government plans to invest one billion Singapore dollars to bring the fiber-based information highway to every household and to provide each user with 1GB bandwidth.

GPON FTTH: A Wise Choice for SingTel

With the launch of the NGNBN project in 2009, Singapore began large-scale GPON FTTH deployment. After losing the NGNBN OpCo contract to Nucleus Connect, a subsidiary of the second largest operator in Singapore, SingTel chose GPON FTTH as the main technology for its future network deployments.

Collaboration and customization helps SingTel deploy GPON FTTH

SingTel had been looking for a trustworthy partner to help deploy the FTTH network. In March 2010, ZTE and SingTel had a high-level meeting to lay the foundation for future cooperation. In April 2010, ZTE began a three-month demonstration for SingTel. In July 2010, ZTE’s GPON equipment was put into SingTel labs, where it was stringently tested according to SingTel’s GPON specifications. In November 2010, ZTE passed SingTel’s lab testing and obtained certification for a commercial trial. 

In March 2011, SingTel put out its GPON tender, attracting bids from Huawei, ZTE, Ericsson, ALU, and ECI. After three weeks of receiving bids, SingTel selected three vendors from the shortlist for the first stage of POC testing. ZTE eventually passed this test. In December 2011, SingTel signed a framework agreement with ZTE on GPON collaboration.

Singapore’s NGNBN is the world’s first NBN with open-access architecture, and ZTE’s solutions and products had to support this architecture. ZTE’s GPON system supports QinQ and retail service provider (RSP) service differentiation. Each user interface of ZTE’s optical network terminal (ONT) corresponds to an RSP. The ONT also supports multiple customer VLANs (CVLANs) and native Ethernet. The same RSP can deliver multiple types of service streams through one or several ONT user interfaces. In addition, ZTE provides a VPORT-based GPON HQoS solution. These solutions allow SingTel to handle various application scenarios in an open access architecture.

During GPON FTTH deployment, SingTel wanted to customize the appearance, hardware architecture, and software of home terminals.

ZTE custom-made a unique and elegant terminal that is fit for households or business users who do not need TDM service. The shape of the ONT is inspired by piano keys, and there are indicators on the front of the case  (Fig. 1).

SingTel also specified that the ONT should integrate some RG functions. ZTE’s R&D and testing team swiftly responded with the customized PON terminal ZXA10 F660 (Fig. 2). The terminal supports flexible logical grouping at the WAN side. Different GE interfaces at the LAN side can connect residential gateways of different RSPs or act as user interfaces of the RSPs.

In December 2011 and April 2012, SingTel requested a full-load test of systems and terminals, the largest of its kind in the world. The final result was that SingTel was amazed by perfect performance of both system and terminal products supplied by ZTE. 

Large-capacity products with low power consumption help SingTel build a green GPON FTTH network

SingTel considers environmental protection its top social responsibility. Its GPON FTTH network must consume minimal energy, be cheap to build, occupy minimal space, and require low labor cost. ZTE helped SingTel build a green broadband by

●    reducing energy consumption. Innovative ASIC and PCB components, highly-integrated cards, and fans with adjustable speeds enable ZTE’s GPON equipment to consume minimal power, and this ultimately helps SingTel reduce opex. The power consumption of each GPON port of ZXA10 C300 is 40% lower than the industry average (Fig. 3). F660 and F620 strictly comply with the IEEE 802.3az standard and reduce power consumption by 70%. They also support idle and doze modes, which provides a further 5% energy saving.

●   using harmless materials. ZTE’s GPON system has a lead-free design. The materials used in construction meet international standards, including RoHS and WEEE.

●    prolonging the lifecycle of equipment. ZXA10 C300 is a unified xPON platform and supports smooth evolution to 10G EPON, 10G EPON, and WDM PON. Because equipment can be smoothly migrated to future technologies, the lifecycle of equipment can be extended.

●    saving space. ZXA10 C300 is a high-density PON OLT. The whole system provides up to 128 GPON ports and enables access for 6,384 GPON ONUs. Such a high-density ensures equipment occupies minimal space, and the cost of constructing equipment rooms.

●    saving labor costs. ZTE’s GPON solution incorporates an end-to-end OAM scheme that includes zero-configuration of ONTs, automatic diagnosis of lines and equipment, and remote diagnosis and management of equipment. This saves the labor costs associated with system maintenance.