Openreach Publish Technical Details for the Dark Fibre Access (DFA) Trial
Openreach (BT) has uploaded a new technical information document for their imminent Dark Fibre Access (DFA) trial, which is due to start in August. The document describes how the product works and sets out what solutions will be made available to ISPs.
The new service is based off Openreach’s 1Gbps capable Ethernet Access Direct product (details) and gives rival ISPs “physical access” to the national operator’s existing fibre optic cables (i.e. allows them to “take direct control of the connection“), which means that they can then install their own equipment at either end of the optical fibre within the cable ducts.
Technical details of the DFA solution have now been set out in the new SIN521 (PDF) document. Ofcom claims that DFA could foster more competition and speed-up the roll-out of faster broadband services around the UK (e.g. backhaul capacity for new networks). However big infrastructure builders like BT, Virgin Media, Cityfibre and Zayo fear that it could discourage similar operators from investing to build their own fibre optic networks.
Nevertheless a number of major ISPs, such as TalkTalk and SSE Telecoms, have already confirmed their intention to take part in the imminent trial and the final product is currently still on target for its 1st October 2017 launch.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on Twitter, Google+, Facebook and Linkedin.
« UPD Otley Homes Suffer Broadband Woes After Lorry Destroys BT Cabinet
Privacy Notice: Please note that news comments are anonymous, which means that we do NOT require you to enter any real personal details to post a message. By clicking to submit a post you agree to storing your comment content, display name, IP, email and / or website details in our database, for as long as the post remains live.
Only the submitted name and comment will be displayed in public, while the rest will be kept private (we will never share this outside of ISPreview, regardless of whether the data is real or fake). This comment system uses submitted IP, email and website address data to spot abuse and spammers. All data is transferred via an encrypted (https secure) session.
NOTE 1: Sometimes your comment might not appear immediately due to site cache (this is cleared every few hours) or it may be caught by automated moderation / anti-spam.
NOTE 2: Comments that break our rules, spam, troll or post via known fake IP/proxy servers may be blocked or removed.
BT, VM, Cityfibre and Zayo are a bunch of crybabies. Overbuilding an existing open dark fibre network isn’t an end unto itself. Let them deploy their capital somewhere else where there is no fibre instead of acting like a bunch of spoilt children.
“BT, VM, Cityfibre and Zayo……”
At least 3 of those 4 are deploying their own products.
Do you not think there might be a good reason why there’s no fibre in some areas, such as there’s not enough of a market for it to justify the spend?