Smart fiber network management delivers ROI faster and longer

There is enormous pressure on new fiber optic networks to reach profitably as early as possible and last for the long term. The large capital outlays that need to generate solid returns for decades into the future are challenging network owners to find smart ways to manage their fiber networks efficiently. A new whitepaper from Speer IT explains how network owners can take advantage of smart network management platforms to accelerate and protect ROI over the network lifetime.

A digital twin for maximum network control

Ensuring healthy long-term ROI is possible with a fiber network management system that provides a complete and comprehensive overview of every detail of the network. The smartest network management systems provide an exact digital twin that starts with the as-built situation, or even the planned build, and continuously updates the network status for every subsequent change and connection added.

Managing a fiber network efficiently requires the availability of reliable, accurate data that tells you exactly what is and isn’t possible, even when cables and connections are being added at a rapid pace. You need the most up-to-date information about serviceability and capacity, and what your network can deliver at any given moment. Whether it’s simulations for planning, incident diagnosis, predictive maintenance or routing optimization, a reliable digital twin of your network can give you exactly that kind of control.

The longer road to ROI

Network owners are looking at an average economic lifetime of at least 30 years, while the technical lifetime may be much longer. During all that time, a network needs to generate a sufficient return on investment. The network will need to operate consistently at a high enough utilisation, or penetration rate, to achieve and maintain the targeted ROI.

Unfortunately for today’s network owners, a large chunk of the effort in reaching optimal utilisation has moved from the rollout phase to the post-delivery management phase. Many network owners have been unprepared for this shift.

In the past, most FttH projects were started only after the demand for connections in the targeted area could be reliably estimated to meet or surpass the minimum business case. These days, with the global push for maximum fiber coverage and bandwidth to meet the connectivity needs of modern households, the majority of projects are greenlighted without that level of assurance.

For the owner of the physical network, this has meant that contractors now simply aim to deliver the maximum number of homes passed, with fewer connections realised. Getting to homes connected and homes activated has become the post-rollout responsibility of the network owner. Where networks often used to be delivered with a substantial number of the total connections available for sale, now homes connected can easily be as little as 10% at the transfer of ownership. Those connections still need to be realized before any sort of ROI is possible.

With network owners responsible for making most connections available post-rollout, managing and updating network details efficiently and coordinating the commercial processes have become critical aspects of achieving a healthy ROI quickly, and maintaining it long term. A smart fiber network management system can help owners get their networks fully up and running – and generating revenues – much faster.

"Unfortunately for today’s network owners, a large chunk of the effort in reaching optimal utilisation has moved from the rollout phase to the post-delivery management phase."

A question of profitability

On the income side, a smart system for fiber network management can generate revenues at a much faster rate by making more reliable serviceability information readily available to operators and internet service providers. Available connections can be sold with a minimum of effort.

On the other side of the profitability equation, maintaining an exact digital twin of the physical network helps to keep connection, management and maintenance costs to a minimum. With comprehensive and detailed information available for every cable and component in the network, including its exact location with GIS data, costly mistakes during maintenance and incident response are easily avoided. This also applies to potential damage from third parties working around the network.

The answer to making sales, maintenance and incident resolution all much more reliable and cost-effective is access to detailed network information that is continuously accurate and up to date. ROI comes faster and is easier to maintain in the long run.