2 posts tagged “ftth”

I am not a Biz Net employee, nor shareholder. Just another sympathetic sideline watcher.... :-)

Anyway, in a typical emerging market like Indonesia, at least in telco market there are always two very different segments, with a very large disparity: the high-end segment which resembles their developed market counterparts and the ultra-low-end segment.

Telco will develop products to address both or choose to fight a selective battle.

FTTH - Fiber To The Home - is the latest technology that utilize fiber optics for wireline access (or basically the cable that connects us, (phone or DSL) subscribers to the operators). As the name implies, we will get fiber optics connection up to our doorstep. Theoretically promising a very high bit rate (I think up to 1 Gb/s now with GEPON, if you're alone in the network).

Wiki/google it if you need more tutorial on GEPON/FTTH/FTTP.

My point is this is going to be the technology for the future. Today's deployment today are still limited. And naturally, in Indonesia deployment will be focused for high-end segments.

Enter Biznet who launched Max3 Triple Play / FTTH for residential customers (yes, right, fiber to your home) a while ago. It didn't received much publication. But well, the focus segment is also quite small at this moment.

What do they offer?

Internet (upto 10 Mb/s, quota-based pricing) & VoIP services (free among subscribers) & coming soon, IPTV.

Internet price? All are prepaid! (smart guy...)

• Various packages are available:
  
• the lowest package cost Rp 500k (US$ 53,-) per month for 2.5 GB of quota - or about Rp 200,- per MB
• the highest package cost Rp 3.5mil (US$ 372,-) for 25 GB quota that is valid for 6 months or about Rp 140,- per MB
  
• (note: 3G/HSDPA costs @ Rp 300-400,- per MB)
• One time installation fee is a bit high - this is an expensive technology; Rp 5.5 million (US$ 600,-) or Rp 3.3 million (for 12-month contract)

Coverage? Yeah, still limited to certain (read: rich residential area) in Southern and Central Jakarta.

Success? I don't know (yet).

Potentially yes. This is the future. Indonesian broadband market is not developed until now because of supply problem.

Additionally, Biznet seems to hit the right target segment. Affluent area/people, quite modern, I think, and looking for alternative to other broadband offers. Biznet might also touch the soft spot with its positioning as "hiqh quality" and "family-safe" (Content filtering services optional, available for $6,- per month).

Let's see.

Last month, just a couple of days before holiday season started, I attended a presentation / technology sharing session. Arranged by our sister company (MNC Group), and attended by all the representative from all relevant business units in the group - TV, SatTV, ISP, Mobile VAS.

(I am not under any NDA, so I can share some insights and information)

A couple of interesting points from the presentation are:

• ITB, through the Telematics Research Group (PT TRG, though the website seems too odd for me... registered company in USA?) has developed few prototypes for IPTV, FTTH, and WiMAX 16d system.
• The prototypes are currently in field trial.
• Primary market research data for Jakarta & Bandung is available from them (at a cost, I assumed). Estimated size of addressable market is a bit more than 100k subs in Jakarta.
  
• From business point of view, FTTH & IPTV could be a tough business at the current price expectation :-)
• IPTV system using off-the-shelf hardware with own software could cost less than $1mil for 40 channels SDTV with basic features, excluding CA/DRM. STB is another cost component, approx. $50-$100 depending on the purchase quantity.
  
• GEPON FTTH infrastructure investment is approx $500,- per home-passed, about 50% for the CPE (is it a reasonable number?)
• Customer is expecting max $40,- per month for all three services: Internet and entertainment (and voice?)

TRG promises to bring a couple of added value into any business partnership: market research data, experience in design+operate, equipment and software for Triple Play system, and existing rights-of-way.