GPON

AT&T bids out GPON-based FTTH

AT&T is working through its bidding process for GPON-based FTTH for new developments, a move that takes the company further down the path Verizon has already taken. It is not known how much of the Verizon architecture AT&T will mimic, and in particular if it will use the same linear RF broadcast TV delivery program over its own channel-slot Microsoft TV approach. How this plays out will be of enormous importance to equipment vendors because the decision to use FTTH and PON in any form bends the budget decisively toward the access network and empowers players like Alcatel-Lucent who can bid there. The fact that GPON empowers Alcatel-Lucent has been the seed of the internal battle between the GPON group and the router group, who don’t want broadcast over fiber at all.