Vodafone plans to invest about €2 billion over the next four years to provide around 13.7 million new gigabit broadband connections to homes and businesses in Germany, its biggest European market.
Under the Gigabit Investment Plan, Vodafone Germany will target 100,000 companies in around 2,000 business parks, one million homes in rural areas, and 12.6 million cable customers.
Niek Jan van Damme, the head of Deutsche Telekom in Germany, chose the opening of the consumer electronics trade show, IFA 2017, this week to highlight the operator’s investments in fibre-optic broadband – while simultaneously downplaying the importance of FTTH in its overall strategy.
Britain has a reputation as a backwater when it comes to fibre-optic broadband connections that reach directly into consumer’s homes. Currently, only two per cent of households in the country have access to full fibre connections. But that looks set to change. This summer, some £500 million of equity and new debt have been invested in alternative network providers in the UK.
Oleg Khaykin, CEO of Viavi Solutions, speaks candidly to Fibre Systems about how to compete in the challenging world of communications test and measurement
Hao Dong describes how innovative optical fibres and cabling could provide substantial benefits for connecting data centres across a wide range of distances
Collaborative initiatives are seeking to bridge the gap between small- and large-scale production of photonic integrated circuits, finds Andy Extance
Optical networks are playing an increasingly important role in the distribution of precise timing signals and synchronisation with sub-microsecond accuracy. Michael Ritter explains