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Publication: Fibers.org
Date: 23rd February 2006
Title: PacketFront bags open-access FTTH network deal

Swedish broadband vendor PacketFront has signed a deal with Norwegian utilities company Troms Kraft to deliver Norway's first fiber-based open-access broadband network. The three-year contract is worth NOK 100m ($14.7m).

PacketFront will work with NetNordic, a Norwegian company that specializes in network integration and triple-play over broadband networks, to create an open-access fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) infrastructure. The network will allow several service providers to offer competitive triple-play services over the same physical infrastructure.

Troms Kraft's customers will be able to choose from a range of broadband services from a number of leading service providers - including Canal Digital and Viasat - all delivered over a single unified network.

"Troms Kraft is striving to become a groundbreaking utilities company," said managing director Knut Einar Olsen. "We have now established a competitive regional fiber-based network and hope to reach up to 20,000 homes and 2000 businesses within the next three years. Our open-access network will increase the amount of choice our customers have from their broadband services, and allow us the flexibility to grow and develop these services in the future."

The key component in PacketFront's broadband solution is its BECS control and provisioning system. BECS makes it possible for operators to build and run fully automated broadband networks with self-provisioning capabilities. These capabilities give users the option to choose services for themselves without having to wait for a third party to make the changes.

PacketFront will also provide their Access Switching Routers (ASRs) to Troms Kraft, enabling high-quality triple-play services to be offered to end users with minimum resources. PacketFront's products enable network operators to reach end users via a number of different access technologies, functioning as a single solution for aggregation, control and provisioning. This not only reduces opex for the providers, but also prevents unnecessary home call-outs for maintenance.

We are proud that Troms Kraft has chosen to partner with us in the first Norwegian open FTTH network initiative," said Martin Thunman, Chief Executive Officer of PacketFront. "We are renowned for our unique solution for broadband networks, which was designed to provide the consumer with a better choice of services."