Jalur Lebar Nasional Sdn Bhd (Jalenas) will begin deployment of its fibre metropolitan network in Kuantan, Pahang from October, its recently appointed chief executive officer, James Angelone told Comm & Tech Asia on the sidelines of its Hari Raya Aid Il Fitri open house on 28 September.

This will make Jalenas Malaysia's first open-access fibre network operator and Jalenas will next follow with deployment in Johor Baru in the first quarter next year.

The deployments will be implemented by four outside-plant contractors.

“By the end of 2011 we expect to cover another eight cities or 10 cities in all and by Septenber 2011, we expect our network to be passing an additional 18,000 subscribers per month,” said Angelone.

An open access operator provides and operates the network but does not provide services to end-users over it. Instead, it leases capacity on its network to third party applications and service providers, such as IPTV providers, fixed and cellular service providers, Internet service providers, enterprise communications service providers and others who provide service to end users over its network.

A cellular service provider may lease capacity on the open access provider's network to use in backhaul connections from its base stations to its network core, instead of deploying their own network, and since the network is shared between multiple applications and services providers, it not only is cheaper for them but also providers opportunities for many providers who can compete on providing their services, without having to worry about network operations. 

Proven business model

“For example, in South Korea, where the open-access model is practised, I could get a 100 Mbps connection to my home for only US$30 (RM93) per month and homes there all have Ethernet ports as a standard fixture, just like running water and electricity,” said Angelone, who spent 22 years there with Samsung.

This is a proven business model in many developed countries and in many ways it can be compared to an airport which many airlines use but seldom own or a shopping mall, where the the mall owner does not sell anything directly to the shoppers but leaves this to their diverse types of tenants instead.

The Kuantan network will also serve as a proof of concept for third-party service providers, many of which have shown an interest in using Jalenas' network. While Angelone could not name them, they are cellular and WiMAX operators, IPTV operators and others. He also mentioned that a major incumbent fixed infrastructure provider, including of fibre, is actually quite warm to it.

However, Comm & Tech Asia spotted the senior managers of a leading WiMAX operator and a leading cellular operator at the party and one of them avoided being photographed. However, all we will say is that they are both “green,” so go figure that out.

Malaysia ready for the big leap?

“I can see similarities between where Malaysia is right now and where South Korea was 22 years, before it started to take off in a big way. Jalenas will provide the broadband speeds Malaysians expect and we can help Malaysia leapfrog and get in front of many other countries.

“At the same time, we will provide the foundation for third parties to build multiple economic engines, thus creating domestic opportunity for applications and service providers, while at the same time, attract foreign direct investment,” Angelone added.

Meanwhile, Angelone who's just completed three months at the helm, has gather together a team of competent and experienced assistants to help him with the deployment and marketing of Jalenas' network.

Niclas Sonesson, the chief technology officer and chief marketing officer He was involved in 75 fibre to the home (FTTH) deployments worldwide, including with B2, a FTTH operator in Sweden in 1999.

Anton Gunnar, the director of Network Planning was involved in access technology deployments in Europe and the Middle East, while the chief marketing officer Patrick Clancey, has lived in Malaysia for 20 years and he was involved in traffic safety, automation, infrastructure technology and more in Europe, the United States and South-East Asia.

So Jalenas looks set for the big time, having been in a sort of limbo since it was launched in Kuantan on 4 August last year by the Prime Minister, Y.A.B. Dato' Sri Najib Hj. Tun Abdul Razak http://bit.ly/caL7nu.

PON vs active Ethernet

Back then, Jalenas had partnered with Ericsson Malaysia which would deploy and operate the network but Ericsson offered Passive Optical Network (PON) technology, while Jalenas wanted active Ethernet, a fibre-based technology, which is increasingly competing with PON.

PON was introduced in the 1990s and since it employs passive splitters (i.e. unpowered), which typically limits to 20km, the distance of fibre between a central distribution unit known as an optical line terminal (OLT) and the multiple subscriber terminals know as an optical network unit (ONU).

Since each of an OLT's port needs to send enough light power to cover the distance to the 32 ONUs (typically) , the former are expensive, and the distance limitations result in inconsistent cost per subscriber.

Active Ethernet on the other hand employs power concentration points instead of passive splitters, which allow for distances of up to 80km from the distribution point to the concentration point and another 80km from the concentration point to the subscriber access point, or up to 160km in all.

As for deployment costs if each ONU supports 32 subscribers, then another 32-subscriber ONU is required to serve the 33rd subscribers which is expensive except in high-density areas. Moreover since 32 subscribers share a single fibre to the OLT, the bandwidth available to each subscriber is inconsistent, while with active Ethernet, the bandwidth to each subscriber is consistent, since the connection is point-to-point between the distribution point and subscriber access point.

Thus with PON, operators must invest ahead of the number of subscribers and wait before it realises the returns as subscriber numbers grow, while with active Ethernet, they can invest per subscriber and realise returns immediately.

“PON is suitable for high-density areas, such as in cities but active Ethernet is more practical for the kind of densities we will be serving,” said Angelone.

On 26 April, Jalenas signed a deal with MAIPU Communication Technology Co. Ltd (MAIPU) of China, whereby MAIPU would supply its professional IP network equipment, applications, engineering services and finance for Jalenas' project.