Re-use of BSNL underground optical fiber for connecting villages with FTTH

[shree_bn]

Hello!
I live in a village (comes under western ghats range) and my village is around 5KM away from the town where BSNL FTTH center is located. No other FTTH operators are available here except the BSNL franchise (LCO). The FTTH network is expanding and currently the nearest connection is at 3KM away from our village. We, in our village are interested to bring FTTH connection to our village but the franchise says that the cable would cost around 13,000 per KM (nearly 40,000 to bring it to village) and customers have to bear the cost of the cable. Village is not so densely populated (houses are 300m apart on an average) hence the cost of the mere cabling for around 10 connections would be highly expensive (excluding the ONT and modem charges).

However we are thinking of solving this issue with a different plan. Any leads on this would be highly appreciated. The plan is mentioned below:

There was BSNL telephone exchange in our village but it got shut down two years ago because of lack of landline connections (People in our village had surrendered their landline connections due to poor quality of service by BSNL). There will be an underground OFC laid to our village's telephone exchange (which is shut down now) from the town's BSNL telephone exchange where FTTH is based of. Now this underground OFC is unused as the village telephone exchange is decommissioned.

Can't we make use of this un-used existing underground OFC of BSNL so that we can avoid the cost of cabling from town to our village? If we get FTTH through this underground cable till the decommissioned telephone exchange point in our village, we can easily extend cables from that point and connect our homes which are within 500m radius from the decommissioned telephone exchange.

Can this be realized?

Thanks in advance!

 

[a.c]

I might be wrong but I don't think the old telephone exchanges used OFCs. They were based on good old copper cables I guess.

 

[Sai]

Old exchanges will have UG OFC backhaul. But it can’t be used for BSNL FTTH. They won’t allow using of Bharatnet cables for Ftth either. Explore Airfiber service if possible.

 

[pillaicha]

Make sure there’s OFC first. And where it leads to.

 

[shree_bn]

Thank you all for replies.
I got a confirmation that there is OFC connecting the telephone exchange that got shut down couple of years ago. However, due to the franchise model of operations in FTTH, BSNL cannot provide the underground OFC to extend FTTH itseems..

Regarding AirFiber, I had enquired. Since our place comes in western ghats hill range, getting a line of sight is big challenge. My house can achieve a line of sight with only one AirFiber transmission station among all available stations, which is 14KM away by air distance and to achieve this, the antenna should be mounted at around 40ft above the ground. They said the equipment might cost nearly 20k and not sure about the stability and speed due to long distance. So the internet challenge remains unsolved 🙁

 

[pillaicha]

There's a way to utilize this unused cable. But not as a PON network. It won't be cheap, and you'll have to establish the cost effectiveness of this solution.

You'll need lease the OFC from BSNL. It won't be straightforward but will involve higher officials of BSNL but make sure whatever you do is on legal tender. BSNL will lease you the dark fiber, you'll need to buy the switching equipment and SFPs transceivers for both the ends. Then at the exchange, you have to place an OLT, which involves rent being paid to BSNL. To avoid that, you can splice the OFC with another single mode cable and place the SFP switches and OLT at your house, from where the PON network can be rolled out.

Tldr: Lease dark fiber from BSNL on annual or biannual contract. Buy the SFPs and switches for both ends. Buy the OLT. Buy the ONUs. Buy the fiber cables to be used within your village. Splicing equipment and pigtails. It's a little expensive and you need to consider the cost effectiveness of the plan for just 10 households.

If at least 50 households can join in this enterprise, you can get loans from the PM-WANI scheme and also he able to pay it back affordably.

 

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[@Tx_JK]

@shree_bn which village do you live in actually?
It just makes me wonder if mobile tower is ever feasible. Upgrading existing tower will also provide good internet connectivity.

 

[shree_bn]

@pillaicha - Thanks for the leads.. Will check on the feasibility of this option..

@Tx_JK My place is located near Sringeri , Karnataka. Though the location is 5km away from the town, it lacks line of sight to the town hence mobile signals from the town are hardly reachable. However Jio's signals reach from multiple other places but they are just good for the call because they are from 4-5Km by air. Sad thing is Airtel has started a new BTS(tower) at a distance of 6km by air and the tower can be seen from our place. Still it is only good for calls and data speed is capped at 1-2Mbps.. We tried contacting those operators but it didn't help..

 

[@Tx_JK]

Jio small towers are available (not ODSC) which will be installed in 4-5 days unlike big towers which need 1 month to activate. But they need line of sight from the main tower. It has max speed in 500m range and 1-2 in long distances.
I actually live midway between Agumbe and Manipal/Udupi.
I have the same problem. The jio tower is actually very near but the signal gets blocked due to our own plantation. Others in the whole area live 300 metres away get good signal because they have clear line of sight. So a tower could not be installed for 10 mobile phones.
So I bought BSNL fibre. I spent 8000 for wiring among 5 others who took the connection. This includes resurrection of old telephone poles which were stolen and combination of electric poles. And I'm happy of the connection actually.

 

[disablealg]

The cost given by the operator is reasonable, even if it comes to 50,000 - if 10 people split it - its 5K - the ONT cost is 1500 if you buy in Bulk - this is the viable option.

The option you are looking for (optimising an old cable which may or may not be present) is like looking for Gold in Kolar fields- you need to understand that BSNL have franchised out dealing with small time customers exactly for the reason that they can't be bothered to manage anything. So now you are expecting them to manage the cable for 10 people in your Malgudi 🙂 Good luck.

 

[shree_bn]

@disablealg , Yes I understand the fact that BSNL is a sinking ship, we are trying to leverage the infrastructure which was already built by them and which has become a legacy now..but their operating modes, legality and so many other factors will become prioritised over offering a seamless service to customers.

Lastly, can I expect consistent speed and reliability with AirFiber with a line of sight distance of maximum of 14km approx.? Can rain disrupt the speed to considerable extent? If someone could share their experience on using AirFiber beyond 10km distance would help me to decide on investing for it though it can offer a lesser speed compared to FTTH. Also, will it cost 18k for the Customer Premise Equipment for such range? I have everything else (cat 6 Lan cable, Router) except the wifi antenna.

 

[Techy_guy]

Bro first of all of you get a team visit nearest town enquire about fibre cable get yourself as the lco is charging a lots there not laying gold wire they are asking 13k per km
So get yourself fibre cable from market get it installed

 

[Sai]

First Airfiber user in entire Karnataka here. The thing works spectacularly as long as Ubiquiti Networks equipment is used. In the area where my farm is located, I have seen the franchise installing CPE at 30-40 meters height trees and those connections are working fine !.

Send me a personal message. I’ll help you out. I know everyone in BSNL Karnataka and some top shots of private ISPs.

 

[shree_bn]

@Sai thanks a lot for the leads.. surely i will follow up with your help!

 

[shree_bn]

@Sai I am finding difficulty in sending a personal message in this forum, am I missing some permissions?