DT in operator talks over Access 4.0 expansion

Deutsche Telekom (DT) is discussing teaming with rival operators to provide fresh impetus to software-based broadband network initiative Access 4.0 (Deutsche Telekomwatch, #68 and passim).

Claudia Nemat, Head of Technology & Innovation at DT, said talks had started with “leading telco operators and tech companies” on a prospective revamp of the project, which focuses on development of new, software-ised, hybrid access platforms to support connectivity over wireless, DSL, cable, and fibre, as well as edge computingreliant services (such as virtual reality).

Following trials of the Access 4.0 system in Frankfurt during 2017, DT was due to decide whether to progress the project and give it licence for a broader rollout in Germany by the start of 2018. However, it has remained quiet on commercial deployment plans and appears to have given the project only a tentative go-ahead.

Access 4.0 remains described as an “ongoing R&D project” by DT — albeit “one of our most promising” ones, as described by Nemat. “If it works, and I assume it is going to work, it will disrupt the OEM ecosystem”, she said.

Access 4.0 is thought to have originated in 2016, and to envisage rollout of new stacks within certain central offices (the MSAN, or multi-service access node) and street cabinets (optical line termination), featuring lower component costs and greater scope for automated management. It is tied in with DT’s membership of the Open Networking Foundation and participation in the grouping’s Central Offices Re-architected as Datacenters project.

Access 4.0 also appears closely linked with supply chain transformation concepts that DT has in recent years assumed from the automotive industry, such as designto-cost — as well as increased enthusiasm for use of merchant silicon and bare-metal hardware. Radisys is among enablers that have been involved in Access 4.0, as integration partner.

Fibre cost mitigation a key focus  for innovation and procurement

The initiative comes at a crucial stage for DT, with the operator under heightened political and competitive pressure to expand fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) availability and address rural broadband ‘whitespots’.

It is noticeably keen to explore innovations that could cut rollout cost, such as micro-trenching, fixed-wireless access, and new, machine learningequipped fibre deployment planning tools that are due to begin trials in the quarter to 30 September 2018 (Deutsche Telekomwatch, passim). Nemat acknowledged at DT’s recent Capital Markets Day that, with DT now targeting acceleration of FTTP expansion to two million German households-per-annum by 2021, “we need to significantly increase our productivity and efficiency”.

Like other, DT-backed open source network collaborations such as the Telecom Infra Project and ORAN (Deutsche Telekomwatch, #71 and passim), the project ties closely with Group eagerness for more control of its technology ecosystem, and associated opportunities to reduce network expenditure and improve agility, flexibility, and speed.

Many remain sceptical regarding operators’ ability to push these initiatives through, and deliver real savings, however. DT has also been keen to stress that the Access 4.0 platform would sit alongside rather than replace “best-of-breed” systems, if rolled out more widely.