According to Verizon, the shift from copper to fibre infrastructure is saving the company millions of dollars a year and says the benefits are expected to grow as it migrates more customers and central offices.
Verizon has already upgraded 4.5 million lines on its network from copper to fibre. It has also converted 36 of its central office locations to all-fibre, completely decommissioning the copper plants at those locations. The upgrade programme has resulted in operational cost savings of approximately $180 million. "Part of the savings are due to a reduction in the number of technicians dispatched to maintain the network and support customers. In addition, energy savings have been seen from converting copper to fibre," said the savings figure, which is expected to "continue to grow as we convert more customers and more COs".
Verizon appears to be planning to make progress on the customer side this year. The operator has increased the number of Fios open sales locations by 481,000 in 2021 to 16.5 million by the end of the year. Plans are in place to add another 550,000 Fios open sales locations in 2022.
"Fibre to new locations is critical both inside and outside the footprint. But upgrading existing copper plants to space-occupying fibre is also very important to Verizon,".
The ultimate goal is to have 18 million homes for sale and 8 million internet subscribers in Fios by the end of 2025.
Owning the fibre
The company's chief technology officer also touted the benefits of having its own fibre for its wireless network, noting that its OneFiber program aims to expand its infrastructure in its LEC footprint and in 69 markets outside the region. verizon generates about $300 million a year from the owner economy. By the end of 2021, 45 per cent of Verizon's cellular base stations will be connected to its fibre assets, up from 36 per cent the previous year. That number is expected to increase to 50 percent by 2022.
"Owning and operating our fibre-to-the-cell allows us to easily and cost-effectively expand transmission and improve our reliability. As data usage grows, it becomes more cost effective to own our own fibre," he said. "Competitors who lease most of their fibre will bear increasingly higher costs in the future."
