Fujitsu is a step closer to its goal of connecting five million UK homes to fiber, after hooking up its first customers to a trial network.
The ICT firm is the first in the UK to connect consumers to a fiber to the premise (FTTP) network routed over ducts and poles owned by incumbent BT’s infrastructure arm Openreach. Fujitsu’s progress has spurred BT into pledging to launch its physical infrastructure access (PIA) services later this month.
While access to existing infrastructure is widely tipped to be a major boost for rural fiber deployments, allowing operators to bypass street cabinets, Fujitsu’s trial is being conducted in an urban area. Fujitsu Telecommunications Europe chief Andy Stevenson says there are “still some points of detail we’re working through,” before launching commercially.
The firm’s UK and Ireland division announced its aim to offer wholesale fiber access in April, revealing it has already secured deals with ISPs Virgin Media and TalkTalk to access the network. Fujitsu is leveraging an Ofcom ruling that Openreach must offer access to its physical infrastructure on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms.