Making a wholesale switch from an all-copper to an all-fiber based last-mile network is not an overnight process, but Oregon-based Stayton Cooperative Telephone believes it`s worth the effort. Seeing cable start to encroach into its rural footprint, the rural operator will deploy Occam Networks` BLC Fiber to the Home network infrastructure. With a goal of extending high-speed broadband services to both densely and sparsely populated areas, Stayton will leverage Occam`s BLC 6000 multiservice access platform (MSAP) and its ON 2300 optical network terminals (ONTs).
Even though Stayton is a rural telco with only 8,500 customers, the service provider is not a stranger to fiber, as the company installed its first fiber optic route between its facilities in Stayton and Scio, Oreg., in 1985. Stayton late last year began transitioning its customer base off of copper to fiber. Although it wants to convert at least 1,000 homes by the end of 2009 to Fiber to the Home (FTTH), Stayton anticipates the migration will take a number of years.
And taking time to complete the project, explains Dave Carpenter, Plant Manager for Stayton, will help ensure service consistency. "We`re going to do this right," he said in a statement on the company`s website. "It`s a complex process and we want to take the time necessary to serve our customers with the quality and reliability that they have come to expect from SCTC."
