French operator SFR solves mobile broadband problems with fiber to the tower

In what may be known as the most “why didn’t I think of that?” moment in mobile telecommunications history, French operator SFR got around the problem of mobile networks being slow and latency prone by stringing fiber directly to the cell sites. With HSPA, better known as 3.5G in Europe, and 3G in America (3G in Europe is called WCDMA), your mobile data session does not go from your handset, to the tower, to your operator’s central switching hub, back to the tower, and then finally in your handset — it goes from your handset, to the tower, which is connected directly to the internet, and then back to your handset. The term used to describe the connection between cell sites (towers), the internet, and an operator’s central network, is called backhaul.

Backhaul is crazy expensive, using advanced microwave equipment usually, or an operator may choose to lease a T1 or T3 line and connect it to a cell site. Imagine sitting in a park, everyone is on their laptop or mobile phone, and you’re all sharing a T1 line. That is why you have terrible speed, latency and a generally poor experience.

SFR, tired of paying loads of money each month to lease lines and pay for backhaul equipment, strung their own fiber to cell sites. They’ve basically given themselves unlimited bandwidth potential, and are preparing for the future when LTE starts showing up. Over the next year 350 sites will be upgraded covering 66% of Paris, 50% of Marseille and 50% of Lyon. Expect to see more of this happening around the world, very soon.

Depending on which operator, analyst, handset maker, or homeless jazz musician on the street you listen to, mobile data is set to increase by several orders of magnitude over the next 5 years. If you think you’ve seen network congestion now, you’ve ain’t seen shit.

Note: I know our American readers call operators carriers, but I just can’t bring myself to use that term. No one I know says that.

[Via: Unwired View]