Fiber optic has eternal youth
The first ten years of the 21st century are behind us. The second decennium is already known as ‘The Roaring Twenties’ or ‘The Transition Twenties’. A period that’s all about big changes, both economically and socially. No matter by what name you call it, one thing is certain: 2020 marks the beginning of an ever bigger technological impact on humans, the environment and society. While there have been developments at a rapid pace during the past twenty years. It’s hard to imagine, but twenty years ago, citizens, companies and the government were still relying on copper network connections for land and mobile voice and data communication. And at that time, it seemed like that was more than enough. Mobile communication was still geared to particularly voice and simple text messages through SMS services. Internet traffic – both by mobile phone and landline – could still be called reasonably modest, partly because of bandwidth-gobbling services, such as streaming via Netflix. And no one had ever heard of working with applications and data from the cloud.
First fiber optic ring
The need for faster internet connections was initially slow to start. It became attractive for (SME) companies and consumers to start using internet services that required more bandwidth, only after the introduction of ADSL around 2000. With the arrival of ADSL, it was goodbye to the ‘pay per minute online’ model. During the same year, the brand new Belgian/Dutch Eurofiber also installed the first fiber optic ring in the Randstad. The fiber optic infrastructure (about 500 km big) connected the cities of Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam and Utrecht and is intended for the business market. At the time, sceptics believed that the company was acting way too soon: what kind of companies would need such fast connections anyway? History has proven them wrong by now.Law of the handicap of a head start
The rollout of fiber optic networks has soared over the years. In the United States, that was boosted by the start of the Fiber to the Home Council (FttHC) in 2001. The founders – manufacturers of fiber optic equipment – wanted to increase the awareness of fiber optics among a wider audience. The FttHC spread its wings to other continents, including Europe, within a few years. The demand for fiber optic networks is initially not very big among consumers in the Netherlands. The law of the handicap of a head start seems to apply here. After all, the Dutch consumer already has ADSL and internet via cable. And those two, at that time, provide enough bandwidth to go on the internet. Some fiber optic initiatives start developing here and there, however. In 2004, 2,000 households in Almere get the offer to get connected to fiber optics. Interest is a little disappointing at first: initially, only 76 households take up the offer.Milestone in 2005
The year 2005 may be called a milestone in the history of fiber optics in the Netherlands. It was the year the first Dutch municipality was connected to a fiber optic network. Nuenen in North Brabant got the first one. The Cooperation OnsNet Nuenen, where residents could participate through shares, rolled out a network for the municipality with fiber optic operator Reggefiber. Fifteen years later, the Nuenen fiber optic network is still at the basis of various innovative developments. The cooperation set up a test project in 2019, in which internet-connected sensors were used to allow seniors to live independently as long as possible. 2005 was also the year an important bandwidth-devouring service was started in the United States: video-streaming site YouTube. It turned out to be the catalyst for an unprecedented worldwide increase of bandwidth consumption.
2019: three million connections to fiber optics
The growth of fiber optic networks in the Netherlands didn’t really get going till 2012. In that year, a million households were connected to fiber optics. Two years later, the count was two million and in 2016 it was up to 2.15 million. After an investment break of about two years, the installation of fiber optic networks picked up the pace again in the Netherlands. The operators want to reach not only consumers and business user networks in the Netherlands. The expected arrival of 5G, the yet to be introduced standard for fast mobile (data) communication is another important reason to invest in fiber optics. All these things have led to the Netherlands welcoming the three millionth fiber optic connection in 2019.Fiber optics transition monitored closely
Speer IT experienced the fast rise of bandwidth and the advancing fiber optics transition in the Netherlands from the beginning. Founders Mark van der Heijden and Peterpaul Brundel immediately got their first order when they started at the end of 1999. They had to map out the copper network infrastructure controlled by software for operator KPN. That ultimately resulted in the software package Cocon. An application, which over the years, evolved into the ultimate database where the majority of the land and mobile network infrastructure is established – both above and below ground – Speer IT has literally been monitoring the growth of fiber optic networks in the Netherlands.
