Bezeq Israeli Telecommunication Co. Ltd. (TASE: BEZQ) will invest billions of shekels in a fiber optic network, the company's board of directors decided today. The project, one of the most ambitious in Israel's telecommunications industry, will replace the company's copper wire network over 5-8 years. The investment will be approved in stages, depending on the ability to deploy the network and demand.
Bezeq will initially lay the fiber optic cables to private customers, and later to commercial customers. It will first hook up apartment blocks, and will extend the cables to apartments as needed.
Bezeq does not own the copper wire in homes. Fiber optics will be laid to apartments of customers requesting services that require very high access speeds. Where no service is necessary, the fiber optics will reach the building, and from the central box, the existing infrastructure will be used. When fiber optics reach a building, the distance to an apartment and its effect on access speed become marginal, even if copper wire is used for the final few meters.
Bezeq's fiber optic project will begin soon, now that the company has almost completed its Next Generation Network (NGN) project, in which it brought communications cabinets to a distance of 600-700 meters from customers' homes, allowing access speeds of 20-30 Mbps, and up to 50-100 Mbps in limited cases.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 29, 2012
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