400G technology development will become clearer in 2017

With the rapid development of technologies such as mobile Internet, Internet of Things, and big data, global bandwidth demand is growing explosively, and operators' backbone networks need to be continuously expanded and upgraded.

400G standard formulation work has made phased progress

In order to meet the backbone network expansion needs of operators, 400G will be the direction of backbone network upgrade and new construction. At present, the three major international standard organizations related to 400G standards, IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers), ITU-T (International Telecommunication Union Telecommunication Standards Group) and OIF (Optical Internetworking Forum) and my country's CCSA (China Communications Standards Association) have made phased progress in the formulation of 400G standards.

Zhao Wenyu from the Institute of Technology and Standards at the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology told Communications World All-Media that the development of 400G technology will become clearer in 2017. First, the international and domestic standardization work on optical interfaces, wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) long-distance transmission and device modules related to 400G technology is about to be completed, which will point out the development direction for the industrialization of 400G, which has been in a state of hesitation in technology selection in recent years; second, it is expected that domestic and foreign operators and equipment manufacturers will carry out industrial testing and verification activities for new 400G interfaces and related transmission equipment, and the application mode of 400G technology will gradually become clear, which will pave the way for the future industrialization and large-scale application of 400G technology; third, based on application considerations such as flexibility and low cost, 200G technology is expected to work together with 400G to support ultra-high-speed transmission applications in the next few years; finally, driven by the continued rapid growth of diversified high-bandwidth new services, it is expected that in 2017, there will be a relatively obvious demand for ultra-100G transmission in some hot spots and it may be planned and applied locally, which will sound the prelude to the large-scale introduction and application of 400G and 200G technologies in 2018 and beyond.

It can be seen that 2017 is a crucial year for the development of 400G optical transmission technology. It is expected that in 2017, telecom operators will combine their own network characteristics and select 400G technology solutions for future business development needs according to different application scenarios.

100M broadband will be widely available in households in 2017

In 2016, my country's "optical transformation" work has achieved remarkable results. China Telecom has completed optical network coverage in Anhui, Fujian, Jiangxi, Jiangsu and other places, and China Unicom has completed optical network coverage in Shandong, Henan, Hebei, Shanxi, Liaoning, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and other places. According to statistics from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, as of December 15, 2016, my country has built more than 100 optical network cities, accounting for about one-third of my country's prefecture-level cities; the task of promoting optical fiber access to 50,000 administrative villages proposed in the "Government Work Report" has also been completed ahead of schedule.

At the same time, in terms of network speed, as of December 15, 2016, the average access rate of fixed broadband in my country reached 42Mbit/s, more than twice that of the end of 2015; the proportion of fiber-optic broadband users reached 72%, an increase of 16 percentage points from the end of 2015. The penetration rate of fiber-optic cables is also accelerating.

"Accelerating the construction of high-speed broadband networks and opening up the 'last kilometer' to households is one of the main directions for the construction of communications technology facilities in 2017." Miao Wei, Minister of Industry and Information Technology, pointed out, "In 2017, we will achieve 100Mbit/s fiber access capabilities for urban households across the country, and some cities will provide 1G ultra-high bandwidth services; more than 80% of administrative villages will have fiber to the village. We will support the construction and upgrading of broadband in more than 30,000 administrative villages, strive to cover 8,000 more poor villages with broadband networks; complete the expansion of Internet inter-network bandwidth by 1,000G, and add three new Internet backbone direct connection points."

With the promotion of operators, the optical network transformation will be gradually completed in 2017, and 100-megabit household access is expected to be rapidly popularized.

In 2016, Sichuan, Shandong, Henan and other provinces took the lead in building all-optical networks to provide users with gigabit access services, while Shanghai and Shenzhen have launched gigabit broadband city construction plans. As users' demand for HD/4K/8K continues to rise, gigabit communities will become more and more popular in 2017.

Competition among operators in the fixed-line market will intensify again

China Mobile continues to develop fixed-line broadband, and its number of users surpassed China Unicom in 2016, and will approach the total number of China Telecom users in 2017. Competition in the fixed-line market became increasingly fierce in 2016, and it is expected that competition among operators in the fixed-line market will intensify in 2017.

On December 26, 2016, China Telecom released the 2016 Optical Fiber Centralized Procurement Project Notice, bidding for G.652D optical fiber with a demand of 35 million kilometers. Following China Mobile's centralized procurement of 61.14 million kilometers of optical cables in 2016-2017, China Telecom has brought another benefit to the industry. By centralized procurement of a large number of optical fibers, a good foundation has been laid for the construction of an all-optical network.

In order to strengthen the network infrastructure and grab users, China Unicom is expected to follow up with the centralized procurement of optical cables in 2016-2017, and the demand will continue to grow. With the surge in network traffic and large-scale centralized procurement by operators, the demand for optical fiber and cable remains strong, and the shortage in 2016 is expected to continue in 2017.

New optical fibers will gradually mature

The cost of laying backbone optical cables is huge, and unified planning is required 2 to 3 years in advance. Optical fiber laying has a long lifespan, and the application needs for many years in the future need to be considered when introducing optical fiber. At present, increasing the effective area of ​​optical fiber and reducing optical fiber attenuation have become the main direction of the development of new optical fiber technology. Although ultra-low loss optical fiber and large effective area optical fiber have high costs, the increase in transmission distance and the reduction in relay nodes can significantly reduce the total cost of the system. Mainstream manufacturers in the industry are actively developing related products to provide strong support for improving the transmission performance of optical network systems and extending the transmission distance of the system.

In 2016, the world's first new "large effective area optical fiber" cable land application project for operators passed the acceptance of China Unicom in Hami-Balikun, Xinjiang and Jinan-Qingdao, Shandong, marking the initial success of the test of the new "large effective area optical fiber" cable deployed by China Unicom among the world's telecom operators. This world-leading engineering research project has attracted great attention from the industry at home and abroad, and has received full support from experts in the field and optical fiber and cable manufacturers such as Changfei, FiberHome, Corning, Hengtong, Zhongtian, Xigu Guangtong, and system equipment companies such as Huawei and ZTE.

In 2016, the Optical Fiber Standards Conference stipulated the characteristics of G.654.E optical fiber, such as mode field diameter (MFD) and effective area, macrobending loss characteristics, dispersion parameters and attenuation coefficient, and the large effective area optical fiber (G.654.E) standard was revised and passed. The formulation of the G.654.E optical fiber standard will guide optical fiber and cable manufacturers to make strict requirements on products during technology research and development; for operators, it will also speed up the introduction of G.654.E optical fiber by operators.

With the expansion of applications of new optical fibers such as ultra-low loss and large effective area and more manufacturers' investment in research and development, the industry chain is becoming increasingly powerful. It is expected that in 2017, new optical fibers such as ultra-low loss and large effective area will gradually mature.

More optical fiber and cable intelligent manufacturing projects will be implemented

The work conference of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology pointed out that in 2017, "Made in China 2025" will be fully implemented to deepen the integrated development of manufacturing and the Internet and cultivate and expand new models of intelligent manufacturing.

In the field of optical fiber and cable, optical fiber and cable manufacturers currently regard intelligent manufacturing as a top priority. For example, Changfei Company launched the intelligent manufacturing project planning in 2012 to carry out intelligent transformation of new production processes and equipment for optical fiber preforms. After four years of development, the per capita output of preforms increased by 15.3%, the per capita output of optical fiber increased by 47.4%, and the drawing speed increased by 38.9%. Tongding Interconnect seeks intelligent transformation from two levels: one is the intelligent transformation of business model and development strategy; the other is to create a new manufacturing ecosystem, from the three directions of "equipment, personnel, and information flow", using intelligent, networked, and digital technologies to establish a cluster manufacturing system for machine interconnection, a personnel division of labor and collaborative system, and a centralized control information system for human-machine interconnection, making full use of information technology to cover the entire business process, forming an integrated online and offline intelligent manufacturing pattern, breaking through development bottlenecks, creating smart factories, and enhancing the core competitiveness of enterprises.

After years of development, the scale of China's optical fiber and cable industry has continued to grow, and the industry's innovation capabilities have been greatly improved. The gap with developed countries has gradually narrowed, and even surpassed them in some areas. Optical fiber and cable manufacturers' exploration of intelligent manufacturing will also become a hot topic in 2017. It is expected that in 2017, intelligent manufacturing will receive more responses from optical fiber and cable manufacturers, and more intelligent manufacturing projects will be implemented.