PPC blog

Since Dark Fiber Africa (DFA) first hand-pushed a pre-terminated Miniflex® fiber optic 240m from an existing manhole, through a standard 8/5mm duct and connected a 100Mbps business customer in July 2012, Miniflex has grown to become Africa’s drop cable of choice for all leading FTTH (Fiber to the Home) providers.

PPC Broadband has deployed Miniflex in more than 12 countries across the continent and recently passed 250,000 FTTH customer connected. The PPC Miniflex fiber optic cable has withstood all obstacles in its path, standing head-and-shoulders against any other product available in the market today and continually evolves in design to address customer requirements as their networks organically grow more complicated.

As operators drive fiber deeper into their networks for increased speed and capacity, tolerances become tighter and margin for error becomes lower. That means quality is critical and every component in the network needs to perform better.

This blog post explores the purpose and function of PPC's new product category of fiber optical passives and splitters to help service providers gain speed and bandwidth, and the crucial role these devices play in enhancing the transmission of high-quality, ultra-high-speed broadband to multiple subscribers.

PPC Broadband, Inc. has acquired the Nebraskan-based fiber provider, Net-Tech Technology (NT2) - a move that will add a range of innovative optical passives products to PPC's fiber business unit.

"Broadband providers are driving fiber deeper into their networks, increasing speed and capacity to meet subscriber demand," says PPC President Dave Jackson. "The year-over-year spend continues to increase and we believe this trend will continue well into the future." 

The PPC Broadband team joined experts from across the international telecommunications and media industry to attend theANGA COM Exhibition and Conference in Cologne, Germany,12 June to 14 June, 2018.

The annual event, which is organized by the Association of German Cable Operators (ANGA), attracted a record500 exhibitors this year, and brought together innovations and insights from network operators, service providers and vendors from 36 countries.

As homeowners consume more and more content online, the efficiency of the in-home network becomes increasingly important.

However, the ability of a network to carry a data signal will only ever be as good as the integrity of its individual parts.

It comes as no surprise that in-home network radio frequency (RF) performance has a vital role to play in delivering services that meet consumers’ increasing demands for performance quality while also enabling operators to maintain control of costs.

Representatives from PPC Broadband will join experts from across the international telecommunications and media industry at the ANGA COM Exhibition and Conference which takes place in Cologne, Germany,12 June through 14 June, 2018.

Organised by the Association of German Cable Operators (ANGA), this year's event has attracted a record 500 exhibitors, bringing together network operators, content providers, vendors and service providers from 36 countries.

The ever-increasing consumer demand for faster download speeds, and improved picture and voice quality means connections throughout the home network must perform perfectly.

Today’s coaxial connectors have to provide flawless signal transmission, able to accommodate the vast amounts of traffic traveling back and forth between provider and user. To be sure a coaxial connector is up for the task, it's important for service providers to choose connectors that have been through vigorous testing and can prove their effectiveness, especially when the connection is less than finger-tight.

Balancing the price of network components against the lifetime cost is an ongoing challenge for broadband service providers as they strive to consistently deliver high-quality service that meets customers’ expectations.

While it’s vital to manage the level of capital cost for components, the use of cheaper or sub-standard materials is directly linked to poorer performance profiles which in turn can lead to a higher frequency of service calls, reduced customer satisfaction and the inevitable issue of customer churn.

The rapid development of ultra broadband (UBB) connectivity (defined as provision of downstream data rates of 100 Mbits per second over any type of fixed network connection) is shaping up to promise some significant changes within fixed broadband networks over the next five years, according to the latest Telecoms Annual Industry Survey 2017.

Studies have shown that 40% of all cable broadband service calls are related to issues with the drop network.

So if you’re looking to ensure better quality home network installations and reduce the number of service calls for your technicians, a customized, hands-on training program is an obvious first step.