Suhr Invests in the Future

Fiber to the Home can do more than Internet and entertainment, as demonstrated by the utility TBS in the Swiss municipality of Suhr. With the new fiber optic network, TBS is simultaneously paving the way to smart metering. 

The TBS mascot, a likable robot, informs the citizens of the municipality of Suhr about the progress of the FTTH project.

TBS Strom AG has set itself an ambitious goal: By the end of 2023, all residential units in the municipality of Suhr are to be able to transfer huge data packets at the speed of light. To this end, the utility is building a blanket FO network in four phases for 2,000 properties and 5,300 lots, apartments, and offices. Fiber to the Home is replacing TBS’s decades-old cable TV network. One Gigabit per second in both directions, download, and upload is the benchmark for TBS today. It also offers telecom, Internet, and TV services. Internet service provider Quickline even wants to offer 10 Gigabit/s on the network – a quantum leap for users.

FTTH plus smart meter

Parallel to Fiber to the Home, TBS is equipping its properties with digital meters. In the future, smart meters will automatically transfer energy consumption data to the municipal utilities via the FO network, doing away with the need to read analog electricity meters. Parallel investment in FTTH and smart metering saves construction costs and creates synergies. By 2027, 80 % of the buildings in Suhr is to have smart meters.

This is a major step towards the digitalization of the communal utility company, which incidentally is free of charge for the municipality’s citizens. TBS Strom AG is investing in the future at its own expense. The strategy is: By proactively engaging with trends and innovations, TBS can open up new areas of activity and business at an early stage.

High packing density

An advantage for TBS AG: It will save a lot of expensive groundwork. It owns the infrastructures of the old cable network and the electricity supply. Most of the new FTTH infrastructures with point-to-multipoint topology can be accommodated here.

However, some of the 28 transformer cabins in the power supply system are quite cramped. «There is hardly any space to accommodate PoP stations for the FO network with the standard 19-inch cabinets,» says Stephan Senn, Head of Technology and Projects at TBS Strom AG. That’s why he was looking for more compact distributor solutions that accommodate all the passive functions of a Point of Presence (PoP) and fit into existing spaces and rooms.

Stephan Senn explains the result of the evaluation: «R&M is the best choice on the PoP side in terms of packing density and processing.» R&M products are particularly suitable for confined spaces, for splicing and maintenance work where space is limited.

Stephan Senn, Head of Technology and Projects, TBS Strom AG; Thomas De Steffani, R&M Switzerland

Modular platforms

R&M combines the Optical Distribution Frames (ODF) of the PRIME and R&Mfoxs family in the TBS PoP stations.

Other criteria included ergonomics and future potential. TBS management always thinks far ahead. It may be necessary to expand fiber optic cabling in the future or to retrofit it for new providers and new services.

For this reason, the splitter, splice, and patch assemblies should be easily accessible in order to be able to adjust or maintain the PoP stations at any time without great effort. The distributors should be able to expand gradually in line with the pay-as-you-grow principle. The modular R&M platforms ODF PRIME and R&Mfoxs can be used together and certainly convinced the project manager Stephan Senn in this respect.

Fast installation

Ultimately, time played a decisive role. The PoP stations were to be built as quickly as possible as part of the tight overall plan. This is why R&M, as a supplier, also managed assembly. «We were very pleasantly surprised at how quickly and easily the PoP stations were set up,» says Stephan Senn.

At the end of 2021, TBS was able to connect the first 200 subscribers to the new FTTH network.

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