Wave7 Optics Inc., a leading supplier of fiber-to-the-home or -premises (FTTH/FTTP) equipment for residential and business services, and Sydfyns Elforsyning (SEF), a major utility company based in Svendborg, Denmark, announced a major FTTP PON network that is currently the largest such system installed in northern Europe. The two companies announced further that 1200 residential customers have been connected to the network and are now enjoying a full suite of "triple play" voice, RF video and data services. SEF expects to have more than 5000 customers "on net" by the end of this year. Eltel Networks is managing the project as the equipment installer and integrator.

Sydfyns Elforsyning is in the process of connecting all of their 30,000 electrical customers in the Svendborg area to this new "single fiber" optical broadband network. Single-fiber Ethernet based PON (passive optical networks) such as Wave7's "Last Mile Link" equipment are less expensive to deploy, maintain and operate than dual-fiber systems, which transmit RF video traffic on a discrete fiber segregated from the data and voice traffic. Furthermore, the Wave7 PON network will make it more efficient for SEF to operate this network as an open access system that will accommodate multiple third-party Internet, telephone and video (RF or IPTV) service providers.

The initial service package includes 28 channels of RF television (the system is also "HDTV ready"), up to four traditional (also known as "POTS") telephone lines (IP phone capable-VoIP), and symmetrical high-speed data bandwidth rates ranging from 512 kbps to 200 Mbps per customer. Other service providers can access the network to offer similar services, with all RF or IP video, voice and data services efficiently and economically managed via one network interface and one management system developed by Wave7 Optics.

"We are very impressed with Wave7's expertise in the area of utility-owned and operated FTTP networks and have full confidence that our customers will greatly appreciate this new network," said Aksel Pedersen, CEO, of Sydfyns Elforsyning. "This project will fill a gap in the information infrastructure in this region, as, in many instances, this will be the first broadband service available to these customers."

"Sydfyns Elforsyning joins a growing number of progressive utility companies who are both meeting customer demand and diversifying their business operations and revenue sources with economical and feature-rich PON based FTTP networks," said Tom Tighe, CEO of Wave7 Optics. "Having deployed networks serving hundreds of thousands of people around the world, we have the experience to see this project through and to support Sydfyns with their network expansion. It is good to see that Northern Europe is starting to experience the same economies from the use of a scalable PON network just like the millions of customers that are deployed on PON networks in Asia and the USA."

Concurrent with this announcement, Wave7 also announced the opening of their newest worldwide branch office, located in Denmark. The office will expand Wave7's worldwide sales and support presence, which now spans five continents and includes customers and projects on six continents.

Wave7 Optics is exhibiting March 21 and 22 the industry's most diverse FTTP product line at stand 1063 of the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas, site of the TelecomNEXT conference and exhibition.