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PowerLines by Linnea Brush
April 16, 2012
No Service, No Power?
Power Channels: Batteries and Portable Power, Communications Power, Energy Efficiency, European Power News, Power Components, Switch-Mode Power
Imagine a world without power supplies. Impossible, right? Now try to imagine a specific industry abandoning its power supplies. As communication services continue to converge, companies have decided that it’s easier to dump something unprofitable, even if it’s been unprofitable for a relatively short period of time. And, for an industry as old and entrenched as telecommunications, that must be very painful.
AT&T and Verizon want to end their 99-year-old universal service obligation, which would allow them to serve only the customers they want. Unless the new rules are written very carefully, millions of people could lose basic telephone service or be forced to pay more for calls. No one has been cut off yet, but if most states end universal service, it could mean that some parts of the landline system may shut down.
That means the large power systems supporting landline service could be shut down, as well. It is one more indicator of the slow decline of the Central Office (CO), which has been trying to maintain its relevance through fiber and mobile communications networks. This dilemma has been raised over the past few years by telecom equipment manufacturers. Service providers were enjoined to take a “hard look” at their telco infrastructure: Can they handle the next generation of telecommunications? Are they built to handle new data requirements? Do they provide an effective foundation to keep pace with future growth?
The implied answer to these questions was Yes – the CO was intrinsically suited to be the “foundational infrastructure on which voice, video and data mobile Internet applications and services are delivered.” But it looks like the telcos either didn’t agree, gave up trying to upgrade, or decided to dump landlines in order focus on mobile and fiber traffic only.
Everyone agreed that many COs were furnished with outmoded and inefficient energy equipment, with wireless backhaul upgrades being slow and cost-prohibitive. As a result, most of them just did nothing. Communications equipment makers started touting retrofit power systems and new energy architectures to increase efficiencies of existing infrastructures. This allowed expenditures from OpEx budgets instead of CapEx budgets, as well.
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We would like to hear your comments on the topics discussed in this column. We welcome the opportunity to publish opposing opinions. Please email Jeff Shepard at jshepard@darnell.com.
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