Broadband Internet is now seen as a basic facility needed to keep pace with the new modes of operations, production, and all kinds of economic activities in today’s environment. It becomes more crucial as we see the deployment of 5G, Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Increasingly, citizens are looking to access broadband at their doorsteps to run their daily operations, increase efficiency, productivity in economic activities. OFC networks fulfil this connectivity need for transmitting data, voice and video seamlessly with higher bandwidth capacity that is reliable and available at a competitive cost. Therefore, deployment of OFC infrastructure has become the focus of attention in recent years in providing digital services worldwide. As all sectors need to leverage the benefits of ICT application and offer seamless service to the people, there must be cross-sectoral collaboration in the ways to deploy ICT infrastructures, regulate and manage the resources for the benefit of the society.
 

However, even when sectoral players join hands or are encouraged to share their infrastructures, regulatory issues, revenue sharing arrangements, taxation regimes, and many other factors seem to halt the progress. As major infrastructure owners, the transport and energy (electricity and gas) sectors can play a vital role in increasing connectivity if co-deployment is planned while installing their infrastructures. We can draw from the best practices in the co-deployment of ICT, energy and transport infrastructure. It will potentially lead us to a way forward and recognize the importance of collaborative regulations between the ICT sector and other sectors to increase connectivity, avoid duplication, and foster partnerships and collaboration for digital transformation. This study looks at the co-deployment experiences from the Asia-Pacific (ASP) region through some representative cases to highlight the lessons learnt, way forward and the importance of collaborative regulations between the ICT sector and other sectors to increase connectivity, avoid duplication, and foster partnerships and collaboration for digital transformation.
 

Depending on the local-specific environment, technologies like ADSS (All-dielectric self-supporting) cable is seen as a solution where OFC is strong enough to withstand tension when hung between structures using the existing infrastructures electric utilities. Another option for installing aerial OFC is the optical power ground wire (OPGW) or optical fibre composite overhead ground wire used in overhead power lines.
 

The benefits of co-deployment in terms of cost, operation, and maintenance of OFC notwithstanding, several challenges often slow down such initiatives. Examples and experiences emanating from different countries covered by this study provide us with some best practices to follow. In the case of asset sharing, the partners or collaborators can promote co-deployment of OFC and then share the asset so created. In infrastructure mutualisation, co-deployment is promoted by one party who builds and maintains the common facility, say laying the ducts during road construction. The third strategy focuses on cooperation among the infrastructure owners, say the utilities like transport, power, water or gas for OFC co-deployment. The utility operators don’t normally compete with the telecom services providers using the OFC in such a scenario. Still, through mutual agreements, they can retain the right to use a part of the OFC while offering their right of way to the other.

Source: https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Regional-Presence/AsiaPacific/Pages/Events/2021/ASP%20Regional%20Dialogue%20on%20Digital%20Transformation/Session%20Pages/RD-Session-2.aspx