Aerial blown fibre is increasingly being accepted as an alternative to in-ground installation in areas where digging would be impractical or where aerial infrastructures are already in place. Particularly for blownfield deployments where the take up of services is an unknown quantity, blown fibre can provide flexibility and ease of installation.

One such project which began using an aerial installation was conducted in Queanbeyan, just outside Canberra. Using Emtelle's Fiberflow technology, it highlighted the benefits of blown fibre, including its speed, flexibility and ease-of use.

Emtelle is one of the leaders in Blown Fibre technology around the world. While not used extensively in Australia, some blown fibre has been used in FTTH deployments. Bright telecommunications used it through its network in Perth, including an Aeriel deployment in Burswood.

Geomedia Broadband has used it exclusively throughout its deployment in Lakeside Shores, Binningup. There is also an installation of tube bundle cable (with no fibre) occurring in a residential estate in Kalgoorlie to provide future proofing of the estate.

At Titan we have designed both blown fibre and preconnectorised FTTH networks. We regularly get asked which is the better and cheaper solution. While both solutions have their pros and cons, our evaluation on the cost differences between the two technologies shows there is a slight advantage to blown fibre. Considering the FTTN/FTTH debate occuring in Australia at the moment and the Government's promised $4.7b contribution to a new high speed broadband network, the use of blown fibre may be one method of delivering an open access network cost effectively and ensuring that in most areas FTTH is the primary delivery medium.

This is a video which was published by Emtelle on the Neunen project in the Netherlands.