Jaime Goldenberg
Director of Presales & Product Development, Trans Americas Fiber System
As the demand for connectivity grows, telecommunications providers face significant challenges managing rapid growth and cost of their network infrastructure. Shared spectrum solutions offer a promising answer, using innovative technology to maximize spectrum availability, efficiency, and affordability. This article explores shared spectrum solutions and how they are revolutionizing telecommunications services by improving the immediacy and availability of bandwidth on high growth routes.
Understanding Shared Spectrum Solutions
Shared spectrum solutions are based on technologies designed to enable the secure use and sharing of fiber pairs within the same subsea cable by multiple telecommunications providers. Unlike traditional fixed capacity models, often dependent upon, and limited by, supplier forecasting and capital investment cycles, spectrum sharing makes spectrum resources immediately available on a fiber pair, thus allowing multiple telecommunications providers to simultaneously utilize the submarine cable infrastructure, independently managing their own capacity growth and investment.
This approach can be segmented into:
- Spectrum Sharing Models: Includes co-ownership, Indefeasible Right of Use (IRU) agreements, or consortiums that share spectrum or a fiber pair.
- Technology Implementation: Optical spectrum allocation allows the telecommunications provider to choose their own Submarine Line Terminal Equipment (SLTE), decide their own capacity ramp up, and reserve spectrum for growth on key routes.
Challenges of Spectrum Sharing Solutions
While shared spectrum solutions bring significant benefits, they are not without challenges. The complexity of shared infrastructure introduces various technical, operational, and strategic difficulties:
Technical Complexity
Managing spectrum sharing involves sophisticated technology that can handle different operators with distinct needs and specifications. Ensuring that shared optical spectrum remains interference-free while maintaining service quality demands.
Interoperability Issues
Operators often have proprietary systems that may not seamlessly integrate with ITU Standards based shared spectrum infrastructure. The coordination between different technologies and systems can create unintended bottlenecks, optical power level variances and limit the full potential of shared spectrum solutions. The current move towards higher baud rate WDM channels, with spectral widths of 150-200 GHz, also needs to be considered.
Security Concerns
Sharing infrastructure raises concerns about data privacy, security, network integrity and performance. Unauthorized access, changes or data breaches can potentially affect multiple stakeholders, making cybersecurity protocols, spectrum management and allocation controls essential yet challenging to coordinate across different parties.
TAM-1 Advantage, Enhancing Bandwidth Utilization
The demand for high-speed, reliable, and scalable data transmission across the Americas has never been more critical. Trans Americas Fiber System (TAFS) is revolutionizing connectivity with its TAM-1 subsea cable system, state-of-the-art infrastructure designed to address the exponential growth in data traffic. In this section I review the specific elements of the TAM-1 design that enable spectrum sharing solutions for our customers.
Creating Advanced Spectrum Connectivity Solutions
The TAM-1 system spans over 7,200km subsea, connecting Florida with Central America and the Caribbean. The network is designed to provide low-latency, high-reliability connectivity, which is essential for modern digital ecosystems. It consists of a north and a south system, consisting of 12 fiber pairs on the north system and 24 fiber pairs on the south system, creating a design capacity of 648Tbps, representing a massive step change compared to the legacy systems currently operating in the region.
TAM-1 Network Map
The primary spectrum related feature of TAM-1 is the Spectrum Sharing Gateway (SSG), which is one variant of Xtera’s Open Cable Interface (OCI) equipment and housed in the cable landing stations. The SSG allows a number of WDM terminals or SLTEs to connect to a single fiber pair, facilitating multiple customers to operate spectrum simultaneously on the same fiber pair.
Schematic of Spectrum Sharing Gateway
Each terminal is assigned a unique part of the available bandwidth, with the SSG ensuring that the terminals are isolated from each other in a way that safeguards against issues on one terminal affecting another. This security is ensured by wavelength filtering to control access to the shared spectrum and monitoring the input signals so that dummy loading can be inserted in the event of missing signals; this might occur due to the failure or disconnection of a terminal. Up to eight terminals can be supported and the assignment of spectrum is flexible down to 6.25 GHz. This fine granularity, and transparency to any data format, means that the system offers a high degree of flexibility with regards to both current and future traffic types.
OADM BU capability is the second feature of TAM-1 which facilitates flexibility of spectrum allocation on a fiber pair. Xtera’s Switched Band OADM (SB-OADM) unit is a subsea module that can be installed in a branch cable, sufficiently far from the Branching Unit such that it can be installed or repaired without disturbing the Branching Unit.
It performs a similar function to a subsea ROADM based on Wavelength-Selective Switches (WSSs) but is of simpler construction, requires less maintenance at a lower cost. It achieves this by switching bands of wavelengths rather than access down to individual wavelengths. The bands are chosen prior to manufacture and are fixed, but the OADM unit can be reconfigured to vary which bands are accessed at a branch at any time – giving our customers increased flexibility of spectrum availability on their traffic paths.
The switches latch, thus preserving the Add/Drop reconfiguration even if the system is depowered. Due to the relative simplicity of the module, it requires only a very simple control system and is easy for the TAM-1 Network Operations Center (NOC) to manage. By enabling these two discrete types of spectrum management, TAM-1 will be able to offer flexibility and efficiency to operators, allowing them to scale their networks in response to fluctuating demand over time.
Benefits on TAM-1, Dynamic Spectrum Network Solutions
Implementing shared spectrum solutions in submarine cable systems provides several advantages that can significantly improve connectivity, and our Dynamic Spectrum Network Solution delivers various benefits:
Enhanced Capacity Utilization
One of the primary advantages of spectrum sharing is its ability to enhance bandwidth utilization. By allowing multiple operators to use the same subsea cable infrastructure, bandwidth allocation can be tailored to meet operators’ needs without idle resources.
Cost Efficiency
Sharing spectrum solutions reduce the investment costs of individual operators. Instead of constructing separate, dedicated cable systems, or acquiring independent fiber pairs, operators can share the cost of infrastructure, making business models more flexible and reliable, reacting swiftly to bandwidth projections over time.
Rapid Deployment
By utilizing existing submarine cable systems with spectrum-sharing capabilities, network expansions and service rollouts can be achieved faster than deploying entirely new cables. This will accelerate connectivity in underserved regions.
Closing Thoughts
As the demand for global data transfer continues to surge, the TAM-1 cable system, with its advanced Dynamic Spectrum Network Solution capabilities, is poised to meet the growing connectivity demands across the Americas in a way that offers customers a new type of flexibility for the region.
With continued advancements in technology and cooperative frameworks, these solutions can play a pivotal role in meeting the growing connectivity needs of telecommunication providers, ISPs, hyperscalers, content providers, making global communication more efficient and resilient.
Shared spectrum solutions represent a transformative approach to maximizing the efficiency and reach of submarine cable systems. By enabling flexible, multi-operator use of existing infrastructure, allows significant advantages in terms of cost savings, improved capacity, and resource management.
About the author
With more than 30 years of experience in the Information Technology and Telecommunications market, Jaime Goldenberg is a co-founder of the private investment group RSL Telecom. In 2001, the group established itself as a member of the Maya-1 Consortium and as an international provider of submarine cable connectivity services.
Jaime has a successful career as a business developer and as a Sales, Marketing, and Operations Manager. In recent years, he was responsible for product development and commercial strategy. He was also in charge of leading the commercial strategy for the Channel Program in LATAM for Ufinet. Jaime led the Maya-1 Consortium as Chairman of the Upgrade and Finance and Administration Committees, managing negotiations and overseeing system expansion implementations.
El Futuro de la Conectividad Submarina: Optimizando la Capacidad de Red con Soluciones de Espectro Compartido
Jaime Goldenberg
Director de Preventa y Desarrollo de Producto, Trans Americas Fiber System
A medida que crece la demanda de conectividad, los proveedores de telecomunicaciones enfrentan desafíos significativos para gestionar el rápido crecimiento y los costos de su infraestructura de red. Las soluciones de espectro compartido representan una alternativa innovadora para optimizar la disponibilidad, eficiencia y accesibilidad del espectro. Este artículo analiza las soluciones de espectro compartido y su impacto en los servicios de telecomunicaciones, optimizando la rapidez y disponibilidad del ancho de banda en áreas de alta demanda.
Entendiendo las Soluciones de Espectro Compartido
Las soluciones de espectro compartido emplean tecnologías diseñadas para facilitar el uso seguro y compartido de pares de fibra dentro de un mismo cable submarino por varios proveedores de telecomunicaciones. A diferencia de los modelos tradicionales de capacidad fija, que dependen y están limitados por pronósticos de proveedores y ciclos de inversión de capital, el espectro compartido hace que los recursos estén inmediatamente disponibles en un par de fibras, permitiendo que varios proveedores utilicen simultáneamente la infraestructura de cables submarinos, gestionando de forma independiente el crecimiento de su capacidad y su inversión.
Este enfoque se puede segmentar en:
- Modelos de Espectro Compartido: Incluyen copropiedad, acuerdos de Derecho de Uso Indefinido (IRU) o consorcios que comparten espectro o un par de fibras.
- Implementación Tecnológica: La asignación de espectro óptico permite al proveedor elegir su propio equipo terminal de línea submarina (SLTE), decidir su escalamiento de capacidad y reservar espectro para el crecimiento futuro.
Desafíos de las Soluciones de Espectro Compartido
Aunque estas soluciones aportan beneficios significativos, también presentan retos técnicos, operativos y estratégicos:
- Complejidad Técnica: Manejar el espectro compartido requiere tecnología sofisticada que pueda gestionar operadores con necesidades y especificaciones distintas, garantizando que el espectro óptico compartido esté libre de ruido, de interferencias y manteniendo la calidad del servicio.
- Problemas de Interoperabilidad: Los sistemas propietarios de los operadores pueden no integrarse perfectamente con infraestructuras de espectro compartido basadas en estándares de la ITU, creando cuellos de botella y variaciones de niveles de potencia óptica.
- Preocupaciones de Seguridad: Compartir infraestructura plantea riesgos relacionados con la privacidad de los datos, la integridad de la red y el rendimiento.
Ventaja de TAM-1: Mejorando la Utilización del Ancho de Banda
El sistema de cables submarinos TAM-1 de Trans Americas Fiber System está revolucionando la conectividad con su infraestructura de última generación, diseñada para abordar el crecimiento exponencial del tráfico de datos. Este sistema conecta Florida con Centroamérica y el Caribe mediante una red de baja latencia y alta confiabilidad.
- Características principales: El sistema cuenta con 12 pares de fibra en su sistema norte y 24 pares en su sistema sur, con una capacidad de diseño de 648 Tbps.
- Nodo de Acceso de Espectro compartido (SSG): Permite que múltiples terminales WDM o SLTE se conecten a un único par de fibra, asegurando que los clientes puedan operar simultáneamente e independientemente el mismo par.
Beneficios de las Soluciones Dinámicas de Espectro
- Mejor uso de la Capacidad: Aumenta la eficiencia del ancho de banda al permitir que múltiples operadores compartan una misma infraestructura.
- Eficiencia en Costos: Disminiuye la inversión inicial al distribuir el costo de la infraestructura.
- Despliegue Rápido: Facilita la expansión de redes y el lanzamiento de servicios de forma ágil.
Reflexiones Finales
Las soluciones de espectro compartido representan un enfoque innovador para maximizar la eficiencia y el alcance de los sistemas de cables submarinos. El sistema TAM-1 está preparado para satisfacer la creciente demanda de conectividad en América, ofreciendo flexibilidad y resiliencia a sus clientes.
Sobre el Autor
Jaime Goldenberg cuenta con más de 30 años de experiencia en el mercado de tecnologías de la información y telecomunicaciones. Es cofundador del grupo de inversión privado RSL Telecom y miembro del Consorcio Maya-1. Su trayectoria incluye el desarrollo de productos, estrategias comerciales y liderazgo en operaciones y marketing en la región de LATAM.