Bezeq chooses Yokogawa OTDRs to test Israel's fibre-optic network

Bezeq, the largest telecommunications service provider in Israel, has purchased 24 optical time-domain reflectometers (OTDRs) from Yokogawa Europe for installation and maintenance of the country's rapidly expanding fibre-optic network.

The Bezeq network includes over one million kilometres of optical fibre in around 25,000 km of cables, with an additional 1000 km of cable being installed each year. In addition, the company is about to start installing its Next Generation Network (NGN), which will add a further 800 km of cable each year.

Yokogawa's AQ7275 OTDRs, supplied to Bezeq by local distributor Fibernet, are used for checking new installed lines and maintaining existing ones.

Following a highly competitive bidding process, the Yokogawa instruments were finally selected on the basis of their superior display facility, easy set-up, fast switching between different measurement modes and overall value for money.

The AQ7275 Series of OTDRs includes nine models for applications covering virtually all metro, access and core networks as well as FTTH (fibre to the

home) and PONs (passive optical networks). Key elements of the family include high dynamic range (up to 45 dB) for measurements on long-distance fibre transmission lines incorporating splitters with large losses, and a short event dead zone (0.8 m) for detecting closely spaced events in cables installed in customer premises.

The instruments offer exceptional ease of operation, with the set-up mode selectable according to the skill level of the operator. When combined with the quick start-up capability (ten seconds from power-up to taking a measurement), this makes the AQ7275 Series a major potential contributor to efficiency and productivity.