Cost and Energy Consumption Assessment of Fiber-to-the-School Network

The growing demand for broadband access drives the evolution of access networks to fiber-based solutions. School Wi-Fi that is reliable, fast, and secure will empower teachers to maximize their use of the internet in the classroom. As part of its Malaysian Education Blueprint 2013-2025, the Ministry of Education has taken another initiative in order to provide an effective learning experience for Malaysian students. The program aims to give every Malaysian public-school access to high-speed Internet access and a virtual learning environment (VLE). Energy consumption is becoming more important in schools as their network infrastructure expands, not only from an environmental standpoint but also from a capital expenditure perspective. This paper proposes the cost and energy consumption model for fiber-to-the-school (FTTS) network. The developed model was used to assess the energy consumption of the FTTS network. For the cost assessment, there is not much different in the cost variation between different scenarios considered in the analysis. It was also found that subscription cost contribute the highest percentage of 69% in total FTTS cost compared to other network costs. Meanwhile in energy consumption assessment, it is been discovered that the FTTS through scenario with energy saving approach by considering the idle state of the network elements will save approximately 24.33%. The energy saving is improved when considering energy consumption model when the network elements are switched off during inactive hours which is approximately 66.67%.