Surge in Legacy Renovation Projects! All-Optical Project Implementation Guide for Small & Midsize System Integrators

Policy support for old residential community renovation is ramping up in 2026. Zhang Zhiyong, NPC Deputy and Chairman of China Tower, proposed during the Two Sessions: "Treat communication coverage infrastructure in key areas such as elevators and underground parking lots as mandatory items for old community renovation." He also suggested "actively promoting Fiber to the Room (FTTR) technology and unifying standards for concealed cabling and integrated low-voltage box retrofits."

Guangdong took the lead and clearly stated: "Further advance the renewal and renovation of outdated communication facilities, achieving full FTTR whole-home optical network coverage for both new and old residential communities simultaneously." Henan also specified: "Support FTTR deployment during the construction of new buildings and renovation of legacy structures." The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the 15th Five-Year Plan for the Development of the Information and Communications Industry, mandating "renewal and transformation of communication network infrastructure in resource-depleted cities, old urban areas and rural regions."

During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, cumulative investment in information infrastructure will hit 3.8 trillion RMB. Over 50,000 old residential communities are scheduled for renovation nationwide, of which more than 60% involve low-voltage pipe network remediation, directly driving roughly 300 billion RMB in related investment.

Funding, policies and standards are all in place — what remains is the manpower to deliver the projects.

I. Legacy Renovation Is Fundamentally Different From New-Build Projects

New construction projects come with complete drawings, built from scratch and implemented strictly per design specifications. Legacy renovation means entering outdated low-voltage closets, facing tangled cables with unknown origins and endpoints, and designing new optical paths within constrained spaces.

Old community renovation has several hard constraints: no large-scale demolition, no prolonged network outages, limited budgets and complex on-site conditions.

Traditional switch-plus-network-cable solutions keep hitting barriers under these constraints:

• Network cables only support a 100-meter transmission range, failing to cover remote buildings scattered across old communities
• Recabling requires trenching and drilling, which residents will not approve
• More devices create more fault points, pushing up long-term maintenance costs

The strengths of all-optical networks precisely address these pain points. Fiber cables are only a few millimeters in diameter and can easily pass through old conduits without massive civil demolition. Fiber supports transmission distances up to 20 km, requiring merely one or two low-voltage closets per building. All-optical networks use passive optical splitters, which require no power supply or heat dissipation and deliver nearly zero failures.

AINOPOL’s all-optical legacy reuse renovation solution adopts standardized construction workflows including site surveys, pipeline cleaning, fiber core replacement and route reuse. It enables stable all-optical upgrades without large-scale civil engineering demolition. For old residential community retrofits, all-optical networking is not merely an optional choice, but the optimal solution.

II. What Holds Integrators Back From Renovation Projects?

Policies are ready and solutions mature, yet many integrators remain hesitant. It is not a lack of willingness, but uncertainty about how to get started.

• Insufficient site survey capability: Pipeline records for old communities may have long been lost. Which pipes and cable trays are still usable? Is there available space in low-voltage closets? Such data can only be verified on-site.
• Difficulty drafting solutions: Renovation differs from new builds; standard drawings cannot be copied wholesale. How to reuse existing assets, replace old lines and guarantee service continuity during construction all require custom design.
• Zero tolerance for service downtime: Residents live on-site, so extended outages are unacceptable. Midnight cutovers, phased construction and emergency response plans are mandatory. Any misstep may trigger complaints.
• Unprotected client relationships: Renovation projects have longer cycles than new builds. After half a year of client cultivation, manufacturers may directly take over the project. Without client protection clauses, few dare invest time and effort.

III. How to Capture This Wave of Renovation Orders

These bottlenecks boil down to one core question: how much technical backing can the manufacturer provide?

AINOPOL takes concrete actions tailored to renovation scenarios.

• On-site survey support: Our technical team can accompany your field inspections to assess usable pipelines, cable trays and available space in low-voltage closets.
• Ready-made solution templates: You do not need to draw topologies from scratch. Standard templates exist for old residential communities, campuses and hotels; you only fill in on-site data.
• Construction technical backup: Online cutovers carry high technical difficulty, with remote equipment commissioning support available anytime. You do not bear all cutover risks alone, as our technical team stands behind you.
• Client protection: AINOPOL Rule 01 "Never engage end customers directly" and Rule 06 "Absolute project protection". Registered projects receive exclusive authorization; the manufacturer will not contact your clients. Renovation projects often take months to nurture, and no one dares to invest without client protection.

No stocking pressure, no advance capital outlay. Renovation projects have longer payment cycles than new builds. AINOPOL enforces 18 rigid red lines including "no mandatory stocking". Purchases are only triggered upon confirmed projects, with no inventory kept without orders. Standard orders adopt cash-on-delivery terms and will not tie up your cash flow.

Yancheng, Bengbu, Chongqing, Henan — communication renovation projects for old residential communities are evolving from policy documents into public bidding announcements. Orders for retrofits are already on the way.

Simply put, system integrators follow project opportunities. Where policies lead, projects follow; where standards are defined, orders emerge. This legacy market of old community renovation boasts far larger volume and greater sustainability than new construction projects.

Now is not the time to wait and watch. Prepare your all-optical renovation capabilities so you can take on projects when they are released in large volumes.

That’s it.

FAQ

Q: What is the difference between legacy renovation and new-build projects?
A: New construction starts from scratch with complete drawings and standards. Renovation requires construction without service interruption, handling complex site conditions and interfacing with legacy systems. Thanks to its slim fiber size, long transmission range and passive architecture, all-optical networking is the optimal solution for legacy retrofits.

Q: Do I need to stock inventory for legacy renovation projects?
A: No. The formal cooperation model supports zero inventory and purchase-on-demand. Procurement is only made when a project is secured.

Q: Can integrators without all-optical renovation experience deliver these projects?
A: Yes. AINOPOL provides end-to-end technical support from survey assistance and solution design to equipment commissioning and after-sales O&M. You do not need to maintain an in-house all-optical technical team; your focus remains on client communication and on-site coordination.