The Coming Explosion of Fiber To The Home

The Coming Explosion of Fiber to the Home

A silent revolution is brewing. By the time the public hears about it, the revolution will be at full speed like a runaway train. Why should you care? Because people like Bill Gates, Michael Dell, and John Chambers intend to get a foothold on this burgeoning market. Companies like Verizon, Motorola, SAIC, Corning, 3M, Broadcom, Cisco, and SBC Communications just to name a few are silently preparing to build the next generation of Internet access. Billions of dollars will be made in the next ten years. Integrators, installers, and structured cabling engineers that position themselves now will be the ones that will reap the financial windfall of FTTH. Those that don’t may not be in business in two years.

Forget Broadband, the next generation is going to be Lightband. With potential speeds of up to 1,000 Mbps (Gigabit) Fiber to the home or FTTH as it is referred to is poised to blow the doors of off DSL, Cable, wireless, and Satellite.

Why FTTH instead of DSL or coaxial cable? Despite the rapid growth of DSL and cable, these offerings are merely stopgap measures for the continued demand for greater bandwidth, and each has its limitations.

Until recently, Fiber to the Home technology has been prohibitive due to cost. In the last year, Optical Gigabit Ethernet equipment has dropped in price to match and in some cases actually fall below costs associated with HFC (Hybrid Fiber Coax) networks. There are currently over 170 PUD’s and Municipalities building Fiber to the Home Networks throughout the United States. Even though the costs for the last mile have dropped, and products that allow these new system owners to earn revenue share are now helping to pay for the systems themselves, there remains one hurtle left -- the last 100 feet.

Has Your Broadband Had Its Fiber?

Alternative form of high-speed Internet access makes its way to U.S. homes.

Falling costs, new technology, and competition, with a nudge from regulatory changes, are bringing fiber closer to homes in the U.S. just a few years after the idea seemed all but written off.

Verizon Communications, the country's largest regional carrier, is scheduled to launch commercial fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) service by the end of the third quarter to about 100,000 potential customers in the Dallas area. The other two major incumbent carriers, SBC Communications and BellSouth, are pursuing their own strategies to get fiber into homes or neighborhoods and deliver a multi-megabit bandwidth boost to DSL.

Though U.S. carriers use fiber-optic cable for long-haul connections and some enterprise links, they serve most homes and businesses via copper lines up to several miles long. Partly as a result of that, typical DSL services provide less than 2 megabits per second. Putting in fiber instead of copper opens the door to services measured in the tens of megabits per second, enough to easily deliver multimedia services such as video programming and online games.

Money Matters

But just a few years ago, rolling fiber to homes was a non-starter. The main culprit was equipment cost.

"At that point it was hard to see when the costs would come down to the well-under-$1000-per-subscriber range that the [incumbent carriers] find attractive," says Michael Howard, principal analyst at Infonetics Research in San Jose. "In two years, we've gone through a couple of generations of technology."

What's more, fiber itself was much more expensive than copper wire, and contractors were booked up digging trenches in the long-haul fiber boom, according to Peter Hill, vice president of technology planning and deployment at BellSouth.

Since then, the price of fiber has gone down while the cost of copper wire has gone up, the long-haul fiber glut has reduced demand for construction labor, and equipment makers have benefited from the smaller-and-cheaper economics of the electronics industry, Hill says. In May last year, the three carriers agreed to adopt a set of technologies and seek proposals from equipment makers to manufacture the gear. That helped to bring down the cost of equipment, according to analysts.

In the midst of this, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission last year issued its Triennial Review Order, which among other things said incumbent carriers essentially don't have to give competitors access to new fiber-optic lines to homes.

"That's the nice, pretty bow on an already well-wrapped package," says Ernie Carey, vice president, network, for SBC's IP operations and services. All three big incumbents have asked the FCC for clarifications of that ruling but considered it a step in the right direction.

Voice, Video, and More

For DSL providers, fiber will be critical to competing in a world of converged voice, video, and data services to consumers, analysts say. One channel of HDTV today requires about 9 mbps even with compression, according to Yankee Group analyst Matt Davis. FTTH offers a bright future for services such as video on demand, but cable operators should be able to deliver the same things. Meanwhile, some cable companies already offer a form of HDTV, and they are encroaching on carriers' voice and data offerings, he says.

"The [incumbent carriers] realize that they have to become full-service communications companies. They're playing catch-up with the cable operators now," Davis says.

The fiber dream has become a reality in Japan, where FTTH at 100 mbps has been offered since early 2002. There were 1.4 million subscribers to the service at the end of June, according to Japanese government figures, meaning FTTH represents just under 9 percent of Japan's broadband subscriptions.

Service Offerings

Fiber is part of each top U.S. carrier's strategy, but each is taking a slightly different approach.

By year's end, in addition to its Dallas-area rollout, Verizon plans commercial service to areas in California and Florida and expects to have enough infrastructure to allow one million homes nationwide to tap into a fully fiber network. In addition to laying fiber in the ground in new housing developments, Verizon is installing fiber all the way to existing homes in place of copper. Its service will be available at 5 mbps and 15 mbps downstream speeds, with 2 mbps upstream, as well as 30 mbps downstream with 5 mbps upstream. Prices will start at $34.95 per month for 5 mbps for customers with a Verizon local and long-distance service plan.

Verizon says FTTH will set it up to meet bandwidth demands far into the future and even save money down the road. That type of network is "passive" all the way from the carrier's central office to homes miles away, and does away with high-maintenance copper lines, says Keiko Harvey, Verizon's senior vice president for fiber to the premises.

"That will reduce the maintenance expense requirement and make it much easier to upgrade when it becomes necessary," Harvey says. It also allows for remote testing, troubleshooting, and provisioning. Other approaches require higher maintenance "active" electronics in every neighborhood node and keep copper in place, she says.

SBC, on the other hand, is bringing fiber all the way to the home only in new developments. Elsewhere, it will roll the fiber to a box in the neighborhood called an SAI (service area interface) that serves about 300 to 500 homes. That technology should provide about 15 mbps to 25 mbps downstream and up to 3 mbps upstream, says spokesperson Wes Warnock. This "fiber to the node" strategy is the only one that makes sense in already built areas, according to SBC's Carey.

"It takes half the time, it doesn't cost nearly as much, and we don't have to dig up your yard," Carey says. Timing is a key consideration: He estimates that even if money were no object, it would take ten years to deploy fiber to the home to a targeted customer base across SBC's service area. That would be ten more years for cable companies to build up competing offerings. Doing the same with fiber to the node will take just five years, SBC estimates.

BellSouth has not made any decision on overbuilds, but in many already built areas, it has run fiber to facilities about 5000 feet from homes. An advanced form of ADSL called ADSL2+, which should go on sale next year, could deliver 10 mbps or more over those copper links.

Emerging Technologies

In new developments, BellSouth is taking yet another approach, called fiber to the curb. This gets the fiber to an ONU (optical network unit) that serves eight to 12 homes. The remaining distance to a home can be traversed by copper wire or, in some areas, by coaxial cable for BellSouth's cable TV service. At these distances, ADSL2+ could deliver 24 mbps, BellSouth's Hill says. Later in 2005 or in 2006, the carrier may deploy VDSL or VDSL2, which could deliver 50 mbps at those distances, he says.

The regulatory environment may have an impact on how and when fiber gets deployed. BellSouth, for one, is seeking clarification from the FCC on whether technologies such as fiber to the curb are treated the same as fiber to the home under the Triennial Review Order. SBC's Carey believes the key issue is whether the services delivered over fiber are to be considered telecommunications or information services. SBC is testing Microsoft's emerging IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) technology, which delivers TV programming as data packets. If its fiber is used for data, VoIP (voice over IP), and IPTV, and all are defined as information services, the network could fall under different rules on sharing, Carey says.

The carriers will hold back as long as the rules are uncertain, some analysts believe.

"I think they're going to take it fairly slowly," Yankee's Davis says. "Those states that play ball with them on the regulatory side are going to be targeted first."

SBC's Carey, who declines to give any current customer numbers or projections, says decisions by the FCC could have an impact on rollout plans. "We're very bullish if we continue to move toward a more rational regulatory environment," he says.

Though there is some merit to carriers' argument that having to share a network under some terms is a disincentive to putting more money into it, Frix says, their claiming that they won't invest in fiber is probably a politically charged exaggeration.

"They have no alternative to updating that network," Frix says.

At this point, however, for all the good news in the industry, deployments are still at an early stage.

"It's a hot topic. We're still waiting to see whether it's going to be a hot technology," says Current Analysis analyst Dave Dunphy.

How Fiber Optic Works

How Fiber Optics Work

by Craig C. Freudenrich, Ph.D.

Inside This Article

1. Introduction to How Fiber Optics Work

2. What are Fiber Optics?

3. How Does an Optical Fiber Transmit Light?

4. A Fiber-Optic Relay System

5. Advantages of Fiber Optics

6. How Are Optical Fibers Made?

7. Physics of Total Internal Reflection

8. Lots More Information

9. See all Telecommunications articles

You hear about fiber-optic cables whenever people talk about the telephone system, the cable TV system or the Internet. Fiber-optic lines are strands of optically pure glass as thin as a human hair that carry digital information over long distances. They are also used in medical imaging and mechanical engineering inspection.

In this article, we will show you how these tiny strands of glass transmit light and the fascinating way that these strands are made

Photo courtesy Corning
Fiber optics make telephone, cable and internet connections possible. See more fiber optics pictures.

What are Fiber Optics?

Fiber optics (optical fibers) are long, thin strands of very pure glass about the diameter of a human hair. They are arranged in bundles called optical cables and used to transmit light signals over long distances.

Parts of a single optical fiber

If you look closely at a single optical fiber, you will see that it has the following parts:

• Core - Thin glass center of the fiber where the light travels
• Cladding - Outer optical material surrounding the core that reflects the light back into the core
• Buffer coating - Plastic coating that protects the fiber from damage and moisture

Hundreds or thousands of these optical fibers are arranged in bundles in optical cables. The bundles are protected by the cable's outer covering, called a jacket.

Optical fibers come in two types:

• Single-mode fibers
• Multi-mode fibers

See Tpub.com: Mode Theory for a good explanation.

Single-mode fibers have small cores (about 3.5 x 10^-4 inches or 9 microns in diameter) and transmit infrared laser light (wavelength = 1,300 to 1,550 nanometers). Multi-mode fibers have larger cores (about 2.5 x 10^-3 inches or 62.5 microns in diameter) and transmit infrared light (wavelength = 850 to 1,300 nm) from light-emitting diodes (LEDs).

Some optical fibers can be made from plastic. These fibers have a large core (0.04 inches or 1 mm diameter) and transmit visible red light (wavelength = 650 nm) from LEDs.

Let's look at how an optical fiber works.

How Does an Optical Fiber Transmit Light?

Suppose you want to shine a flashlight beam down a long, straight hallway. Just point the beam straight down the hallway -- light travels in straight lines, so it is no problem. What if the hallway has a bend in it? You could place a mirror at the bend to reflect the light beam around the corner. What if the hallway is very winding with multiple bends? You might line the walls with mirrors and angle the beam so that it bounces from side-to-side all along the hallway. This is exactly what happens in an optical fiber.

Diagram of total internal reflection in an optical fiber

The light in a fiber-optic cable travels through the core (hallway) by constantly bouncing from the cladding (mirror-lined walls), a principle called total internal reflection. Because the cladding does not absorb any light from the core, the light wave can travel great distances. However, some of the light signal degrades within the fiber, mostly due to impurities in the glass. The extent that the signal degrades depends on the purity of the glass and the wavelength of the transmitted light (for example, 850 nm = 60 to 75 percent/km; 1,300 nm = 50 to 60 percent/km; 1,550 nm is greater than 50 percent/km). Some premium optical fibers show much less signal degradation -- less than 10 percent/km at 1,550 nm.

A Fiber-Optic Relay System

To understand how optical fibers are used in communications systems, let's look at an example from a World War II movie or documentary where two naval ships in a fleet need to communicate with each other while maintaining radio silence or on stormy seas. One ship pulls up alongside the other. The captain of one ship sends a message to a sailor on deck. The sailor translates the message into Morse code (dots and dashes) and uses a signal light (floodlight with a venetian blind type shutter on it) to send the message to the other ship. A sailor on the deck of the other ship sees the Morse code message, decodes it into English and sends the message up to the captain.

Now, imagine doing this when the ships are on either side of the ocean separated by thousands of miles and you have a fiber-optic communication system in place between the two ships. Fiber-optic relay systems consist of the following:

• Transmitter - Produces and encodes the light signals
• Optical fiber - Conducts the light signals over a distance
• Optical regenerator - May be necessary to boost the light signal (for long distances)
• Optical receiver - Receives and decodes the light signals

Transmitter
The transmitter is like the sailor on the deck of the sending ship. It receives and directs the optical device to turn the light "on" and "off" in the correct sequence, thereby generating a light signal.

The transmitter is physically close to the optical fiber and may even have a lens to focus the light into the fiber. Lasers have more power than LEDs, but vary more with changes in temperature and are more expensive. The most common wavelengths of light signals are 850 nm, 1,300 nm, and 1,550 nm (infrared, non-visible portions of the spectrum).

Optical Regenerator
As mentioned above, some signal loss occurs when the light is transmitted through the fiber, especially over long distances (more than a half mile, or about 1 km) such as with undersea cables. Therefore, one or more optical regenerators is spliced along the cable to boost the degraded light signals.

An optical regenerator consists of optical fibers with a special coating (doping). The doped portion is "pumped" with a laser. When the degraded signal comes into the doped coating, the energy from the laser allows the doped molecules to become lasers themselves. The doped molecules then emit a new, stronger light signal with the same characteristics as the incoming weak light signal. Basically, the regenerator is a laser amplifier for the incoming signal.

Optical Receiver
The optical receiver is like the sailor on the deck of the receiving ship. It takes the incoming digital light signals, decodes them and sends the electrical signal to the other user's computer, TV or telephone (receiving ship's captain). The receiver uses a photocell or photodiode to detect the light.

Advantages of Fiber Optics

Why are fiber-optic systems revolutionizing telecommunications? Compared to conventional metal wire (copper wire), optical fibers are:

• Less expensive - Several miles of optical cable can be made cheaper than equivalent lengths of copper wire. This saves your provider (cable TV, Internet) and you money.

• Thinner - Optical fibers can be drawn to smaller diameters than copper wire.

• Higher carrying capacity - Because optical fibers are thinner than copper wires, more fibers can be bundled into a given-diameter cable than copper wires. This allows more phone lines to go over the same cable or more channels to come through the cable into your cable TV box.

• Less signal degradation - The loss of signal in optical fiber is less than in copper wire.

• Light signals - Unlike electrical signals in copper wires, light signals from one fiber do not interfere with those of other fibers in the same cable. This means clearer phone conversations or TV reception.

• Low power - Because signals in optical fibers degrade less, lower-power transmitters can be used instead of the high-voltage electrical transmitters needed for copper wires. Again, this saves your provider and you money.

• Digital signals - Optical fibers are ideally suited for carrying digital information, which is especially useful in computer networks.

• Non-flammable - Because no electricity is passed through optical fibers, there is no fire hazard.

• Lightweight - An optical cable weighs less than a comparable copper wire cable. Fiber-optic cables take up less space in the ground.

• Flexible - Because fiber optics are so flexible and can transmit and receive light, they are used in many flexible digital cameras for the following purposes:
  • Medical imaging - in bronchoscopes, endoscopes, laparoscopes
  • Mechanical imaging - inspecting mechanical welds in pipes and engines (in airplanes, rockets, space shuttles, cars)
  • Plumbing - to inspect sewer lines

Because of these advantages, you see fiber optics in many industries, most notably telecommunications and computer networks. For example, if you telephone Europe from the United States (or vice versa) and the signal is bounced off a communications satellite, you often hear an echo on the line. But with transatlantic fiber-optic cables, you have a direct connection with no echoes.

How Are Optical Fibers Made?

Now that we know how fiber-optic systems work and why they are useful -- how do they make them? Optical fibers are made of extremely pure optical glass. We think of a glass window as transparent, but the thicker the glass gets, the less transparent it becomes due to impurities in the glass. However, the glass in an optical fiber has far fewer impurities than window-pane glass. One company's description of the quality of glass is as follows: If you were on top of an ocean that is miles of solid core optical fiber glass, you could see the bottom clearly.

Making optical fibers requires the following steps:

1. Making a preform glass cylinder
2. Drawing the fibers from the preform
3. Testing the fibers

Making the Preform Blank
The glass for the preform is made by a process called modified chemical vapor deposition (MCVD).

Image courtesy Fibercore Ltd. MCVD process for making the preform blank

In MCVD, oxygen is bubbled through solutions of silicon chloride (SiCl4), germanium chloride (GeCl4) and/or other chemicals. The precise mixture governs the various physical and optical properties (index of refraction, coefficient of expansion, melting point, etc.). The gas vapors are then conducted to the inside of a synthetic silica or quartz tube (cladding) in a special lathe. As the lathe turns, a torch is moved up and down the outside of the tube. The extreme heat from the torch causes two things to happen:

Photo courtesy Fibercore Ltd. Lathe used in preparing the preform blank

• The silicon and germanium react with oxygen, forming silicon dioxide (SiO2) and germanium dioxide (GeO2).

• The silicon dioxide and germanium dioxide deposit on the inside of the tube and fuse together to form glass.

The lathe turns continuously to make an even coating and consistent blank. The purity of the glass is maintained by using corrosion-resistant plastic in the gas delivery system (valve blocks, pipes, seals) and by precisely controlling the flow and composition of the mixture. The process of making the preform blank is highly automated and takes several hours. After the preform blank cools, it is tested for quality control (index of refraction).

Drawing Fibers from the Preform Blank
Once the preform blank has been tested, it gets loaded into a fiber drawing tower.

Diagram of a fiber drawing tower used to draw optical glass fibers from a preform blank

The blank gets lowered into a graphite furnace (3,452 to 3,992 degrees Fahrenheit or 1,900 to 2,200 degrees Celsius) and the tip gets melted until a molten glob falls down by gravity. As it drops, it cools and forms a thread.

The operator threads the strand through a series of coating cups (buffer coatings) and ultraviolet light curing ovens onto a tractor-controlled spool. The tractor mechanism slowly pulls the fiber from the heated preform blank and is precisely controlled by using a laser micrometer to measure the diameter of the fiber and feed the information back to the tractor mechanism. Fibers are pulled from the blank at a rate of 33 to 66 ft/s (10 to 20 m/s) and the finished product is wound onto the spool. It is not uncommon for spools to contain more than 1.4 miles (2.2 km) of optical fiber.

Testing the Finished Optical Fiber

Photo courtesy Corning Finished spool of optical fiber

The finished optical fiber is tested for the following:

• Tensile strength - Must withstand 100,000 lb/in² or more

• Refractive index profile - Determine numerical aperture as well as screen for optical defects

• Fiber geometry - Core diameter, cladding dimensions and coating diameter are uniform

• Attenuation - Determine the extent that light signals of various wavelengths degrade over distance

• Information carrying capacity (bandwidth) - Number of signals that can be carried at one time (multi-mode fibers)

• Chromatic dispersion - Spread of various wavelengths of light through the core (important for bandwidth)

• Operating temperature/humidity range

• Temperature dependence of attenuation

• Ability to conduct light underwater - Important for undersea cables

Once the fibers have passed the quality control, they are sold to telephone companies, cable companies and network providers. Many companies are currently replacing their old copper-wire-based systems with new fiber-optic-based systems to improve speed, capacity and clarity.

Physics of Total Internal Reflection

When light passes from a medium with one index of refraction (m1) to another medium with a lower index of refraction (m2), it bends or refracts away from an imaginary line perpendicular to the surface (normal line). As the angle of the beam through m1 becomes greater with respect to the normal line, the refracted light through m2 bends further away from the line.

At one particular angle (critical angle), the refracted light will not go into m2, but instead will travel along the surface between the two media (sine [critical angle] = n2/n1 where n1 and n2 are the indices of refraction [n1 is greater than n2]). If the beam through m1 is greater than the critical angle, then the refracted beam will be reflected entirely back into m1 (total internal reflection), even though m2 may be transparent!

In physics, the critical angle is described with respect to the normal line. In fiber optics, the critical angle is described with respect to the parallel axis running down the middle of the fiber. Therefore, the fiber-optic critical angle = (90 degrees - physics critical angle).

Total internal reflection in an optical fiber

In an optical fiber, the light travels through the core (m1, high index of refraction) by constantly reflecting from the cladding (m2, lower index of refraction) because the angle of the light is always greater than the critical angle. Light reflects from the cladding no matter what angle the fiber itself gets bent at, even if it's a full circle!

Because the cladding does not absorb any light from the core, the light wave can travel great distances. However, some of the light signal degrades within the fiber, mostly due to impurities in the glass. The extent that the signal degrades depends upon the purity of the glass and the wavelength of the transmitted light (for example, 850 nm = 60 to 75 percent/km; 1,300 nm = 50 to 60 percent/km; 1,550 nm is greater than 50 percent/km). Some premium optical fibers show much less signal degradation -- less than 10 percent/km at 1,550 nm.

For more information on fiber optics and related topics, check out the links on the next page.

Fiber-optic communication

Fiber-optic communication is a method of transmitting information from one place to another by sending light through an optical fiber. The light forms an electromagnetic carrier wave that is modulated to carry information. First developed in the 1970s, fiber-optic communication systems have revolutionized the telecommunications industry and played a major role in the advent of the Information Age. Because of its advantages over electrical transmission, the use of optical fiber has largely replaced copper wire communications in the developed world.

The process of communicating using fiber-optics involves the following basic steps:

• Creating the optical signal using a transmitter
• Relaying the signal along the fiber, ensuring that the signal does not become too distorted or weak
• Receiving the optical signal and converting it into an electrical signal

[edit] Applications

Fiber-optic cable is used by many telecommunications companies to transmit telephone signals, Internet communication, and cable television signals, sometimes all on the same optical fiber.

Due to much lower attenuation and interference, optical fiber has large advantages over existing copper wire in long-distance and high-demand applications. However, infrastructure development within cities was relatively difficult and time-consuming, and fiber-optic systems were complex and expensive to install and operate. Due to these difficulties, fiber-optic communication systems have primarily been installed in long-distance applications, where they can be used to their full transmission capacity, offsetting the increased cost. Since the year 2000, the prices for fiber-optic communications have dropped considerably. The price for rolling out fiber to the home has currently become more cost-effective than that of rolling out a copper based network. Prices have dropped to $850 per subscriber in the US and lower in countries like The Netherlands, where digging costs are low.

Since 1990, when optical-amplification systems became commercially available, the telecommunications industry has laid a vast network of intercity and transoceanic fiber communication lines. By 2002, an intercontinental network of 250,000 km of submarine communications cable with a capacity of 2.56 Tb/s was completed, and although specific network capacities are privileged information, telecommunications investment reports indicate that network capacity has increased dramatically since 2002.

[edit] History

The need for reliable long-distance communication systems has existed since antiquity. Over time, the sophistication of these systems has gradually improved, from smoke signals to telegraphs and finally to the first coaxial cable, put into service in 1940. As these communication systems improved, certain fundamental limitations presented themselves. Electrical systems were limited by their small repeater spacing (the distance a signal can propagate before attenuation requires the signal to be amplified), and the bit rate of microwave systems was limited by their carrier frequency. In the second half of the twentieth century, it was realized that an optical carrier of information would have a significant advantage over the existing electrical and microwave carrier signals.

However, no coherent light source or suitable transmission medium was available. Then, after the development of lasers in the 1960s solved the first problem, development of high-quality optical fiber was proposed as a solution to the second. Optical fiber was finally developed in 1970 by Corning Glass Works with attenuation low enough for communication purposes (about 20dB/km), and at the same time GaAs semiconductor lasers were developed that were compact and therefore suitable for fiber-optic communication systems.

After a period of intensive research from 1975 to 1980, the first commercial fiber-optic communication system was developed, which operated at a wavelength around 0.8 µm and used GaAs semiconductor lasers. This first generation system operated at a bit rate of 45 Mbit/s with repeater spacing of up to 10 km.

On 22 April, 1977, General Telephone and Electronics sent the first live telephone traffic through fiber optics, at 6 Mbit/s, in Long Beach, California.

The second generation of fiber-optic communication was developed for commercial use in the early 1980s, operated at 1.3 µm, and used InGaAsP semiconductor lasers. Although these systems were initially limited by dispersion, in 1981 the single-mode fiber was revealed to greatly improve system performance. By 1987, these systems were operating at bit rates of up to 1.7 Gb/s with repeater spacing up to 50 km.

The first transatlantic telephone cable to use optical fiber was TAT-8, based on Desurvire optimized laser amplification technology. It went into operation in 1988.

TAT-8 was developed as the first transatlantic undersea fiber optic link between the United States and Europe. TAT-8 is more than 3000 nautical miles in length and was the first oceanic fiber optic cable. It was designed to handle a mix of information. When inaugurated, it had an estimated lifetime in excess of 20 years. TAT-8 was the first of a new class of cables, even though it had already been used in long-distance land and short-distance undersea operations. Its installation was preceded by extensive deep-water experiments and trials conducted in the early 1980s to demonstrate the project's feasibility.

Third-generation fiber-optic systems operated at 1.55 µm and had loss of about 0.2 dB/km. They achieved this despite earlier difficulties with pulse-spreading at that wavelength using conventional InGaAsP semiconductor lasers. Scientists overcame this difficulty by using dispersion-shifted fibers designed to have minimal dispersion at 1.55 µm or by limiting the laser spectrum to a single longitudinal mode. These developments eventually allowed 3rd generation systems to operate commercially at 2.5 Gbit/s with repeater spacing in excess of 100 km.

The fourth generation of fiber-optic communication systems used optical amplification to reduce the need for repeaters and wavelength-division multiplexing to increase fiber capacity. These two improvements caused a revolution that resulted in the doubling of system capacity every 6 months starting in 1992 until a bit rate of 10 Tb/s was reached by 2001. Recently, bit-rates of up to 14 Tbit/s have been reached over a single 160 km line using optical amplifiers.

The focus of development for the fifth generation of fiber-optic communications is on extending the wavelength range over which a WDM system can operate. The conventional wavelength window, known as the C band, covers the wavelength range 1.53-1.57 µm, and the new dry fiber has a low-loss window promising an extension of that range to 1.30 to 1.65 µm. Other developments include the concept of "optical solitons, " pulses that preserve their shape by counteracting the effects of dispersion with the nonlinear effects of the fiber by using pulses of a specific shape.

In the late 1990s through 2000, the fiber optic communication industry became associated with the dot-com bubble. Industry promoters, and research companies such as KMI and RHK predicted vast increases in demand for communications bandwidth due to increased use of the Internet, and commercialization of various bandwidth-intensive consumer services, such as video on demand. Internet protocol data traffic was said to be increasing exponentially, and at a faster rate than integrated circuit complexity had increased under Moore's Law. From the bust of the dot-com bubble through 2006, however, the main trend in the industry has been consolidation of firms and offshoring of manufacturing to reduce costs.

[edit] Technology

Modern fiber-optic communication systems generally include an optical transmitter to convert an electrical signal into an optical signal to send into the optical fiber, a fiber-optic cable routed through underground conduits and buildings, multiple kinds of amplifiers, and an optical receiver to recover the signal as an electrical signal. The information transmitted is typically digital information generated by computers, telephone systems, and cable television companies.

[edit] Transmitters

The most commonly-used optical transmitters are semiconductor devices such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and laser diodes. The difference between LEDs and laser diodes is that LEDs produce incoherent light, while laser diodes produce coherent light. For use in optical communications, semiconductor optical transmitters must be designed to be compact, efficient, and reliable, while operating in an optimal wavelength range, and directly modulated at high frequencies.

In its simplest form, an LED is a forward-biased p-n junction, emitting light through spontaneous emission, a phenomenon referred to as electroluminescence. The emitted light is incoherent with a relatively wide spectral width of 30-60 nm. LED light transmission is also inefficient, with only about 1 % of input power, or about 100 microwatts, eventually converted into «launched power» which has been coupled into the optical fiber. However, due to their relatively simple design, LEDs are very useful for low-cost applications.

Communications LEDs are most commonly made from gallium arsenide phosphide (GaAsP) or gallium arsenide (GaAs). Because GaAsP LEDs operate at a longer wavelength than GaAs LEDs (1.3 micrometers vs. 0.81-0.87 micrometers), their output spectrum is wider by a factor of about 1.7. The large spectrum width of LEDs causes higher fiber dispersion, considerably limiting their bit rate-distance product (a common measure of usefulness). LEDs are suitable primarily for local-area-network applications with bit rates of 10-100 Mbit/s and transmission distances of a few kilometers. LEDs have also been developed that use several quantum wells to emit light at different wavelengths over a broad spectrum, and are currently in use for local-area WDM networks.

A semiconductor laser emits light through stimulated emission rather than spontaneous emission, which results in high output power (~100 mW) as well as other benefits related to the nature of coherent light. The output of a laser is relatively directional, allowing high coupling efficiency (~50 %) into single-mode fiber. The narrow spectral width also allows for high bit rates since it reduces the effect of chromatic dispersion. Furthermore, semiconductor lasers can be modulated directly at high frequencies because of short recombination time.

Laser diodes are often directly modulated, that is the light output is controlled by a current applied directly to the device. For very high data rates or very long distance links, a laser source may be operated continuous wave, and the light modulated by an external device such as an electroabsorption modulator or Mach-Zehnder interferometer. External modulation increases the achievable link distance by eliminating laser chirp, which broadens the linewidth of directly-modulated lasers, increasing the chromatic dispersion in the fiber.

[edit] Fiber

Main article: Optical fiber.

Optical fiber consists of a core, cladding, and a protective outer coating, which guides light along the core by total internal reflection. The core, and the higher-refractive-index cladding, are typically made of high-quality silica glass, though they can both be made of plastic as well. An optical fiber can break if bent too sharply. Due to the microscopic precision required to align the fiber cores, connecting two optical fibers, whether done by fusion splicing or mechanical splicing, requires special skills and interconnection technology.^[1].

Two main categories of optical fiber used in fiber optic communications are multi-mode optical fiber and single-mode optical fiber. Multimode fiber has a larger core (≥ 50 micrometres), allowing less precise, cheaper transmitters and receivers to connect to it as well as cheaper connectors. However, multi-mode fiber introduces multimode distortion which often limits the bandwidth and length of the link. Furthermore, because of its higher dopant content, multimode fiber is usually more expensive and exhibits higher attenuation. Single-mode fiber’s smaller core (<10>

In order to package fiber into a commercially-viable product, it is protectively-coated, typically by using ultraviolet (UV) light-cured acrylate polymers, and assembled into a fiber-optic cable. It can then be laid in the ground, run through a building or deployed aerially in a manner similar to copper cable. Once deployed, such cables require substantially less maintenance than copper cable. [1]

[edit] Amplifiers

Main article: Optical amplifier.

The transmission distance of a fiber-optic communication system has traditionally been limited primarily by fiber attenuation and second by fiber distortion. The solution to this has been to use opto-electronic repeaters. These repeaters first convert the signal to an electrical signal then use a transmitter to send the signal again at a higher intensity. Because of their high complexity, especially with modern wavelength-division multiplexed signals, and the fact that they had to be installed about once every 20 km, the cost for these repeaters was very high.

An alternative approach is to use an optical amplifier, which amplifies the optical signal directly without having to convert the signal into the electrical domain. Made by doping a length of fiber with the rare-earth mineral erbium, and pumping it with light from a laser with a shorter wavelength than the communications signal (typically 980 nm), amplifiers have largely replaced repeaters in new installations.

[edit] Receivers

The main component of an optical receiver is a photodetector that converts light into electricity through the photoelectric effect. The photodetector is typically a semiconductor-based photodiode, such as a p-n photodiode, a p-i-n photodiode, or an avalanche photodiode. Metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) photodetectors are also used due to their suitability for circuit integration in regenerators and wavelength-division multiplexers.

The optical-electrical converters is typically coupled with a transimpedance amplifier and limiting amplifier to produce a digital signal in the electrical domain from the incoming optical signal, which may be attenuated and distorted by passing through the channel. Further signal processing such as clock recovery from data (CDR) by a phase-locked loop may also be applied before the data is passed on.

[edit] Wavelength-division multiplexing

Main article: Wavelength-division multiplexing.

Wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) is the practice of dividing the wavelength capacity of an optical fiber into multiple channels in order to send more than one signal over the same fiber. This requires a wavelength division multiplexer in the transmitting equipment and a wavelength division demultiplexer (essentially a spectrometer) in the receiving equipment. Arrayed waveguide gratings are commonly used for multiplexing and demultiplexing in WDM. Using WDM technology now commercially available, the bandwidth of a fiber can be divided into as many as 80 channels to support a combined bit rate into the range of terabits per second.

[edit] Bandwidth-distance product

Because the effect of dispersion increases with the length of the fiber, a fiber transmission system is often characterized by its bandwidth-distance product, often expressed in units of MHz×km. This value is a product of bandwidth and distance because there is a trade off between the bandwidth of the signal and the distance it can be carried. For example, a common multimode fiber with bandwidth-distance product of 500 MHz×km could carry a 500 MHz signal for 1 km or a 1000 MHz signal for 0.5 km.

Through a combination of advances in dispersion management, wavelength-division multiplexing, and optical amplifiers, modern-day optical fibers can carry information at around 14 Terabits per second over 160 kilometers of fiber ^[2]. Engineers are always looking at current limitations in order to improve fiber-optic communication, and several of these restrictions are currently being researched:

[edit] Dispersion

For modern glass optical fiber, the maximum transmission distance is limited not by attenuation but by dispersion, or spreading of optical pulses as they travel along the fiber. Dispersion in optical fibers is caused by a variety of factors. Intermodal dispersion, caused by the different axial speeds of different transverse modes, limits the performance of multi-mode fiber. Because single-mode fiber supports only one transverse mode, intermodal dispersion is eliminated.

In single-mode fiber performance is primarily limited by chromatic dispersion (also called group velocity dispersion), which occurs because the index of the glass varies slightly depending on the wavelength of the light, and light from real optical transmitters necessarily has nonzero spectral width (due to modulation). Polarization mode dispersion, another source of limitation, occurs because although the single-mode fiber can sustain only one transverse mode, it can carry this mode with two different polarizations, and slight imperfections or distortions in a fiber can alter the propagation velocities for the two polarizations. This phenomenon is called fiber birefringence and can be counteracted by polarization-maintaining optical fiber. Dispersion limits the bandwidth of the fiber because the spreading optical pulse limits the rate that pulses can follow one another on the fiber and still be distinguishable at the receiver.

Some dispersion, notably chromatic dispersion, can be removed by a 'dispersion compensator'. This works by using a specially prepared length of fiber that has the opposite dispersion to that induced by the transmission fiber, and this sharpens the pulse so that it can be correctly decoded by the electronics.

[edit] Attenuation

Fiber attenuation, which necessitates the use of amplification systems, is caused by a combination of material absorption, Rayleigh scattering, Mie scattering, and connection losses. Although material absorption for pure silica is only around 0.03 dB/km (modern fiber has attenuation around 0.3 dB/km), impurities in the original optical fibers caused attenuation of about 1000 dB/km. Other forms of attenuation are caused by physical stresses to the fiber, microscopic fluctuations in density, and imperfect splicing techniques.

[edit] Transmission windows

Each of the effects that contributes to attenuation and dispersion depends on the optical wavelength, however wavelength bands exist where these effects are weakest, making these bands, or windows, most favorable for transmission. These windows have been standardized, and the current bands defined are the following: ^[3]

Band	Description	Wavelength Range
O band	original	1260 to 1360 nm
E band	extended	1360 to 1460 nm
S band	short wavelengths	1460 to 1530 nm
C band	conventional ("erbium window")	1530 to 1565 nm
L band	long wavelengths	1565 to 1625 nm
U band	ultralong wavelengths	1625 to 1675 nm

Note that this table shows that current technology has managed to bridge the second and third windows- originally the windows were disjoint.

Historically, the first window used was from 800-900 nm; however losses are high in this region and because of that, this is mostly used for short-distance communications. The second window is around 1300 nm, and has much lower losses. The region has zero dispersion. The third window is around 1500nm, and is the most widely used. This region has the lowest attenuation losses and hence it achieves the longest range. However it has some dispersion, and dispersion compensators are used to remove this.

[edit] Regeneration

When a communications link must span a larger distance than existing fiber-optic technology is capable of, the signal must be regenerated at intermediate points in the link by repeaters. Repeaters add substantial cost to a communication system, and so system designers attempt to minimize their use.

Recent advances in fiber and optical communications technology have reduced signal degradation so far that regeneration of the optical signal is only needed over distances of hundreds of kilometers. This has greatly reduced the cost of optical networking, particularly over undersea spans where the cost and reliability of repeaters is one of the key factors determining the performance of the whole cable system. The main advances contributing to these performance improvements are dispersion management, which seeks to balance the effects of dispersion against non-linearity; and solitons, which use nonlinear effects in the fiber to enable dispersion-free propagation over long distances.

[edit] Last mile

Main article: Last mile

Although fiber-optic systems excel in high-bandwidth applications, optical fiber has been slow to achieve its goal of fiber to the premises or to solve the last mile problem. However, as bandwidth demand increases, more and more progress towards this goal can be observed. In Japan, for instance, fiber-optic systems are beginning to replace wire-based DSL as a broadband Internet source. South Korea’s KT also provides a service called FTTH (Fiber To The Home), which provides 100 percent fiber-optic connections to the subscriber’s home. Verizon, a US based telecom company, provides a service called FIOS which offers TV, high-speed internet, and telephone communications on a 100 percent fiber-optic network to a junction box mounted in a subscriber’s home.

[edit] Comparison with electrical transmission

The choice between optical fiber and electrical (or copper) transmission for a particular system is made based on a number of trade-offs. Optical fiber is generally chosen for systems requiring higher bandwidth or spanning longer distances than electrical cabling can accommodate. The main benefits of fiber are its exceptionally low loss, allowing long distances between amplifiers or repeaters; and its inherently high data-carrying capacity, such that thousands of electrical links would be required to replace a single high bandwidth fiber. Another benefit of fiber is that even when run alongside each other for long distances, fiber cables experience effectively no crosstalk, in contrast to some types of electrical transmission lines.

In short distance and relatively low bandwidth applications, electrical transmission is often preferred because of its

• Lower material cost, where large quantities are not required.
• Lower cost of transmitters and receivers.
• Ease of splicing.
• Capability to carry electrical power as well as signals.

Because of these benefits of electrical transmission, optical communication is not common in short box-to-box, backplane, or chip-to-chip applications; however, optical systems on those scales have been demonstrated in the laboratory.

In certain situations fiber may be used even for short distance or low bandwidth applications, due to other important features:

• Immunity to electromagnetic interference, including nuclear electromagnetic pulses (although fiber can be damaged by alpha and beta radiation).
• High electrical resistance, making it safe to use near high-voltage equipment or between areas with different earth potentials.
• Lighter weight, important, for example, in aircraft.
• No sparks, important in flammable or explosive gas environments.
• Not electromagnetically radiating, and difficult to tap without disrupting the signal, important in high-security environments.
• Much smaller cable size — important where pathway is limited, such as networking an existing building, where smaller channels can be drilled.

[edit] Governing standards

In order for various manufacturers to be able to develop components that function compatibly in fiber optic communication systems, a number of standards have been developed. The International Telecommunications Union publishes several standards related to the characteristics and performance of fibers themselves, including

• ITU-T G.651, «Characteristics of a 50/125 µm multimode graded index optical fibre cable»
• ITU-T G.652, «Characteristics of a single-mode optical fibre cable»

Other standards, produced by a variety of standards organizations, specify performance criteria for fiber, transmitters, and receivers to be used together in conforming systems. Some of these standards are the following:

• 10 gigabit Ethernet
• FDDI
• Fibre Channel
• Gigabit Ethernet
• HIPPI
• Synchronous Digital Hierarchy
• Synchronous Optical Networking

TOSLINK is the most common format for digital audio cable using plastic optical fiber to connect digital sources to digital receivers.

Japan, China and South Korea collaborate on new technologies

Japan, China and South Korea will work together on developing new technologies, including 4G mobile phones, digital broadcasting, computer security and open-source software, a Japanese official said Monday. Talks have been underway over the last several months to work out ways the three nations can cooperate in information technologies, including those for the 2008 Beijing Olympics and future Internet systems, an official at the telecommunications ministry said on customary condition of anonymity.
A meeting was held in Seoul in March among officials from the three nations, where they agreed to share information and work together on developing fourth-generation mobile phones by 2010, another ministry official said. No specifics on a standard have been decided, he said.
Telecom ministers from the three nations are set to hold their third annual meeting in July, and an agreement to work together on the phones may be discussed there, officials said.
The most common cellphones now in use are second-generation, although third-generation use is expanding in some nations, including Japan and South Korea. There is now no single global standard for third-generation phones, which promise more functions and faster data transmissions than earlier phones. Fourth-generation mobile systems are still experimental.
Japan, China and South Korea recently have stepped up their push to pool resources on new technologies and possible common standards for the region. Of particular interest is the development of Linux and other open-source software that offer alternatives to products from Microsoft Corp.

Introduction Fiber To The Home

Fiber to the premises

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Fiber to the premises (FTTP) is a form of fiber-optic communication delivery in which an optical fiber is run directly onto the customers' premises. This contrasts with other fiber-optic communication delivery strategies such as fiber to the node (FTTN), fiber to the curb (FTTC), or hybrid fibre-coaxial (HFC), all of which depend upon more traditional methods such as copper wires or coaxial cable for "last mile" delivery.

Fiber to the premises can be further categorized according to where the optical fiber ends:

• FTTH (fiber to the home) is a form of fiber optic communication delivery in which the optical signal reaches the end user's living or office space.^[1]

• An optical signal is distributed from the central office over an optical distribution network (ODN). At the endpoints of this network, devices called optical network terminals (ONTs) convert the optical signal into an electrical signal. (For FTTP architectures, these ONTs are located on private property.) The signal usually travels electrically between the ONT and the end-users' devices.

[edit] Optical portion

Optical distribution networks have several competing technologies.

[edit] Direct fiber

The simplest optical distribution network can be called direct fiber. In this architecture, each fiber leaving the central office goes to exactly one customer. Such networks can provide excellent bandwidth since each customer gets their own dedicated fiber extending all the way to the central office. However, this approach is extremely costly due to the amount of fiber and central office machinery required. It is usually used only in instances where the service area is very small and close to the central office.

[edit] Shared fiber

More commonly each fiber leaving the central office is actually shared by many customers. It is not until such a fiber gets relatively close to the customers that it is split into individual customer-specific fibers. There are two competing optical distribution network architectures which achieve this split: active optical networks (AONs) and passive optical networks (PONs).

[edit] Active optical network

Comparison showing how a typical active optical network handles downstream traffic differently than a typical passive optical network. The type of active optical network shown is a star network capable of multicasting. The type of passive optical network shown is a star network having multiple splitters housed in the same cabinet.

Active optical networks rely on some sort of electrically powered equipment to distribute the signal, such as a switch, router, or multiplexer. Each signal leaving the central office is directed only to the customer for which it is intended. Incoming signals from the customers avoid colliding at the intersection because the powered equipment there provides buffering.

As of 2007, the most common type of active optical networks are called active ethernet, a type of ethernet in the first mile (EFM). Active ethernet uses optical ethernet switches to distribute the signal, thus incorporating the customers' premises and the central office into one giant switched ethernet network. Such networks are identical to the ethernet computer networks used in businesses and academic institutions, except that their purpose is to connect homes and buildings to a central office rather than to connect computers and printers within a campus. Each switching cabinet can handle up to 1,000 customers, although 400-500 is more typical. This neighborhood equipment performs layer 2/layer 3 switching and routing, offloading full layer 3 routing to the carrier's central office. The IEEE 802.3ah standard enables service providers to deliver up to 100 Mbit/s full-duplex over one single-mode optical fiber to the premises depending on the provider.

[edit] Passive optical network

It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Passive_optical_network. (Discuss)

Passive optical networks do not use electrically powered components to split the signal. Instead, the signal is distributed using beam splitters. Each splitter typically splits a fiber into 16, 32, or 64 fibers, depending on the manufacturer, and several splitters can be aggregated in a single cabinet. A beam splitter cannot provide any switching or buffering capabilities; the resulting connection is called a point-to-multipoint link. For such a connection, the optical network terminals on the customer's end must perform some special functions which would not otherwise be required. For example, due to the absence of switching capabilities, each signal leaving the central office must be broadcast to all users served by that splitter (including to those for whom the signal is not intended). It is therefore up to the optical network terminal to filter out any signals intended for other customers. In addition, since beam splitters cannot perform buffering, each individual optical network terminal must be coordinated in a multiplexing scheme to prevent signals leaving the customer from colliding at the intersection. Two types of multiplexing are possible for achieving this: wavelength-division multiplexing and time-division multiplexing. With wavelength-division multiplexing, each customer transmits their signal using a unique wavelength. With time-division multiplexing, the customers "take turns" transmitting information. As of early 2007, only time-division multiplexing was technologically practical.

In comparison with active optical networks, passive optical networks have significant advantages and disadvantages. They avoid the complexities involved in keeping electronic equipment operating outdoors. They also allow for analog broadcasts, which can simplify the delivery of analog television. However, because each signal must be pushed out to everyone served by the splitter (rather than to just a single switching device), the central office must be equipped with a particularly powerful piece of transmitting equipment called an optical line terminal (OLT). In addition, because each customer's optical network terminal must transmit all the way to the central office (rather than to just the nearest switching device), customers can't be as far from the central office as is possible with active optical networks.

[edit] Electrical portion

Once on private property, the signal typically travels the final distance to the end user's equipment using an electrical format.

A device called an optical network terminal (ONT), also called an optical network unit (ONU), converts the optical signal into an electrical signal. (ONT is an ITU-T term, whereas ONU is an IEEE term, but the two terms mean exactly the same thing.) Optical network terminals require electrical power for their operation, so some providers connect them to back-up batteries in case of power outages. Optical network units use thin film filter technology (or more recently dispersion bridge planar lightwave circuit technology) to convert between optical and electrical signals.

For fiber to the home and for some forms of fiber to the building, it is common for the building's existing phone systems, local area networks, and cable TV systems to connect directly to the ONT.

If all three systems cannot directly reach the ONT, it is possible to combine signals and transport them over a common medium. Once closer to the end-user, equipment such as a router, modem, and/or network interface module can separate the signals and convert them into the appropriate protocol. For example, one solution for apartment buildings uses VDSL to combine data (and / or video) with voice. With this approach, the combined signal travels through the building over the existing telephone wiring until it reaches the end-user's living space. Once there, a VDSL modem copies the data and video signals and converts them into ethernet protocol. These are then sent over the end user's category 5 cable. A network interface module can then separate out the video signal and convert it into a RF signal that is sent over the end-user's coaxial cable. The voice signal continues to travel over the phone wiring and is sent through DSL filters to remove the video and data signals. An alternative strategy allows data and / or voice to be transmitted over coaxial cable. In yet another strategy, some office buildings dispense with the telephone wiring altogether, instead using voice over IP phones that can plug directly into the local area network.

[edit] Deployment History

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[edit] Asia

[edit] China

[edit] Hong Kong

As of April 2006, HKBN was offering its customers Internet access via Fiber to the Building and Fiber to the Home. Speeds ranged from 10 Mbit/s (19 USD/month) to up to 1000 Mbit/s (1 Gbit/s) (215 USD/month), although the speed to non-Hong Kong destinations was capped at 20 Mbit/s. HKBN also provided FTTH plans for speeds of up to BB100 (100/100 Mbit/s) and BB25 (25/25 Mbit/s), for approximately US$25 and US$22 monthly.

[edit] Japan

FTTP, often called FTTH in Japan, was first introduced in 1999, and did not become a large player until 2001. In 2003-2004, FTTH grew at a remarkable rate, while DSL's growth slowed. 8.8 million FTTH connections are reported in March, 2007 in Japan. Currently, many people are switching from DSL to FTTH, the use of DSL is decreasing, with the peak of DSL usage being March 2006.

Average real-world speed of FTTH is 30 Mbit/s in the whole of Japan, and 50 Mbit/s in Tokyo.

FTTH first started with 10 Mbit/s (at end-user rate) passive optical network (PON) by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT), and 100 Mbit/s (at end-user rate) with GEPON (Gigabit Ethernet-PON) or broadband PON is major one in 2006. PON is major system for FTTH by NTT, but some competitive services present 1 Gbit/s (at end-user rate) with SS (Single Star). Currently, most people use 100 Mbit/s.

Major application services on fibers are voice over IP, video-IP telephony, IPTV (IP television), IPv6 services and so on.

[edit] South Korea

FTTP is offered by various Internet service providers including Korea Telecom, Hanaro, and LG-Powercom. The connection speed for both downloading and uploading is set to be 100 Mbit/s. Monthly subscription fee ranges between USD30 and USD35.

[edit] Pakistan

Islamabad, Pakistan's capital city, got its first passive optical network in April, 2006. Nayatel was Pakistan's first broadband provider to offer triple play services (voice, video and data) over BPON. As of April 2007, Nayatel offered Analog Video which was carried as overlay on fiber optic using the 1550 nm wavelength. The video headend was supplied by Scientific Atlanta and the voice network was powered by an Alcatel softswitch.

Nayatel is one of the companies in Pakistan who have invested in broadband infrastructure development in Pakistan. The infrastructure is reliable, and meets the current and future broadband needs of the corporates and home users in Pakistan. The Nayatel FTTH is providing basis for providing a long term solution for data, voice and video needs of Islamabad community for todays and future.

WorldCall, is a Pakistani company with existing footprint in Karachi and Lahore. WorldCall was awarded a contract from Islamabad's Capital Development Authority (CDA) to lay down telecom ducts along the roadside.

[edit] Taiwan

[edit] Europe

[edit] Croatia

The first provider to offer FTTH in Croatia was Vodatel. As of September 2006, Vodatel service was available only in the capital Zagreb, although plans to cover other major towns also existed at that point. The service offered symmetrical 2/5/10 Mbit/s speeds in triple play packages.

[edit] Cyprus

In 2007, the island largest telecoms provider, the Cyprus Telecommunications Authority, signed a contract with Ericsson for a rollout of FFTH. ^[2]

[edit] Czech Republic

In Prague, a FTTH (1/10/100 Mbit/s) service called ViaGia provided by T-Systems is available in newer homes built by CentralGroup. In Brno, there is a FTTH service called NETBOX at www.netbox.cz provided by SMART Comp. a.s. There are some smaller FTTH networks in Brno, Frýdek-Místek, Šumperk and Most.

[edit] Denmark

As of 2006, FTTH was being installed in Denmark in the northern parts of Zealand north and west of Copenhagen. The installation was being performed by the power company DONG Energy as part of a project to convert their airborne power infrastructure into one consisting of underground cables. Their plans called for a completion date of 2010, after which they expected to expand FTTH installation to areas that fell outside of the scope of the power infrastructure conversion project.

DONG Energy charged approximately 30$/month just for the fiber installation; actual FTTH services were to be provided by external providers for an additional fee. As of May 2007, options included: approximately 30$ per month for a 2/2 Mbit/s link, approximately 50$ per month for a 10/10 Mbit/s link, or higher prices for a 20/20 or 25/25 Mbit/s link. Alternatively, Jay.net was offering 100/100 at a variable rate- monthly pricing was 33$ for the first 10 Gigabytes transferred plus 16 cents per Gigabyte transferred thereafter.

[edit] France

As of March 1, 2007, Orange SA released their first commercial FTTH offer in Paris at 45€ a month for a 100 Mbits Internet connection (flat rate) and a set of services including telephone over IP and television. The fiber installation is free. In June 2006, France Telecom/Orange SA launched a test program for FTTH in some arrondissements of Paris. It proposes up to 2.5 Gbit/s upstream and 1.2 Gbit/s downstream per 30 users using PON for 70€ a month.

In September 2006, Free announced a €30 a month triple play offer including 50 Mbit/s Internet connection, free phone calls to 42 countries and high-definition television. The roll-out of this service was planned for May 2007, but wide offering has been postponed to september after a detailled presentation during summer. It will be available first in Paris, then other French towns including Montpellier, Lyons and Valenciennes as well as certain Paris suburbs.

A residential fibre service has been deployed in the 15th Arrondissement (borough) of Paris by Cité Fibre. Bandwidth allocated to each user is 100 Mbit/s with 30 Mbit/s reserved for Internet traffic. The package includes Digital Television and VoIP Telephone services along with the above-mentioned unlimited Internet starting at 49€ per month. The 15th arrondissement was probably selected for its comparatively high residential population. Cité Fibre was bought by Free in October 2006.

The Cité Fibre website also contains an excellent comparison of residential fibre technology with existing cable and DSL/ADSL.

In 2003 Erenis launched an offer of FTTB which evaluate to 100 Mbit/s in January 2007 including the triple play. Erenis was bought by Neuf on April 2, 2007, and this company is planning to offer a 50 Mbit/s triple play service for €29.90 starting at once (A user reports in fact a debit of 35/10 Mbit/s). In july 2007 Neuf announced it will only use FTTH in new deployments, and that the existing Erenis FTTB users would be switched to FTTH at some time in the future. Neuf also acquired Mediafibre, a company which sold fibre optic access is Pau, France, in January 2007.

[edit] Iceland

In Iceland, FTTH is being deployed by Orkuveita Reykjavikur (Reykjavik Power Company). By March 2006, they had begun connecting the towns of Seltjarnarnes, Akranes and parts of Reykjavík. At that time they expected to have 50% of Reykjavik connected by 2008 and all of Reykjavík, Seltjarnes, Akranes, Mosfellsbær, Þorlákshöfn and Hveragerði connected by 2012. However, deployment in other areas was pending due to agreements with city officials. OR only owned the FTTH network; ISP services were provided by HIVE, Skýrr, and Vortex. As of July 2006, VoIP service were available from HIVE. By March 2007, Vodafone Iceland was providing ISP and VoIP services, and had introduced video via its Digital Iceland broadcasting system. However, Skýrr had stopped providing ISP services at this point. The FTTH connections are 100 Mbit/s, but as of March 2007 the ISP services only offered speeds of 6 Mbit/s, 8 Mbit/s, 10 Mbit/s, 20 Mbit/s and 30 Mbit/s.

In March 2006, the monthly cost of having the FTTH in house was 1.990 ISK (aprox $26 US dollars), not including any services. This was somewhat more expensive than having a phone line in the house which costed 1.340 ISK (aprox $18 US dollars) at that time. By March 2007, the monthly cost of having the FTTH in house had risen to 2.390 ISK (approx $36 US dollars), not including any services. By comparison, having a phone line in the house had risen to 1.440 ISK (approx $21 US dollars) by that time.

[edit] Italy

In Italy, FTTH has been deployed by FASTWEB since 1999 in selected areas of Milan, Rome, Naples, Genova, Bologna and other few cities, however they aren't planning to deploy any more FTTP as DSL deployment is far cheaper. Where FTTP is available, they offer a triple play service on a 10/10 Mbit/s Internet connection.

[edit] Netherlands

In The Netherlands in the city Eindhoven and a nearby village called Nuenen, there is a large network with 15 000 connections. triple play is offered. Houses and companies are connected with single-mode fibre. The network is owned by the members itself, who did form a corporation. The first European FTTH project was also in Eindhoven in a neighborhood known as the "Vlinderflats". This was a multi-mode fibre but was in 2005 changed to single-mode fibre. FTTH resulted in new broadband services; the inhabitants started their own broadband TV station called VlinderTV.

Since October 2006 the fibre optics connections are being deployed in the city of Amsterdam. In the first phase of the deployment there are some 40 000 connections planned with the first ones being available for connection to end users by the February 2007.

Also, another company is building new FTTH networks in Arnhem, Nijmegen, Amersfoort, Hilversum, Soest, Leiden and Utrecht. These networks are almost completed The first home was connected around March 2005. If all goes according to plan, the last home in these networks will be connected in June 2007. These networks also provide triple play services. Internet connection speed varies from 24, 48 and 100Mbit (up and down).

[edit] Romania

In Romania, FTTH was first deployed in Timişoara by RDS. Currently, it is available in Bucharest, Alexandria, Arad, Bacău, Bârlad, Braşov, Constanţa, Craiova, Drobeta-Turnu Severin, Galaţi, Iaşi, Oradea, Piteşti, Reşiţa, Sibiu, Suceava, Timişoara and Târgu-Mureş. The name of the service is FiberLink.

[edit] Russia

ER-Telecom company started construction of the "Universal City Telecommunication Network" (UCTN) in Perm. General principle applied to the construction was FTTH («Optics up to Home»). On the base of UCTN company offers the following services:

• Cable Television «Divan-TV»
• High-speed broadband Internet Access «DOM.RU»
• IP-telephony «GORSVYAZ»
• Services for corporations («home office» service, videoconference connection, telemetry collecting service etc.).

[edit] Slovakia

In Slovakia, FTTH was first deployed in Bratislava, Piestany and Trnava by Orange. End user speed is 30/15 Mbit/s (down/up).The name of the service is Orange Homebox

Another FTTP connectivity is available in Michalovce by GeCom, s.r.o, which offers FTTB variant at speeds of 10/10 Mbit/s (down/up).

[edit] Slovenia

In Slovenia, FTTH was first deployed in Kranj by T-2 company. Currently optical fiber infrastructure for FTTH is being built by Gratel in Ljubljana, Koper, Novo Mesto, Murska Sobota, Maribor, Slovenska Bistrica and Velenje. T-2 offers speeds up to 1 Gbit/s over FTTH. Telekom Slovenije, the national telephone operator of Slovenia, announced that it will start building its own fiber optics networks in Nova Gorica, Ljubljana, Maribor, Novo mesto, Murska Sobota, Celje, Kranj, Koper and Domžale. By the end of 2007, they expect to have 50.000 FTTH subscribers.

[edit] Spain

In Spain, the first FTTH network commercially deployed is in the mining valleys of Asturias. The network is currently (June 2007) being built and is planed for launch shortly. The networks covers 30 000 households in smaller towns in the mining districts of Asturias. The network uses Alcatel equipment and is PON based with 2.5G downstream and 1.25G upstream capacity per 32 homes. The network has an Open Access FTTH Network architecture allowing end users to select from several different service providers. website

[edit] Middle East

[edit] Kuwait

South Surra, in four cities, Alsalam, Hutteen, Alshuhada, and future Seddeek. The project started on 2003, service has completed but with a lot of errors in installations (mixed up phone numbers, inactive additional services like CallerId). The equipment is from Alcatel. A typical installation has four RJ32 female sockets and two RJ45 female sockets. On May 2, 2007 Internet is offered for premises with Fibre. But still no International Calling service is available to date.

[edit] United Arab Emirates

The first FTTH project in the UAE went live in September 2002. The network initially served subscribers within Emaar Properties PJSC developments such as Dubai Marina, Emirates Lakes, Hills, Springs and the Arabian Ranches.

The network was operated by a subsidiary of Emaar Properties called SAHM Technologies. The network was designed by Marconi and used equipment from Marconi, Riverstone, WWP, 3Com and Tandberg.

Subscribers are offered Voice, IPTV and broadband Internet. All services were transported over IP.

The network is now operated by du.

[edit] South America

[edit] Venezuela

First Deployment for 2000-Home FTTH Project in Maracay, Venezuela. In a first phase project to bring fiber to more than half million residents.

[edit] North America

[edit] Canada

Until July 2007, the only FTTH provider in Canada was Novus which is operating in the downtown core of Vancouver, BC.

As of August 2007 VIC Communications (www.vicip.ca) provides FTTH through 2 corridors of service area, which the company delivers Triple Play Services to Residential and Business customers. VIC Communications delivers Digital Television, Phone, and High Speed Internet through its FTTH deployment.

Bell Canada (www.bell.ca) now also provides Bell Optimax, which is designed for businesses, but offers FTTH deployment in Metro-areas through their coverage area.

[edit] United States

In the United States, the largest FTTP deployment to date is Verizon's FiOS. Verizon is the only Regional Bell Operating Company thus far to deploy FTTP on a large scale. Verizon's initial FTTP offering was based on Broadband Passive Optical Network (BPON) technology. Verizon is planning to introduce GigaPON or GPON, a faster optical access technology.

With its U-Verse product, AT&T (formerly SBC) has pursued a strategy of Fiber to the Neighborhood (FTTN) and is now delivering Fiber to the Premises (FTTP) to select areas. AT&T has deployed FTTN in the Dallas, Texas area, including Richardson, Texas. The company is now upgrading the telephone and broadband Internet network to deliver FTTP in this area.

Connexion Technologies(formerly known as Capitol Infrastructure)currently serves over 100 communities with FTTH services that include phone, internet, television and home security. Connexion Technologies designs, builds and operates the telecommunication networks in single family, multi family, high rise, hospitality, and resort communities from coast to coast.

Broadweave Networks has multiple FTTP installations in new or greenfield communities in the west, including a contract with the Utah State Trust Lands Administration for up to 21,000 units in Washington County, Utah.

EATEL offers FTTP in the Ascension Parish, Louisiana area. Services currently available via their fiber-optic network include telephone, broadband Internet and television, which includes video on demand and regular broadcasts.

T² Communications of Holland, MI has deployed Fiber to the Home in order to deliver phone, television (IPTV) and Internet services, and is actively building its own fiber network.

Cedar Falls Utilities is installing FTTP in new or greenfield communities with the goal to completely replace their HFC plant by 2015.

Qlevr Media Inc. - The first FTTH provider in Georgia offering television, telephone, Internet access, and home security over a single fiber.

Embarq (formerly Sprint/Nextel LTD) currently has FTTP available in three areas, including Wake Forest, North Carolina, Winter Park, Florida and Las Vegas, Nevada.

Windstream Communications currently has FTTP available in many greenfield markets throughout the southern states.

PES Energize is providing video, voice and data services through an FTTP network in Pulaski, Tennessee.

Telephone Service Company has completed deployment of their FTTH in the City of St. Marys, Ohio, a first for the bright.net affiliates in Ohio.^[3]

Molalla Communications Company, of Molalla, Oregon, provides FTTP services to nearly half its subscriber base, and Fiber to the node for its remaining areas.

Several carriers, municipalities, and planned communities across America are deploying their own fiber networks.

The city of San Francisco has released a feasibility study for government and public broadband via. fiber optics. This was the result of San Francisco supervisors' vote to adopt a resolution to encourage certain city departments to consider installing FTTP for use primarily in city operations. This then evolved into the fiber feasibility study which also includes "services to businesses and residents." The study estimated build-out costs of $564 million. It has been released as a draft in order for members of the public to provide comment and input.

Service providers using Active FTTP technologies include YRT2 Inc., SureWest, iProvo, Grant County, Washington, UTOPIA, and Broadweave Networks. Service providers using passive optical networks include Verizon (FiOS), AT&T (U-Verse), and several greenfield development networks.

There are also two other FTTH providers, which are IPROVO based in Provo, UT and UTOPIA based in Salt Lake County, UT. These FTTH municipal fiber networks are an open network to many ISP's including MSTAR Metro, Veracity, Xmission, and other service providers who have bought onto the network. The speeds of the network range around 15 Mbit/s Up and Down for residential use and 30 Mbit/s Up and down for business use.

[edit] Oceania

[edit] Australia

Australia is starting to deploy more FTTH particularly in the new residential estates of Western Australia. Companies such as BES (Western Australia), GeoMedia (Western Australia, Bright (Western Australia), and Pivit (Queensland) all have commercial deployments although in small numbers (about 3000 subscribers in total).

Telstra have recently signed exclusive agreements with a number of developments across the country again in new estates.

There are a number of trials in Tasmania (TasColt) and Victoria (Aurora, Colt), the Landcom in New South Wales has two tenders out for the deployment of FTTH in up to 9 estates.

The neutrality of this section is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page.

[edit] Political debate about FTTH/FTTN in Australia

There is also huge political debate in Australia about who (which telco company) is going to build a nation-wide FTTN/FTTH network. Currently the Australian Governments watchdog, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) are declining offers from Telstra, "Australia's Telco Company", who plan to charge other telco companies huge amounts of money to use their backhaul network.

Telstra, though quite powerful in owning the telco network in Australia are losing the battle to build the network againist the G9 Group (SingTel Optus), which is a Singaporian Government owned company with partnerships with other Australian telco companies like iinet.

[edit] New Zealand

Telecom New Zealand (dominant telco) has started a FTTP trial (dubbed Next Generation Broadband) in a new subdivision (Flat Bush) in Manukau city in May 2006. The NGB provides up to 30 Mbit/s downstream speeds over a Passive Optical Network (PON) with the only cost to the customers during the trial being a NZ$49.95 activation fee.^[4] Vector Communications provides FTTP in very limited Auckland CBD and Wellington CBD for around NZ$329 unlimited per month. You can also get FTTP services from Citylink in Wellington - price suggests this is for businesses only.