FTTH Primer BBP Spring 2010

FTTH CounCil | The Advantages of Fiber | 1
Cont ents
Reliability... Bandwidth... Affordability... Future-Proof-
ing... Standards... Security... Economic Development...
Sustainability... New Broadband Content & Services...
Higher Revenue...
Why FTTH, Why Now? ..............................................................................4

Fiber and Bandwidth .................................................................................6
FTTH Users’ Stories ....................................................................................8
The Inevitability of Bandwidth Growth .......................................................10
Applications for FTTH Providers: Beyond the Triple Play ..............................12
FTTH and Sustainability: The Environmental Choice ....................................15
FTTH and the Federal Broadband Stimulus ................................................15
The Light Fantastic: Three Advantages ...................................................... 16
Builders, Real Estate Developers and FTTH .................................................18
Questions Real Estate Developers Ask About FTTH .....................................20
Focus on Municipal Priorities ....................................................................22
Understanding the Technology in Greater Detail ........................................24
Network Standards .................................................................................25
Zeros and Ones ......................................................................................26
FTTH Versus Other Types of Fiber Networks ...............................................28
FTTH and FTTB Network Architectures – A Little History ..............................30
FTTH and Economic Development .............................................................31
FTTH Council Certification Program ..........................................................32
This primer was originally written by Steven S. Ross and updated by him and by Masha Zager, both of the Broadband Prop-
erties staff. It summarizes research commissioned by the FTTH Council as well as independent reporting by the authors.
2 | The Advantages of Fiber | FTTH CounCil

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with latest technology Beginning
technologies. In the In a few years, even
next two years, as 50 Mbps: DSL maximum per user with
1 Gbps will look small.
Soon, most content will
10 Gbps equipment latest technology
be 3-D and ultra-high-
becomes available, definition.
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be off the page.
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Why FT TH, Why Now ?
F
iber to the home (FTTH) has become a respect – lower reliability, lower bandwidth,
reality. More than 6 million consumers fewer connections inside the home. For less
now use direct fiber optic connections money the phone companies, public utilities
to the home or building in the United States, and, now, numerous cable companies have
more than 17 million in Japan, 10 million in been installing future-proof fiber.
Korea, and almost 40 million worldwide. The basic technological and economic
FTTH is widely recognized as the opti- challenges of FTTH have been resolved.
mal solution for providing broadband to Based on the immense capacity of fiber – al-
new and existing communities alike. In fact, ready the foundation of the world’s telecom-
thousands of FTTH communities are flour- munications system – FTTH is now being
ishing here. Why? FTTH offers more band- deployed around the country and around
width and more flexibility than alternatives, the world. Almost all large developers are
at a similar price. It cost $84 billion for the putting fiber in their new developments,
cable companies to pass about 100 million even in a down economy. Larger telcos are
households with coax, or $850 a household deploying it in cities and suburbs, and small-
($1,500 in today’s dollars), with a technol- er telcos in rural areas. Municipalities in the
ogy that offers far less than FTTH in every U.S. and elsewhere are finding FTTH can

The Advantages
be a feasible solution today that po- and sewer services, public schools and
of Fiber
sitions their communities for tomor- other “utilities” than if it does not. In This primer covers the key eco-
row’s jobs and economic growth. Sweden, homes with fiber connections nomic and technical issues sur-
Even today, FTTH subscribers sell at a 5 to 10 percent premium. As rounding fiber to the home. When
spend 20 to 30 percent more per a result, residents are willing to pay you’ve read it, we believe you will
month than DSL subscribers – not some of the capital costs of getting agree that:
because basic services are more ex- connected – a model that is begin-
pensive (they aren’t), but because ning to be used in the U.S. as well. • FTTH – that is, fiber to the
more and better premium services In Korea, a property’s worth home – is the only technol-
are available. was judged in part by the quality of ogy that will deliver enough
its broadband service. But today, 95 bandwidth, reliably and at a
low enough cost, to meet the
One bundle of percent of all Korean households
subscribe to broadband services, and consumer demands of the
fiber cable not much 55 percent of them have fiber to the next decade.
home or fiber to the building. There
thicker than a pencil are almost no low-bandwidth homes
• FTTH is affordable to-
day, which is why hundreds
can carry ALL the left to make a comparison!
Just as people argue about “how
of companies using hun-
dreds of different business
world’s current good is good” when it comes to roads cases worldwide are racing
and schools, we argue about “how
communications traffic. much bandwidth is enough,” in what
to install it in thousands of
locations.
form bandwidth should be provided
For example, multiple simulta- and who might pay for it. Telephone • FTTH is the only technology
neous HD channels are difficult to companies have adapted existing that will meet the needs of the
implement well over any medium but voice networks to deliver Internet ac- foreseeable future, when 3-D,
fiber; 3DTV and high-definition vid- cess, and cable companies have done holographic high-definition TV
eo communications, which are now the same with the networks they devel- and games (products already
beginning to be commercialized, will oped to deliver television channels. in use in industry, and begin-
be even more challenging. But if you are a property devel- ning to be commercialized for
But optical fiber can handle any oper building residential or business consumers) will be in everyday
bandwidth demand with ease. In fact, structures, why equip your new build- use. Think 20 to 30 gigabits
one bundle of fiber cable not much ing with 120-year-old copper technol- per second to each home in a
thicker than a pencil can carry ALL ogy that is already obsolescent, costs decade. Copper can’t do even
the world’s current communications as much as (or more than) fiber, and 1/1000th of that bandwidth,
traffic. will be obsolete in just a few years? and then not for more than a
People talk about fiber’s poten- If you help run a telecom or cable few hundred yards.
tial from several points of view. TV company, why cede your competi- • FTTH is already delivering
tive advantage to builders of fiber net- high-margin services for which
• Consumers think about getting
works – networks that are cheap to
more high-definition TV chan- consumers are willing to pay
run, reliable, and capable of delivering
nels or faster downloads of mov- far more than for traditional
premium services you can’t deliver?
ies or games. They can’t demand cable TV services.
If you are a municipal official,
services they don’t know about,
can you explain to voters and local
or that have not been invented. businesses that your community will
• Engineers talk about the poten- be bypassed by the successor to the
tial bandwidth of fiber, which is Interstate Highway System, the Infor-
virtually unlimited. mation Highway?
• Elected officials, economic de- And if you are a consumer, can
velopment experts and academ- you afford to buy a home that will
ics think of fiber as a utility that have to be modified in a few years to
will enable people to develop new accommodate that fancy new TV or
products or start new kinds of the phone system your job demands?
businesses. In this primer, we explain the
Public infrastructure makes pri- technology in a way you, the nonspe-
vate property more valuable. A house, cialist, can understand.
for instance, is worth much more if We want to communicate ... the
it has access to a public street, water, advantages of Fiber to the Home.

Fiber and Band wid t h
Q: What is bandwidth?
A: In a network, bandwidth (what engineers Equipping an existing
call bit rate) is the ability to carry infor-
mation. The more bandwidth you have,
fiber network with newer
the more information can be carried in a electronics and with lasers
given amount of time. that pulse light faster, or lasers
Q: How much bandwidth – or information using different wavelengths of
delivered by bandwidth – do we need? light, can vastly increase the
A: A standard-definition television signal re-
quires a bandwidth of about 2 Mbps – two available bandwidth without
million bits (zeros and ones) per second. changing the fiber itself.
HDTV requires as little as 4 Mbps if the im-
age is rather static – a person being inter- That’s why fiber networks are
viewed, for instance. But fast action, such said to be “future proof.”
as some sporting events, requires more – as
much as 8 Mbps, even with new compres-
sion technology such as MPEG-4. 3-D im- Q: Can’t copper carry high bandwidths, too?
mersive HDTV – a technology already be- A: Yes, copper can support high bandwidth,
ing used in some academic and industrial but only for a few hundred yards. The lon-
settings – will require between 50 and 300 ger the distance the signal travels on cop-
Mbps. 3DTV sets are now being sold to con- per, the lower the bandwidth. Optical fiber
sumers, a few years ahead of projections, is unique in that it can carry high-band-
due to the popularity of recent 3-D movies. width signals over enormous distances.
Fiber uses laser light to carry signals.
Q: What about data? Under some circumstances, a signal can
A: Bandwidth requirements for many kinds travel 40 miles (60 kilometers) without
of data are exploding. For example, digital degrading enough to keep it from being
cameras can create larger and larger im- received.
ages. At the speeds generally available to What’s more, the equipment necessary
people using a cable modem or DSL, even to send the light signals keeps getting bet-
a compressed image can take a long time to ter. So equipping an existing fiber network
e-mail or upload to a photo-sharing site. with newer electronics and with lasers that
pulse light faster, or lasers using different
wavelengths of light, can vastly increase
the available bandwidth without changing
New digital cameras can the fiber itself. That’s why fiber networks
create very large images, are said to be “future proof.”
as well as videos. Even a Q: That sounds like magic. But isn’t fiber
too new to trust?
compressed image can A: Fiber optic cable has actually been used
take a long time in communications networks for more
to upload at cable or than 30 years. But until 2002, it was rarely
used to deliver a signal directly to a home.
DSL speeds. Instead, it was – and still is – relied upon to
carry communications traffic from city to

Service providers
city or country to country. Almost Q: Why does it matter how close to
that impose caps on
every country on earth has some the home fiber comes in DSL and “bandwidth hogs”
fiber, delivering services reliably cable systems? because they can’t meet
and inexpensively. A: There is a marked relationship be-
In fact, if you have a cable modem, tween distance and available band- demand are forgoing
with broadband supplied by your width when you are using copper. revenues they could
cable operator, or if you have DSL, For example, the latest version of
which converts your phone line DSL, called VDSL2, can carry a derive from new, high-
into a data pipeline, you are already signal of more than 200 Mbps for bandwidth services for
about 750 feet. At a distance of
using fiber. The fiber carries the sig-
1,500 feet, it can carry a signal of which consumers will
nal close enough to your home so
that copper can carry it the rest of only 100 Mbps. Over a distance of pay a premium.
the way. But this approach requires a mile, it can deliver only about 30
expensive, hard-to-maintain elec- Mbps. And that’s the theoretical
limit. In practice, the real band- to YouTube, have begun to outrun
tronics where the fiber meets the
width is less. the ability of older technologies to
copper. The available bandwidth
is far less than an all-fiber network. handle bandwidth demands.
Q: I’ve been hearing about fiber to
And these halfway approaches do Faced with burgeoning demand
the home for a decade or more,
not allow symmetrical bandwidth – for bandwidth, some providers
but I haven’t seen any until recent-
existing cable and DSL systems can tried shutting off or slowing down
ly. Is that because the technology is
download much faster than they service, or imposing prohibitive
difficult to master?
can upload information. fees, for customers who exceeded
A: No, but until recently it was more
monthly bandwidth caps, but they
expensive than other solutions that
Q: Isn’t that good enough? quickly discovered that customers
offer far less bandwidth, such as
A: That depends on what you want to didn’t like these restrictions. In
cable TV’s DOCSIS and the phone
use your bandwidth for. If all you addition, they found that limiting
companies’ DSL. Those
want is to send e-mails, download bandwidth meant limiting their
technologies were
songs or share family photos, the potential for reve-
“good enough”
bandwidth provided by today’s ca- nues.
until a few years
ble modems and DSL lines may be That’s why
ago. But in the
good enough. If you want to log on many pro-
past few years,
viders – both
to the corporate LAN from home content that telephone
and work effectively, you’ll need was expected, companies
more. And what about uploading a such as HDTV, and cable com-
high-def video of the school play, or and content that was panies – are now
sitting down to dinner with family not predicted, such as the flood moving to all-fiber
members a thousand miles away? of user-generated video uploaded networks. In new single-family and
multifamily communities, in busi-
ness districts, in areas where several
service providers compete, and in
many other places, you’re now like-
ly to see all-fiber networks.
Source: bbP LLC

FTTH Users’ Stories
The Power Behind the Power Gamer
On any other Internet service, Sean Kim World of Warcraft. He explains, “Whenever
might be considered a “bandwidth hog.” you install a new game, it makes you down-
This Texan has been an early adopter of load all the patches that have accumulated
every high-bandwidth application – music since the CD was burned, and that’s like 450
downloads, online gaming, sharing digital megabytes. Other players have to wait an
photos and videos, and helping his wife set hour for a download to complete. I install
up teleconferencing to keep up with friends the new game right now, patch it quick and
halfway around the world. kick it off.”
Not surprisingly, Kim was the first in his The most important advantage is that
neighborhood to sign up for Verizon’s FiOS
Kim’s video gaming no longer includes
fiber-to-the home
the dreaded “red bar” at the bottom of the
service. “What’s
screen – an indicator that his Internet con-
cooler than fiber
Video gaming revenue optics to your nection is not keeping him up to speed with
house?” he asks. his online opponents. Fiber’s blazing speed
rivals Hollywood’s box Kim is thrilled assures a rapid ride to the online game site.
that he can use He says, “With fiber, it’s always green so
office revenue – and Internet applica- people want to play with me more. And if
tions at peak per- I join a game and someone lags, I can say
online gamers like Sean formance – espe- ‘Hey, it’s not me, I’m on fiber so there’s no
cially his favorite way I can lag.’” And 3-D games are already
Kim are ratcheting it higher, multiplayer game, here as well.
with the help of FTTH.
Bringing the Virtual Office Home

The luxury of working from home is no lon- muting with an FTTH connection than with
ger a pipe dream now that the “big pipe” is other broadband solutions. And in a rough
arriving at households across America. A sur- economy, many are starting their own busi-
vey commissioned by the Fiber-to-the-Home nesses from home. Fiber helps enable it.
Council found that more than 13 percent of Polo Morales works at a technical ser-
FTTH subscribers say they were able to work vices company in the Virginia suburbs of
from home more often – a monthly average Washington, DC. Having worked previously
for a small company that built fiber optic
of 7.3 more workdays at home. Some 59 per-
networks, he understood the benefits of
cent of these telecommuters said their em-
running fiber to the home. So when FTTH
ployers were more favorable about telecom-
service became available in his neighbor-
hood, he jumped at the chance.
“It’s as fast as being actually in the build-
More than 13 percent of ing at work,” says Morales, who says that his
fiber-to-the-home connection has enlarged
FTTH subscribers say his opportunities to work from home. When
they are able to work Morales had tried working at home via cable
modem, service was not always reliable. His
from home more often – wife Diann notes that, with several computer
a monthly average of 7.3 users in the family, “there would be a delay
or a lag if everybody was trying to get on the
more workdays at home. Internet. We don’t have that now.”
Morales likes the flexibility fiber-to-

“We’ve gotten to a
the-home gives him in balancing his point now where Andrew and Charity Heaton
work and family responsibilities. “In live with their four children outside
the event that the kids get sick in the Internet service is like Leesburg, Virginia. Andrew, a law-
yer, works one day a week from home,
wintertime, it’s not a problem for me
to stay home and work from home,”
your water or your while Charity operates several home-
says Morales. “I’m still able to do all sewer service or even based businesses, including a bed-
the things like keep my calendar. I and-breakfast, a retail store, and an
can set up conference calls and still your electricity. People eBay store.
The Heatons’ fiber-to-the-home
have multiple folks participate in the
conference calls so it’s not an issue.
are building their lives Internet connection gives Andrew
That allows me to stay home, take and their livelihoods the ability to telecommute and is the
care of the kids and still actually go backbone of their businesses. They
to work.” around it and they use it to manage reservations and
process payments for the bed-and-
Brian Metelski has become as expect it to work and breakfast, and Charity’s retail store
productive from his home office
in the Dallas-Fort Worth area as he work easily.” sells some of its products through a
would be at his employer’s premises. Web site. Her eBay business is entire-
It’s all about the bandwidth, Metelski ly Web-based.
says: “Our FTTH service enables us “The Internet is critical to our
tions engineer in Coppell, Texas, says businesses,” says Andrew. “Charity
to work from home virtually with our his fiber-to-the-home service makes a
PCs and our VoIP phone and any is not really interested in the details
big difference to his home-based busi- of technology. Having an Internet
other applications we want running ness. Randell regularly downloads
along with TV and along with every- service that works and is reliable is
large RFP files that were problematic important to her. [Before getting
thing else.” to download via DSL. He also uses FTTH] I would get calls when I was
His employer provides Metelski videoconferencing with colleagues out of town saying, ‘The Internet
with a virtual private network tunnel and potential customers. “That’s very service went out, what do I do?’ And
inside a VoIP telephone connection,
important, that we have a high-quali- I’d have to try to walk her through
which registers to a secure gateway
ty connection for videoconferencing how to do the connections when I
back at the office building.
over the Internet,” he says. wasn’t even there. And that is a very
As much as he loves the new ar-
Randell’s three teenagers all like difficult thing to do.” Andrew says
rangement, Metelski says his employ-
to access online video, music and they have not had to perform one of
er seems to love it more. “Because
games – usually at the same time. their “Internet fire drills” even once
they know that when we’re working in the year since they switched over
With his FTTH service, it no longer
from home, we can have our office to fiber.
matters how many of his kids and
phone here. We can have our of- He adds, “We’ve gotten to a point
their friends are using their laptops
fice applications here. It’s like I’m now where Internet service is like your
in his home – the response from the
sitting in an office. The only times water or your sewer service or even
Web is instantaneous and he can con-
you can tell I’m at home is when you your electricity. People are building
tinue his work undisturbed.
hear my daughter or my son in the their lives and their livelihoods around
background saying, ‘Daddy, can you And there’s a family dividend.
He now spends less time in the morn- it and they expect it to work and
change the channel on the TV?’” work easily.”
For Americans who operate ing downloading files to prepare for
morning meetings, and that enables Back in Northern Virginia, scene
home-based businesses, the quality, of some of worst rush-hour com-
speed and reliability of Internet ser- him to have breakfast with his kids.
mutes in the country, Polo Morales
vice can be the key to business suc- Fifteen-year-old Katie says, “He’s a lot
reflects on the larger implications of
cess. A survey commissioned by the happier and a lot more chipper in the
telecommuting:
Fiber-to-the-Home Council found 10 morning now.”
“If you consider that the band-
percent of FTTH subscribers using width and the connectivity provides
their high-speed connections to run you with the ability to work from
home-based businesses, with 90 per- home, to do telecommuting, that fa-
cent of these calling the high-band- cilitates less traffic, less driving on
width fiber optic connection either the roads, right? And if for whatever
“very important” or “somewhat im- reason you can’t go work, you can po-
portant” to their business activities. tentially still get your work done. So
Ralph Randell, a telecommunica- it’s an enabler.”

The Inevitability of Bandwidth Growth
A
ll too often, we think of increased one of the five largest users of bandwidth on
bandwidth as a matter of speed. It earth, and the largest single user of Internet
lets us do things faster. Send an e- bandwidth. The social networking platform
mail message. View a Web site. But the real Facebook has 400 million active users who
value of bandwidth is that it lets us do entire- share photos and videos, play games and use
ly new things with our computers, cameras, half a million other embedded applications.
televisions – with our network. Chatroulette, which enables random video
In the past few years, we have seen such chats, was launched in late 2009 by a Rus-
new products and services as: sian teenager and within a few months had
vaulted into the top 1,000 Web sites in terms
• Voice over Internet Protocol of U.S. pageviews – and even higher in terms
telephones. They’re not only cheaper of bandwidth.
for the consumer, they are better.
Incoming callers can find the line you
are on and leave messages – text and
video as well as voice – where you can
easily pick them up.
• Video on the Web and on mobile
devices.
• Internet-enabled cameras that upload
photos and videos to Web sites with
built-in Web browsers.
• User-created video so grandparents
can see the children, or so a budding
comedian or musician can develop
an audience.
The least expensive netbooks today
• Internet-enabled picture frames that
come with 160 GB hard drives, because ev-
automatically display photos sent eryday users need the file space. And if they
via e-mail. need the file space, they also need to send
New and unforeseen products have daz- files of comparable size, and to back them
zled, bemused and annoyed us. YouTube ap- up online.
peared in February 2005 and quickly became And what about digital images? Users
become annoyed when net-
work speeds lag behind local
connection speeds. Using your
Demand for bandwidth is rising not computer’s USB port, moving
because users want “more of the same” a 2 GB memory card’s worth
of pictures (or an hour of TV-
but because new and unforeseen products quality video) to your hard
and services have been introduced. drive takes about half a min-
ute. FTTH allows that speed to
Facebook and online video sharing, be matched by the network.
Internet movies on TV, telemedicine and Manufacturers of consum-
er electronics have been think-
home-based businesses are all changing ing along the same lines. New
the way we live, work and play. Internet-connected TV sets
and set-top boxes let viewers

ple access health care and take
classes from their homes. With
home automation, residents
Think hundreds of
can take care of their homes
while they’re away, using Inter-
thousands – even
net-connected security camer-
as and remote energy monitor-
millions – of TV
ing devices.
Telecommuting and
“channels” from all
home-based businesses are on
Wall of LCD screens at University of California at San the rise, too. Owners and man-
over the world.
Diego allows worldwide “telepresence.” agers of multifamily commu-
nities are even turning social
watch high-definition online video on rooms into fiber-connected business
the big screen just as easily as they can centers and concierge offices.
watch video from the local cable or We have every reason to believe
phone company. Users don’t have to that innovation will continue, that
“think Internet” to put Internet video bandwidth needs will keep on growing
on the TV. They just check out what’s – and that only fiber to the home, with
available, using their TV remotes. In- its superior reliability and plentiful
ternet-capable TV models are becom- upstream capacity, will be able to keep
ing today’s standard offering. delivering the bandwidth we need.
Think hundreds of thousands – When Thomas Edison built the
even millions – of fiber-enabled TV world’s first central-station electrical
“channels” from all over the world. generating plants, electric lighting was
Many vendors already have, and they the “killer app.” No one was thinking
are offering add-on services or ap- about air conditioners or cell-phone
pliances to help consumers find the chargers. A generation from now, the
shows they want to watch. new uses for bandwidth will be as sur-
Entertainment isn’t the only use prising to us as cell-phone chargers
for bandwidth. New services let peo- would be to Edison.
Source: bbP LLC
The least expensive netbooks today come with

160 GB hard drives, because everyday users need
the file space. And if they need the file space, they
also need to send files of comparable size.
Applications for FTTH Providers:
Beyond the Triple Play
Network builders are not investing in fiber it is a boon for the “sandwich generation”
to the home only to prepare for future band- that is responsible for caring for both their
width needs and appeal to “early adopters” children and their elders while holding
who want to live the connected lifestyle. Fi- down full-time jobs.
ber offers other advantages in the here and Community-based security systems
now: New broadband applications are com- consist of linked IP videocameras and sen-
ing onto the market every day, and many sors stationed on light poles and buildings
of them present opportunities for use or around a neighborhood. These systems
resale by fiber providers. Most of these ap- identify and track intruders and can auto-
plications can operate on lower-bandwidth matically notify owners, security companies
networks, but not with the same degree of and sometimes police. Community-based
performance, security and reliability as they systems may be more effective than individ-
do on fiber. ual home security systems because they trig-
These new applications fall into several ger alarms even before a home intrusion oc-
categories. Some help differentiate fiber- curs, and they are less invasive of residents’
to-the-home communities; some generate privacy. Fiber networks support the broad-
additional revenue streams for providers or cast and recording of very-high-resolution
help retain customers; still others can be photos that are more useful for deterring
used by providers or property developers to and apprehending intruders.
manage their assets more efficiently. (Some Social applications use the fiber infra-
of the applications can be classified in more structure to build a sense of community – an
than one group, of course.) important function in a new development.
They range from social networking sites fo-
Differentiating Your Community
cused on the community, to intranet sites
Only a few years ago, fiber-connected de-
featuring local news and events, to Web-
velopments were so rare that fiber to the
based or IPTV video channels broadcasting
home was a unique selling point for devel-
local athletic contests, artistic productions
opers. Today, fi-
and political discussions. Because they can
ber has become
be interactive, they easily trump conven-
Telehealth helps the norm in new
d e v e l o p m e nt s ,
tional “public access” stations on cable.
keep older adults living especially in new Arts and educational applications use
high-end videoconferencing in community
master-planned
independently – a boon communities, ac- centers, outdoor arenas or children’s play
centers to bring live performances, virtual
for those who care for cording to mar-
ket researcher museum tours, music lessons, book readings
both their children and Mike Render. In and other interactive events into the com-
munity. Residents can experience the ben-
order to further
their elders while differentiate their efits of big-city life without its drawbacks.
Concierge and home-automation ser-
working full time. communities, de-
velopers are now vices take advantage of the local fiber net-
seeking applica- work to make residents’ lives more comfort-
tions to leverage able and convenient. Cameras that recognize
their fiber infrastructure. residents’ cars entering the community can
Telehealth gives residents instant access alert parking attendants and security per-
to medical specialists via videoconferenc- sonnel, and then turn on lights and heating
ing from the home, the fitness center or the or air-conditioning at home. Residents can
community room. The videoconferencing connect with a single click to community
may be integrated with Internet-enabled services and preferred providers, calling to
diagnostic devices (blood pressure cuffs, schedule a dry-cleaning pickup, pizza deliv-
respiration measurement, etc.), electronic ery or home repair.
medical records systems, online prescrip- Mobility is easier to accommodate with a
tion services, and online appointment robust fiber-to-the-home network. Using the
scheduling. Telehealth helps keep older backhaul afforded by FTTH, providers can
adults living independently for longer, and offer Wi-Fi connections to residents in indoor

the television or the PC, or
even allow users to initiate New fiber-enabled
calls via the TV remote in re-
sponse to a TV ad, make the broadband applications
triple play or quad play more
compelling. Today’s consum-
reduce customer churn,
ers want to be connected all of lower expenses by
the time and want to be able
to use any device for any pur- keeping more traffic
Camera used for community
pose. Convergence is the next
phase of the mobile, always-
in-network, and create
security application. on lifestyle. new revenue streams.
Ubiquitous and reliable
and outdoor public spaces throughout connectivity encourages users
the community. Residents can bring to rely on the Internet for their Video on demand is sometimes
their laptops to the pool, check e-mail technology resources. Online storage offered as part of the same video ser-
from the laundry room, or listen to In- allows them to store their data files on vice that providers use to deliver lin-
ternet radios in the gym. the Internet, access them from any- ear channels, or it may be provided
where and share them with others. as a separate service for customers
Generating New
The cloud computing revolution has who don’t want linear TV channels.
Revenue Streams
moved applications from the desktop Stand-alone VoD generally includes
Customers have become used to
to the Web. Local area networks are an Internet-connected set-top box
purchasing such “over-the-top” In-
now likely to be Internet-based, and that can download and store the mov-
ternet services as Skype or iTunes,
users can even access Internet-based ies and TV shows selected by the cus-
but often they’re happier to deal di-
rectly with network providers whom computer processing power at a mo- tomer, as well as software for choos-
they know and trust. Broadband ment’s notice. Service providers are ing and ordering the shows and, of
providers of all kinds now offer a now supplying the types of services course, agreements with content pro-
variety of applications to their cus- to business customers that until re- viders to make the shows available.
tomers through Web portals, often cently were provided by corporate IT Videoconferencing is universally
at lower prices than the customers departments. available through free or low-cost
could obtain by purchasing these ser- Home security, like many other Web-based services, but it is cumber-
vices directly. technologies, is migrating from analog some and the quality is often poor.
These applications serve several to digital form. Digitally based home Fiber to the home, because of its high
purposes: They reduce customer security allows residents to control upstream bandwidth, presents oppor-
churn; they lower expenses by keep- settings, receive alerts and view their tunities for providers to make higher-
ing more traffic in-network; and they homes via the Internet or cell phone. quality videoconferencing available.
create new revenue streams. Fiber- Digital security systems also support a Providers can offer specialized video-
to-the-home providers, which don’t wider range of sensors – not only tradi- phones, with a videophone subscrip-
have to aim for the lowest common tional motion detectors but cameras, tion service, for consumers who prefer
denominator because their systems water detectors, smoke detectors and stand-alone devices. They can offer
have virtually unlimited capacity, many others. Because digital security PC- or TV-based videoconferencing
have a far wider choice of applica- uses wiring that is already installed for with more features and higher quality
tions for resale. broadband, it is inexpensive to install than free services provide. Or, if they
Convergence applications that and makes economic sense for renters have installed high-end videoconfer-
send Caller ID or text messages to as well as homeowners. encing equipment in public areas (see
Home security devices.

“Differentiating Your
Community”) they can
sell time – and guaran-
teed quality of service
– on those systems to
individual customers.
Unlike desktop video,
high-end videoconfer-
encing and telepres-
ence are becoming ac-
ceptable alternatives to
business travel even for
important meetings.
Targeted advertis-
ing, although it is sold
to advertisers rather Remote music lessons.
than subscribers, repre-
sents an important revenue stream for FTTH lance. Asset tagging helps prevent theft or
providers. One mechanism is through IPTV, misplacement of equipment, and tags worn
which lets providers insert ads based on nearby employees help make sure people are
ly any criteria. While cable TV ads are usually where they’re authorized to be. Videocon-
differentiated by ZIP code, IPTV ads can be ferencing allows construction managers to
sent to households with certain demographic make virtual site inspections more frequently
criteria, or to households (or even individual than they could make physical inspections.
TV sets) with certain viewing patterns. Online work order scheduling helps
Another potential source of advertising property managers be more responsive to
dollars is t-commerce, in which television their residents, while reducing operating
viewers click the remote on an ad – or even expenses. Residents can request repairs at
a product placement in a television show – to any time – not just when the office is open
either see more information about the prod- or they can find the super – and manage-
uct or actually order the product. ment personnel can deal with problems that
Property Management require personal attention, rather than rou-
Broadband enables owners to control their tine requests. Residents can be automati-
properties and assets more efficiently than cally notified when work is completed.
ever before. The addition of broadband – Energy management can also be
especially the broadband-enabled. Motion sensors, intel-
h i g h - c a p a c it y, ligent thermostats and automated ventila-
tion equipment can keep public spaces and
Fiber-enabled, high-reliabilit y
broadband that unoccupied units at appropriate tempera-
high-capacity, high- fiber enables – tures; applications that monitor and analyze
turns “smart” energy usage help property managers and
reliability broadband turns buildings into residents find opportunities to shift loads
“smart” buildings into “genius” build-
ings, according
to nonpeak times and reduce their overall
energy usage. Broadband-enabled applica-
“genius” buildings, saving to one industry tions also help reduce water usage.
expert. Internet- Utility applications, such as automated
on energy, maintenance enabled sensors meter reading, variable electricity rates,
and security. and applications
automate work
SCADA and outage investigation, greatly re-
duce the costs of operating electric utilities.
that was once Smart metering and Smart Grid applica-
done by maintenance crews – and get it tions are major reasons that electric utilities
done it more quickly and accurately. Broad- across the country are now building fiber
band applications also help owners commu- infrastructures. The federal government’s
nicate with tenants and employees. stimulus programs have subsidized Smart
Guarding the construction site can be Grid upgrades and coordinated FTTH with
managed through IP-based video surveil- Smart Grid initiatives.

FTTH and Sustainability:
The Environmental Choice
Fiber’s impact on the environment ies show a positive impact. Savings on About three-quarters of the
is certainly positive, according to a gasoline (both for the avoided com- greenhouse gas emissions come from
PricewaterhouseCoopers study com- mute and for those who would enjoy the manufacture of active network
missioned by the FTTH Council and less congestion on the highways) are equipment, PricewaterhouseCoopers
released in October 2008. Even with partially offset by extra electricity use found.
low assumptions about take rates, the at home, and by the power used to After the network is constructed,
greenhouse gases that are produced run the network. telecommuting saves more than tri-
in constructing equipment and de- Savings are likely to increase in ple the amount of greenhouse gases
ploying the network are balanced by the future as the uses of broadband released by powering the network.
the savings from increased telecom- networks expand. For example, Price- PricewaterhouseCoopers also
muting in about five years. waterhouseCoopers did not consider examined how FTTH deployment af-
That’s an annual carbon-reduc- other energy-saving applications fected resource depletion, air acidifica-
tion dividend of close to 20 percent. such as: tion, algae growth in the oceans, and
Other environmental impacts are re- • Telepresence, which is beginning the release of toxins into the environ-
couped in time periods ranging from to replace a significant amount ment. By every measure, FTTH had a
one to six years, according to the re- of business travel; beneficial environmental impact.
port. • Cloud computing, which enables Verizon is aiming for a 20 per-
The report examined an “aver- data centers to be located near cent reduction in electricity used by
age” American FTTH deployment. sources of alternative energy; new equipment to run its network.
The impact of any actual network • Smart Grid applications, which A more complete presentation
would be slightly different from the make electricity generation and of the report’s results can be found
typical case that was studied. distribution far more efficient; or at www.ftthcouncil.org/UserFiles/
Earlier studies have shown small- • Distance learning, which reduces F i l e/ P WC _ F T T H _ S u s t a i n a b i l -
er annual savings, but almost all stud- travel for educational purposes. ity%20Report%20FINAL.pdf
FTTH and the Federal Broadband Stimulus

In February 2009, as part of the zations. This is because operators of has helped FTTH in another way as
American Recovery and Reinvest- first-mile FTTH networks have to pay well. Hundreds of millions of dollars
ment Act stimulus program, more to connect to the rest of the world. are going into local broadband adop-
than $7 billion was committed to And in many cases, particularly in tion initiatives, mainly at libraries and
building broadband networks and rural areas and smaller communities, educational institutions, and into pro-
teaching the public how to take ad- lack of competition drives up connec- viding robust broadband connections
vantage of them. About half of that tion costs. Thus, operators of FTTH for those institutions. These pro-
was committed by March 2010. The networks are sometimes forced to of- grams teach more businesses and in-
program is funding dozens of new fer connection speeds far slower than dividuals about what broadband can
fiber-to-the-home networks - in fact, what their own networks can easily do to expand their horizons. It also
the majority of the last-mile projects deliver. expands the number of people who
funded by the broadband stimulus Increasing the number of mid- have access to computers and who
are centered on fiber to the home. dle-mile connection points, and their know how to use them. That, in turn,
However, most of the exciting news is capacity, allows local operators to will improve broadband “take rates” –
in middle-mile builds - the fiber optic offer faster speeds. That, in turn, al- the percentage of people with access
links between local networks and the lows them to offer a greater variety of to broadband services who actually
rest of the world. Nearly all the ap- services. Revenue from new services buy them – and thus make it easier to
proved middle-mile projects are fiber helps make business plans for new justify the costs of construction.
optic networks. FTTH projects possible. For example, The bottom line: Municipalities,
The federal concentration on the federal government is supporting telephone companies, cable compa-
middle-mile projects is particularly smart-grid projects to cut the costs nies, developers and business owners
exciting to municipalities, telephone of electricity transmission and smart that are considering building FTTH
companies and others that wish to medical records to cut health care networks may find their business cas-
build FTTH first-mile networks, even costs. Both initiatives require more re- es stronger than ever, even if their
though the general public has no di- liable, more ubiquitous broadband. projects haven’t been directly fund-
rect contact with middle-mile organi- The broadband stimulus program ed by broadband stimulus grants.

The Light Fantastic: Three Advantages
Fiber optic cable carries information by es, the bandwidth decreases. Short lengths
transmitting pulses of light. The pulses are of coax, for instance – the lengths typically
turned on and off very, very fast. Multiple found in a small building – can carry 1 Gbps
streams of information can be carried on if the coax network is well designed.
the same fiber at the same time by using That’s a thousand times more band-
multiple wavelengths – colors – of light. width than typical broadband service using
The pulses of light are usually created DSL over copper wire, and 200 times more
by lasers (some short-range fiber systems use than typical broadband over cable TV coax.
LEDs). The equipment to do that keeps get- But those speeds are impossible over longer
ting faster, so the same old fiber can be used distances. The closer fiber gets to a building,
to carry ever more information. New equip- the faster the service that can be available to
ment is just slipped in. the building’s residents and businesses. Ser-
The ability to carry information is called vice providers – both telcos and cable com-
bandwidth. Lots of bandwidth allows lots of panies – have been bringing fiber closer and
information to be carried. Fiber has a lot of closer to end users for years, and now they
advantages over copper wire or coaxial ca- are bringing it inside buildings.
2
ble, as it is easier to maintain and delivers
far more bandwidth. Three of the biggest Fiber cable is thin. It can, in fact, be
advantages are: made thinner than a human hair. It can
be carried on a thin ribbon, or inside a
1
Signals travel a long distance inside “microduct” of hollow plastic only an eighth
fiber cable without degradation – 40 of an inch wide. One typical fiber cable con-
miles or more, under some circum- figuration with about 200 super-thin strands
stances. By contrast, as the distance traveled is about the thickness of a standard coax ca-
by a signal in copper wire or coax increas- ble. That fiber cable could theoretically carry

enough bandwidth to handle all the
information being sent on earth at
any one time today. The bottom line:
Fiber can be “hidden” easily on the
surfaces of walls in old construction.
It is also flexible and rugged. In
2007, many vendors introduced fiber
that is tough enough to be stapled
to walls by installers, and flexible
enough to be bent around sharp cor-
ners. Such fiber has been available
for years, but had been difficult and
expensive to manufacture. Optical
fibers made of polymers – plastics –
are now starting to be deployed for
indoor networks.
3
Once installed, fiber is upgrad-
ed by changing the electronics
that creates the light pulses, and
not by replacing the cable itself. The
fiber is amazingly reliable. Nothing
hurts it except a physical cut, or the
destruction of the building it is in.
Passive optical networks, or
PONs, are the most common type As we noted, band- or “node” or (for great-
of network. They use a minimum of width providers are er bandwidth) fiber to
electronics. In fact, there are no elec- increasingly bringing the curb (FTTC).
tronics at all between the provider’s fiber optics all the way Today, the loom-
central office and users. This im- to customer premises. ing bandwidth needs
proves network reliability and cuts de- That technology, FTTH are so large, and FTTH
ployment costs. But optical networks or fiber to the home construction prices so
that do require electronics in the (also called FTTP, for reasonable, that go-
field have some advantages as well, fiber to the premises) is ing straight to FTTH
especially when a network is built to the “gold standard.” Al- makes more economic
carry content from multiple provid- most as good – at least sense in most situa-
ers on the same fiber. Either way, for the short term – is tions. Even in rural
the amount of power needed to run bringing fiber to the areas, hundreds of
a fiber network is far less than that basement of a building network builders have
needed to run a coax or other copper (FTTB) and distributing it over cop- chosen FTTH over FTTN and cop-
network. This aids reliability and con- per wires to the apartments or busi- per. In rural settings, FTTH usually
tributes to sustainability as well. ness premises within the building. costs more to build, but the build-
Where the population ers can expect much higher revenue
density is low, or where from customers.
high-quality coaxial cable In the U.S., most of the early fi-
or copper networks exist, it ber deployments were to single-fam-
may make sense under some ily homes, which were the easiest to
circumstances to bring fi- equip with FTTH. Apartment build-
ber only partway to the ings and other MDU structures in the
customer. The fiber is then U.S. started to be served with FTTH
connected to the existing in large numbers only in 2006. In the
copper for the last jump to last several years, the new bendable fi-
users’ premises. bers and other innovations have made
As time goes on, fiber is MDU fiber deployments routine. And
moved closer and closer to in Europe and Asia, fiber service to
the customers, to provide MDUs has been common for nearly a
more bandwidth. That ap- decade. Thus, there is no “technology
proach is called FTTN for risk” in specifying FTTH now, in any
fiber to the “neighborhood” circumstance.

Builders, Real Estate Developers and FTTH
Virtually every large developer of
Major Categories of Fiber-to-the-Home Deployers single-family homes, condominiums
And Take Rates, Winter 2010 and rental properties has an active
program to add FTTH to new prop-
Developer With 85.5%
Competitive Overbuilder erties. Most are working on retrofit-
Incumbent Rural 58.0% ting older properties as well. Retro-
Telephone Company
fit work has expanded as new-home
Competitive Overbuilder 44.0%
(Rural or Suburban) sales have fallen.
Municipality or Public Utility 42.0%
What do the major players know
District Acting as Retail Provider that not all smaller developers real-
Competitive
Overbuilder (Urban)
32.0% ize?
Regional Bell Operating 30.0%
Before the housing boom ended,
Company (within MSA) Michael Render of RVA LLC estimat-
Municipality or Public Utility 25.0% ed, on the basis of surveying home
District Acting as Wholesaler
Source: RVA LLC buyers and developers, that FTTH
added about $5,000 to the price of
a home (see chart). The size of the
increase is less certain now, but it is
clear that FTTH homes sell faster.
Nevertheless, some smaller de-
velopers remained on the sidelines
FTTH Homes Passed, March 2010 until recently. That’s now changing.
20,000,000
By mid-2006, FTTH was economi-
18,249,900
18,000,000 17,227,000
cally viable in new developments with
16,000,000 15,170,900
13,825,000
as few as 80 MDU living units or 100
14,000,000
12,000,000 11,763,000 single-family homes. That number
10,000,000 9,552,300 has continued to fall due to improve-
8,000,000
6,099,000
8,003,000
ments in deployment technology.
6,000,000
4,000,000 3,625,000 4,089,000
As fiber and fiber deployment
110,000
2,000,000 19,40035,70072,100
180,300
189,000 2,696,846
1,619,500
costs have continued to fall and cop-
970,000
0
Sep-01 Mar-02 Sep-02 Mar-03 Sep-03 Mar-04 Sep-04 Mar-05 Sep-05 Mar-06 Sep-06 Mar-07 Sep-07 Mar-08 Sep-08 Mar-09 Sep-09 Mar-10
per costs have increased, fiber has
achieved cost parity with copper in
Source: RVA LLC nearly all new construction – even
without taking the added home value
into account.
FTTH Homes Marketed, March 2010

(Cumulative, North America)
18,000,000 16,992,600
16,000,000 16,048,500
14,000,000 13,875,600
12,369,000
12,000,000
10,000,000 10,082,065
8,000,000 7,996,400
6,643,000
6,000,000
5,079,999
4,000,000 3,218,600
18 0
0
0
00
00
00
30
00
00
2,000,000
,4
,7
,1
0,
9,
0,
413,221 1,754,300
19
35
72
18
11
0 829,700
Source: RVA LLC

FTTH Homes Connected, March 2010
(Cumulative, North America)
6,000,000
5,804,800
5,500,000
5,275,000
5,000,000
4,422,000
4,500,000
4,000,000
3,760,000
3,500,000
3,000,000 2,912,500
2,500,000
2,142,000
2,000,000
1,478,597
1,500,000
1,011,000
0
1,000,000
00
0
50
0
3,
0
6, 312,700 671,000
21
50
,3
,5
,0
,7
,0
500,000
14
10
22
38
64
78
5,
548,000
-
Source: RVA LLC
Percent of US Households Passed and Connected to FTTH,

2004-2010
18%
16%
Passed
14%
Connected
12%
10%
8%
6%
4%
2%
0%
Sep-04 Jan-06 May-07 Oct-08 Feb-10
Source: RVA LLC

Questions Real Estate
Developers Ask About FTTH
Q: Can’t this wait a few years? The real estate industry is going through tough times, and I
certainly do not want to add to the price of a home in a weak market.
A: The data are clear: Building homes that are wired for high bandwidth, and providing
access to FTTH, has allowed homes to be sold for more money. What’s more, FTTH homes
sell faster than non-FTTH homes in the same market. In good times, this may translate into
a greater profit, but it’s even more important in bad times. If few homes are being sold, you
can bet that homes with high-bandwidth amenities will sell faster. Others may not sell at all.
Q: My architects, contractors, technicians and building managers are all used to coax.
At the point in construction that the coax should be installed, I call the guys up and they
come and lay wiring. FTTH is new to them. Do I need to hire an engineering firm to design
the installation?
A: At first, most FTTH systems were engineer-designed. But in the last few years, the balance
has tipped toward less formal design regimes, thanks to increasing standardization and clev-
er new “inside plant” systems from equipment vendors, the growth of distributor-supplied
design help and an expanding corps of qualified technicians. More than 400 American col-
leges offer courses for fiber technicians, up from 250 by the end of 2007, and 150 the year
before. Overall, the various FTTH technologies differ only in detail, with one or another
offering advantages in specific situations.
Fiber does need to be “engineered” in very large apartment complexes – that’s true for
coax, too. But smaller installations, as with smaller corporate LANs, will not need that kind
of sophistication to work well.
Q: What about other labor on my construction site? I hear that fiber is rather fragile and
can be damaged before walls and trenches are closed.
A: The fiber itself is very, very thin – thinner than a human hair. But fiber vendors have de-
veloped many techniques to protect the fibers from harm. Cable can be armored to ward
off cuts. Contractors can route inexpensive microduct – hollow plastic tubes as little as three-
eighths of an inch in diameter – through walls before the walls are closed in with drywall
or other materials. The microducts are easily repairable. After everything else is done, thin
fiber can be “blown” through the microduct for hundreds of feet. New fiber can be bent
almost like copper. Some vendors offer fiber in thin adhesive tape that can be rolled onto
walls.
Q: Do any building codes pertain to fiber? The stuff seems inert.

A: Yes, all the regular fire and life-safety issues apply. For instance, just as copper with PVC
installation would be considered a life-safety hazard because of the combustion products pro-
duced when it burns, so would various plastics used in fiber that is meant for outside instal-
lation. Indoors, look for LSZH cables
(it stands for Low Smoke Zero Halo-
gen). If you are using thin plastic mi-
croduct that fiber can later be blown
through, it should be labeled Halo-
gen-Free Flame Retardant. You use a
simple junction box to change from
“outside” to “inside” wiring, just as
you might with electrical cables.
Of course, you should check
with your local building code in-
Typical fiber distribution
spector. Aside from fire issues, codes
cabinet or “hub.” It
may govern where fiber ONTs (the
can be placed anywhere
outside, because it needs boxes that convert pulses of light
no electric power. from the fiber into electrical sig-
nals for your computer or TV)
may be placed on the outside walls or in common ar-

Importance of Development Amenities if Shopping
for New Home
Source: RVALLC Spring 2009
Internet from a direct fiber optic line 82%

69%
Green space / walking, jogging 65%

62%
24 hour neighborhood patrol 56%

59%
Community pool / park 36% Current FTTH

39%
Users:
Fitness center / Club house 35% Non FTTH Users:
36%
Network connections built into the wall. This
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% one is next to a kitchen counter in Loma Linda,
California.
eas. A few municipalities specify where

in the home the network connections You should expect users to desire
should be placed.
broadband connections in virtually any room
Q: I’m building new single-family
and residential MDU structures, in the house – bedrooms, office-dens,
and we’ve made the decision to add
FTTH. Where should we put the us-
the kitchen. That’s because Internet connections
ers’ network connections, assuming these days accommodate telephones,
there is no specific building code or
“guidance” document covering that? televisions, electronic picture frames
A: You should expect users to desire
broadband connections in virtually connected to your home computer, and of
any room in the house – bedrooms,
office-dens, the kitchen. That’s be-
course the computer itself.
cause Internet connections these
days accommodate telephones, tele- ible fiber that can be laid anywhere. Q: Does every dwelling unit or office
visions, set-top boxes, digital picture ONTs placed inside dwelling units need its own ONT located at the unit?
frames, and of course computers. You can be designed to be user-installed. A: Not any more. Separate ONTs for
should also think about home secur-
Q: I hear that ONTs require a back- each unit can be located centrally
ity, monitors for fire, smoke, and your
other household utilities. And, down up battery. Why is that? When the now, often in a basement or an equip-
the road, what about that telemedi- power goes out, after all, the phone ment cabinet that’s centrally located.
cine connection to your refrigerator usually keeps working. There are also ONTs designed to
or the alarm in your bathroom? A: Optical fiber cannot conduct elec- serve multiple units, typically 4 or 8.
tricity. Thus, to keep the network con- This flexibility come from new, small-
Q: In a single-family home, I often nection running when the electricity er circuitry that also uses less power
see the ONT box hung onto the out- has been cut off, you need a battery at than before. And some ONTs can
side wall. Is that the only way? the user premises. This may change
A: No. In harsh climates, for instance deliver 1 gigabit per second or more
as cellular phones replace landlines –
– where heat or heavy snow could a change that has already taken place – enough bandwidth to share among
affect the outside installation – you in most of Europe. In North America, several customers.
will probably want to put the ONT where most customers still have lan-
indoors. You can now buy ONTs that dlines, many standard designs are Q: Is lightning a problem with fiber?
are small, portable units, more like available for in-wall, between-stud A: No. In fact, because fiber does not
cable or DSL modems, and connect boxes that hold the battery, ONT and conduct electricity, lightning strikes
them to the network with tough, flex- fiber connections. do not affect fiber at all.

Focus on Municipal Priorities
Municipal officials face many issues with FTTH. Should they build their own networks, or
invite corporate providers in? Should they go for FTTH, or settle for something less? And
what about wireless?
Key Questions Municipal Officials Ask

Q: Nearby towns and new housing transitional technology called RFoG (for
developments are beginning to install Radio Frequency, or RF, over Glass). RFoG
FTTH, and local real estate agents say that is more compatible with existing cable net-
property values in my town suffer because works than is “conventional” FTTH. RFoG
homes and businesses do not have access networks can eventually be converted to
to FTTH. But the franchise cable operator conventional FTTH at low cost, too.
offers 8 Mbps and says 50 Mbps or more is
becoming available in some locations using Q: My town’s residents are just like others
DOCSIS 3.0. And the local phone company in the region, and maybe have even slightly
says it will be bringing in FTTN with VDSL. higher incomes. Why don’t the phone and
Isn’t that good enough? cable companies consider them attractive
A: It may be good enough for the next few customers for FTTH?
years, but it sounds as though it will be in- A: Many cable companies, telephone compa-
stalled just as broadband needs will increase nies and independent broadband providers
beyond what DOCSIS and FTTN can deliver. are now installing FTTH. But the companies
operating in your town may be following an
Q: But they tell me both use fiber. overall policy they think will work for them.
Is that true?
A: They use fiber, but not all the way to the Q: The telephone company that operates
home. The last 1,000 to 5,000 feet from the here is installing FTTH in the new
fiber’s endpoint to the home is copper – co- development just 10 miles up the road.
axial cable in the case of DOCSIS, plain cop- Why not here?
per wire for VDSL. That limits bandwidth, A: It is usually easier to install fiber in new
reliability and versatility. However, many developments than in existing ones. The fi-
cable companies are now using a new FTTH ber goes into the same trenches that have

allow it to be done with less disrup- choosing programs more consistent
The telephone tion to traffic. and easier to follow. But there may be
less variety in content and services.
company that operates Q: What might I do to get fiber to
my residents, without building my Q: What about Wi-Fi or WiMAX?
here is installing FTTH own network? We might qualify for Some companies will even come in
federal stimulus funds. But my town
in the new development has too much debt now to borrow
and provide basic wireless service
free to residents. The FCC’s Nation-
just 10 miles up the more, and we have no experience al Broadband Plan calls for wireless
operating a municipal utility. in remote areas, too. Isn’t that a
road. Why not here? A: You might try lobbying the in- good substitute for fiber?
cumbents – the cable and telephone A: Wi-Fi and WiMAX are important
companies serving your town now. public amenities, but they are not
to be dug anyway for water, electric- You could offer such incentives as a substitutes for FTTH. They comple-
ity and sewer service. In fact, copper reduced franchise fee, access to pub- ment and extend a fixed fiber net-
wiring usually can’t be run that way, lic property, or an accelerated per- work. They can’t replace it, however.
so fiber is usually cheaper. Also, the mitting process. You might also invite No new businesses or other econom-
new residents are not already tied to outside companies to consider bring- ic activities are generated by wire-
a cable or phone provider, so whoev- ing FTTH to your residents. In Eu- less, and wireless networks covering
er installs a FTTH network in a new rope, public-private partnerships are wide areas are not reliable enough
community has an easier road to sign- common, and are the norm for the
to deliver video and other emerging
ing up customers. biggest projects such as those bring-
broadband services with high quality
That’s why most new, large housing fiber to all homes in Amsterdam
ing developments are being equipped of service.
and Vienna. In such partnerships, the
with fiber. Furthermore, virtually all the com-
municipality and private enterprises
panies that promised to build “free”
own the new fiber network together.
Q: Would installing fiber require that municipalitywide Wi-Fi networks have
There’s no reason it can’t be done in
my streets be dug up? reneged. The business model simply
North America, but it rarely is. Many
A: It depends. Many network builders states already subsidize broadband to did not work for entire cities and
in North America use “aerial” fiber, libraries, schools and colleges; these towns. It may, however, work in tar-
installed on poles along with existing existing broadband networks can be geted areas such as commercial shop-
telephone, electric, and cable wir- starting points for adding fiber to ping streets. And many multifamily
ing. Where trenching is impractical, the home. community owners find that commu-
contractors can often use horizontal nity wireless, as an adjunct to wireline
drilling or pull fiber through exist- Q: Are we giving something up by broadband, is a valuable amenity.
ing ducts, water pipes, sewers and gas allowing one utility to run a network
lines rather than digging up streets and provide content at the same Q: Where could I go to find out
and sidewalks. In addition, many cit- time? What about open-access more? I can’t tell my voters the
ies already have usable fiber under networks? advantages of fiber, except to
their streets, fiber that is not being A: There is no clear answer. Open- support higher property values,
used to its limit. Finally, when there access networks, where the network unless I have examples.
is no good alternative to trenching, builder (either a municipal or a pri- A: There are several conferences and
new micro-trenching techniques may vate entity) “rents” bandwidth to a academic organizations you could try.
potentially unlimited number of con- The FTTH Council, www.ftthcouncil.
tent providers, are more common in org, has an annual meeting and
Europe and Asia than in the United monthly webinars.
States. But they have worked
here as well. At present, open
access networks in the United Wi-Fi and WiMAX
States tend to be either munici-
pal networks or networks built are important public
by companies that specialize in
bringing fiber to new buildings amenities. But they are not
and subdivisions. substitutes for FTTH. They
When the same organization
provides content and main- complement and extend
tains the network – as is more
typical in the United States – a fixed fiber network, but
Distribution box for fiber lashed to existing aeri- the network tends to be more they can’t replace it.
al cable; this method is quick and inexpensive. reliable and the interfaces for

Understanding the
Technology in Greater Detail
In FTTH, much of the alphabet soup of ac-
ronyms has to do with devices for convert-
ing electrical signals that travel along wires
to pulses of light that travel on fiber, and
back again. Here’s what you might want to
know so you can understand the technical
jargon. Let’s start at the beginning of a fiber
network.
OLT stands for optical line terminal.
OLTs put the pulses on the fiber in the first
place. Because they are located in telephone
exchanges and other network “central of-
fices,” residents and property owners rarely the signal fairly close to the building, or even
see them. into the basement or a central area on your
ONTs are optical network terminals. property. A DOCSIS node, fed by fiber, dis-
They are also sometimes called ONUs, for tributes the signal to individual households
optical network units. In networks just be- over coax. One node typically feeds 100 to
ginning to be built by cable companies they 500 homes. But an RFoG micronode may
are called micronodes. They are the devices serve only one home.
at the consumer end that turn the light puls- Pedestals and larger fiber distribution
es back into electrical signals. Usually, cus- hubs are enclosures close to the user premises.
tomers will own devices, such as computers,
that expect an Ethernet connection. This
is a standard way of networking that’s used
around the world. Your computers, and usu-
ally your home wireless system, use Ethernet.
Ethernet connectors are built into virtually
all computers that have been sold in this de-
cade. So a typical ONT turns the light pulses
into Ethernet signals.
They can hold the beam splitters that take

the signal from one fiber that extends back
to the central office, and divide it (typically
8:1 up to 32:1 but as much as 64:1) among
fibers that go to individual dwelling units.
In the United States, ONTs are typically Pedestals and hubs can be below
placed in cigar-box sized enclosures on the ground, above ground (they often look like
outside walls of houses or apartments. But short posts or squat air-conditioner-size box-
they can be made smaller than a deck of es), or attached to buildings. Connections
cards, and can be used inside customer prem- and splits can also be made in boxes hung
ises as well. under roof eaves, in attics or basements, on
You’ll also hear about the point of pres- telephone poles, or on what look like pow-
ence, or POP. That’s the point at which the er lines or phone lines. For best reliability,
signals from multiple customers join the rest many contractors bring two fibers into each
of the extended network. dwelling unit from the pedestal. The fiber
Hybrid fiber-coax, or HFC, is the cable leading from the hub or pedestal to the user
company’s coaxial cable, with fiber bringing premises is called the drop cable.

Network Standards Delivering
Many standards-setting bodies serve the networking industry. Foremost
among them is the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, or
Services to
IEEE. This group, international in reach but based in the United States,
is concerned with how signals are sent, managed, interpreted and kept
End Users
secure. All pulses of light look the same to fi-
The common Wi-Fi standards (802.11b or 802.11g, for example) are is- ber, and to consumers’ equipment. At
sued by IEEE. So are most of the standards for Ethernet. The standards do the user premises, the pulses are con-
not cover everything, so vendors often have to add their own “extensions” verted to Ethernet signals that move
to make everything work smoothly. That’s a necessary evil. But avoid ven- over copper Ethernet cable (typically
dors who ignore standards entirely and use their own proprietary methods Category 5 or Category 6 wiring, Cat
and software in place of IEEE standards. 5 or Cat 6 for short).
Physical standards – the ones that ensure that plugs will mate properly Many companies make equip-
– are mainly the realm of the TIA, which stands for the Telecommunica- ment that converts the cable compa-
tions Industry Association. This is a trade association. ny’s coax, or your building’s electrical
Recently, new standards have emerged for home networking, too. wiring, so that it can carry an Ethernet
They have names like G.hn, HomePNA, and HomePlug AV. signal. The standard for carrying Eth-
But what about durability, or ability to withstand high temperatures or ernet over coax is called MoCA (for
moisture? The technology has been moving so fast that standards-setting Multimedia over Coax Alliance; see
bodies can’t entirely keep up. Many independent groups, such as Telcor- www.mocalliance.org). The standard
dia (a private company) have developed their own testing standards to for using electrical wiring is called
assure reliability. You will see them show up as references in contracts. HomePlug, and generically BPL (for
There’s nothing entirely unusual about any of this. Property is subject Broadband over Power Line).
to standards from the National Electrical Code, building and fire codes,
Underwriters Laboratories, and so forth. But the organizations that are
responsible for fiber may be strange to you. Get acquainted with them on
their Web sites.
Some fiber optic network vendors offer “end-to-end” technology. That
is, they guarantee that everything will work together, reducing risk. The
need for “end-to-end” technology has diminished in recent years due to
standardization of the components. But there are often some advantages
in terms of project management. The key point to keep in mind is that the
technology risk is low. More important is the business sense and commit-
ment to service of the people with whom you will be dealing. Aerial distrbution housing.
Such setups may require that the

same company’s equipment be used
at both ends of the wire – that is, one
box turns the signal into “Ethernet”
over coax and the other turns the sig-
nal back to something customers’ TV
sets understand. These devices tend
to offer interim solutions, but some
companies’ technology is so robust
that it can be depended upon for
many years.
Microducts into which fiber can be blown.

Zeros and Ones
If all pulses look the same, what’s the differ- But the video world is changing. Part of
ence between video, voice, and data? Theo- that change is already obvious: Cable and
telephone companies are offering video on
retically, there is no difference. But each re-
demand, or VoD. To deliver this service, they
quires special skills on the part of providers.
Voice, for instance, does not require much have to send extra signals down the line, to
bandwidth; 100 Kbps per second will carry individual customers. This increases the
a high-quality phone conversation over Eth- need for high-quality service.
Today, most video signals arrive as RF
ernet. A regular “analog” phone line uses
(radio frequency, which can be analog or
as little as 8 Kbps. But the voice signal must
digital) signals. Even when the signals move
be very clean, with no noticeable delay and
over fiber, they are often treated as if they
no static. That’s difficult to do on a network
are RF.
such as the Internet, which is used for many This is changing. The new technology is
purposes at the same time. IPTV. In IPTV, the video moves as data, us-
Technical people thus describe voice ing the same Internet Protocol (hence IP)
as requiring a high QoS (quality of service) as any other data. IPTV can send thousands,
and low bandwidth. Telephone service over even hundreds of thousands, of channels, to
digital data networks is called VoIP, for Voice
consumers, who can view the video on com-
over Internet Protocol. Cable companies puters, smart phones, tablet PCs and other
have been offering both VoIP and switched devices, as well as on TV sets.
telephone services (similar technically to The video service for Verizon’s FiOS is
regular telephone company services). But mainly RF (for the time being), with IPTV
they are now transitioning quickly to VoIP. for program guides, VoD, and soon some
Video also requires good QoS, but not niche channels. Some other telco TV provid-
always as good as voice. Small delays and a ers are using IPTV for all video.
Satellite TV vendors, who now count
bit of static will often go unnoticed by view-
almost a fourth of American households as
ers. But video requires a lot of bandwidth – 2
subscribers, cannot directly compete with
Mbps for standard-definition TV, and 4 to 8 VoD, because they can only send signals one
Mbps (and as much as 20 Mbps) for highway – from satellite down to subscribers.
definition TV, or HDTV. The higher the But some are supplementing the satellite
bandwidth requirements, the worse a small feed with VoD through terrestrial networks,
glitch in the transmission will seem. Mod- fiber or coax or both. They can also package
ern HDTV is so crystal-clear that users are personal video recorders (think TiVo) with
annoyed by things that would be missed on their services.
old-style sets. Data is requiring more and more band-
width to meet consumer
needs, although 1 to 5
Mbps is typical. For most
FTTH Satisfaction vs Other Broadband % Very Satisfied of today’s applications,
QoS needs for data are
Source RVALLC Spring 2009
not as great as for voice or
video, because the Inter-
net Protocol automatically
FTTH Other broadband splits up data streams into
packets, each containing
63% 67% 70% 70% 64% 64% 65%
many thousands of zeros
55% 58%
47% 52% 47% and ones, and reassembles
them when they arrive at
their destination. They do
not have to arrive at the
Consistency Broadband Provider's Internet Reliability - Installation same time, as long as they
of speed speed customer overall service process arrive within a short period
service uptime – typically a few fractions
of seconds, but sometimes
much more.

Bandwidth Needed to Receive
One TV Channel Over the Next 25 Years
3D Ultra 2,571
3D Super 796
3D HDTV 280
2D Ultra (ITU J.601) 200

3D Standard-definition
TV
126
2D Super (ITU J.601) 50
2D HDTV 10
2D Standard-definition
TV
2
1 10 100 1,000 10,000

Bandwidth, Mbps
Entry-level 3DTV is appearing on the market in 2010; as its quality improves, so will the bandwidth required
to transmit the video stream.
However, QoS is important for width. The more videoconferencing

some newer types of data transmis- looks and sounds like “being there,”
sion. For example, advanced sensors the more consumers will want to use
can measure voltage, current and fre- it – not just for visiting with friends
quency 30 times or more per second and family, but for telecommuting,
on the electrical grid. Control systems for medical appointments, for edu-
based on these sensors can help avoid cation and for many other purposes
massive blackouts caused by cascad- that require travel today.
ing failures. Some utility companies The National Broadband Plan
are now building fiber networks to released by the Federal Communi-
support these new sensors. cations Commission in March 2010
Providers of all these services calls for enormous improvements in
have been used to thinking about broadband over the next decade, in-
consumers’ bandwidth needs as cluding higher upstream and down-
asymmetrical. That is, the bandwidth stream bandwidth than is available
has to be higher in one direction in most of the United States today as
(the inbound direction to consum- well as enhanced QoS.
ers) than in the other. Few consum- The plan’s authors cite
ers create video now, for instance, the importance of broad-
but almost all download it. band in promoting such All light pulses –
Likewise, most users download
more data than they upload. But
critical social goals as health,
education, energy conserva-
whether voice, video,
those patterns have been changing. tion, public safety, civic en- or data – look alike,
In much of Europe, where provid- gagement and participation
ers have offered symmetrical band- in the 21st-century economy. and travel over a single
width, users have tended to upload
more data, and even to create their
They recognize that a next-
generation broadband net-
glass fiber.
own video. work is needed to support
New applications will increase these goals.
the demand for symmetrical band- Because of its carrying But providers need
width. High-definition videoconfer- capacity and reliability, opti-
encing, which has been a runaway cal fiber is the best choice special skills for each.
success in the business market for for meeting our needs for
several years and was introduced upstream and downstream
to the consumer market in 2010, bandwidth and for QoS in the plan
requires very high upstream band- period and the years ahead.

FTTH Versus Other
Types of Fiber Networks
In September 2006, the FTTH Councils for Europe, Asia and North America standardized
the definitions for fiber to the home and fiber to the building (also called fiber to the base-
ment). They are:
Fiber to the Home (FTTH)

A fiber optic communications path that extends from the operator’s switching equipment
to at least the boundary of the home living space or business office space. The definition
excludes those architectures where the optical fiber terminates before reaching either the
home living space or business office space and where the access path continues over a physi-
cal medium other than optical fiber.
(RFOG node can be located at premises)
, RFOG
, RFOG

Fiber to the Building ant of DSL (Digital Subscriber Line).
(FTTB) FTTN should not be confused
A fiber-optic communications path with hybrid fiber-coax (HFC), used
that extends from the operator’s mainly by cable companies to imple-
switching equipment to at least the ment DOCSIS, the standard that al-
boundary of the private property en- lows data to be transmitted over cable
closing the home(s) or business(es). TV systems. Each DOCSIS node, typi-
In this architecture, the optical fiber cally served by fiber, with coax extend-
will terminate before reaching the ing to users, passes 100 to 500 homes.
home living space or business office Nor should it be confused with RFoG,
space. The access path will then con- an FTTH technology that uses the sig-
tinue over another access medium nal protocols developed for DOCSIS.
– such as copper or wireless – to the
With RFoG, each user gets its own
subscriber.
DOCSIS micronode.
There are also other definitions
commonly used by people in the in-
Fiber to the Curb (FTTC)
dustry:
Similar to FTTN, except that the fiber
is brought much closer to user prem- GPON OLT.
Fiber to the Node
ises – typically closer than 1,000 feet
or Fiber to the
and often closer than 300 feet. FTTC
Neighborhood (FTTN)
installations may use either DSL or
FTTN is not defined by the FTTH
Councils. But in general, it refers to Ethernet (over copper cable or wire-
a system where fiber is extended to less) to bring the signal from the fiber
a point – typically a street-side or on- termination point to the user. Point-
pole cabinet – to within 1,000 to 5,000 to-point wirelesss is sometimes used
feet of the average user. From there, in rural areas simply to bring a sig-
copper or wireless serves the user. nal from the roadway to a home that
Typically, the service is through a vari- could be a mile or more away.
Simple cassette holds fiber.

FTTH and FTTB Network Architectures
– A Little History
The “family” of optical networks has two major BPON has been largely replaced by GPON,
branches – PON and AON – and many technical which allows 2.48 Gbps downstream to the user
variants within those branches. and 1.24 Gbps upstream. GPON supports ATM,
PON stands for “passive optical network.” It Ethernet, and TDM (the protocol phone com-
refers to the fact that there are no active elec- panies use for ordinary telephone service) by
trical devices between the central office and the “wrapping” or “encapsulating” the data packets
end user. All the handling of the light beams that with some extra bits. This is called GEM, which
carry the signal is done with mirrors, prisms and stands for “GPON Encapsulated Mode.”
fiber. There are no electrical devices needed. The GPON standard was finalized early in
AON stands for “active optical network.” As 2004, but it was not until early 2006 that inex-
the name implies, there are electrical devices pensive electronic chips to implement it became
between the user and the central office. These widely available in volume. A new upgrade,
devices are routers and switches, almost always 10GPON, is already being tested. As the name
using the Ethernet standard. But these days, the implies, downstream bandwidth is about 10 Gbps
“active electronics” are not in a remote cabinet – four times the current standard. Upstream
or local “point of presence.” They are often in bandwidth has also been increased fourfold.
the central office itself. Thus, the industry has
begun to call active networks “point-to-point” or The Ethernet Family
P2P networks. This refers to the fact that each The second branch of the family tree is the Eth-
end user gets a dedicated fiber (or several dedi- ernet branch. Ethernet is also used for “active”
cated fibers) extending from the central office networks.
to the user premises. The first Ethernet PON (EPON) standard
Because each fiber requires its own laser, P2P was released by the IEEE a few months after
networks require more power and space within the GPON standard in 2004. The standard was
the central office. But because they do not re- quickly upgraded to 1.25 Gbps, twice the original
quire fiber distribution hubs (containing opti- bandwidth, as new electronic parts became avail-
cal splitters) in the field, they tend to be simpler able. Networks using that speed are sometimes
to operate. called EPON and sometimes called GEPON (for
Standard Name Year Finalized Gigabit Ethernet PON). 2.5 GigE equipment
BPON ITU G.983 2001 started to be deployed in 2009 and equipment
GPON ITU G.984 2004 using 10 GigE is just entering the field now.
10GPON/NG-PON ITU G.984 Evolves constantly A point of confusion: Although P2P networks
EPON IEEE 802.3 2004 are called “active,” the typical Ethernet P2P has
no active electronics between the end user and
GePON IEEE 802.3 2005
the central office, just as in PON. The difference
10G-EPON IEEE 802.3av 2009
is that in a P2P network, each customer is served
RFOG SCTE IPS910 2009 by at least one dedicated fiber. Each fiber (and
thus each customer) has its own laser to gener-
Evolution of PON Standards ate the pulses of light. In a “passive” optical net-
Within the general category of passive optical work, one central-office laser might serve up to
networks, there are two branches. One is based 64 customers.
on Ethernet, the same standard that is used in
home and corporate local-area networks. The New Types of FTTH Networks
Ethernet branch has been standardized by IEEE New fiber optic technologies are being devel-
– the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engi- oped to meet new needs. For example, the
neers. The other is based on carrier standards, emerging RFoG (Radio Frequency over Glass)
from the ITU – International Telecommunica- standard allows cable providers to use their exist-
tion Union – and are more “telephone-like.” ing DOCSIS protocols and electronics with all-
fiber networks.
The ITU Family WDM-PON adapts wavelength-division-mul-
BPON (for “Broadband PON”) was the first tiplexing electronic equipment developed for
PON standard widely used in North America. the transport portion of the network for use in
It is based on the ATM protocol, and has a top the access network. WDM-PON can provide the
speed to users of 622 Mbps and upstream speed kinds of speeds seen in intercity networks (cur-
of 155 Mbps. But it allows the use of a separate rently up to 100 Gbps) and will probably be used
wavelength of light to support video services. first for businesses and MDUs.

FTTH and Economic Development
Communities that have access to plen- palities about their experiences. Every and tourism are expected to keep
tiful, reliable bandwidth do better one of them said FTTH had positively growing for years. The growth can
than those without. FTTH-powered affected economic development. be seen everywhere, from downtown
bandwidth is essential for: Most of them said their fiber net- shops to the growing numbers and
• Hometown businesses compet- works were attracting new businesses sizes of the local festivals.
ing in a global economy. to their towns, but they mentioned
• Professionals and others who other factors as well. Here are some
work at home. of their comments: FTTH helps
• Quality of life provided by on-
line entertainment, education,
• Business owners report greater
productivity and boosted sales
define successful
culture and e-commerce. due to the access our infrastruc- communities just
• Special services for the elderly ture provides.
and for shut-ins. • We currently save the average as good water,
FTTH helps define successful customer approximately $25/
month. On an annual basis, this
power, climate and
communities just as good water, pow-
er, climate and transportation have keeps approximately $1.3 million transportation
in our local economy.
defined them for millennia.
That’s obviously true for green- • More second-home owners are have defined them
field developments – which is why staying throughout the week in
our predominantly vacation area.
for millennia.
fiber-equipped homes and offices
sell faster and command a price pre- • Retention of businesses, manu-
mium. But what about existing com- facturing growth, work-from- Even Hill Country wineries, which
munities? Virtually all the real-world home employees. constitute a small but tenacious local
economic studies have borne out Many service providers offering industry dating back to early German
these predictions; none has suggest- FTTH also report benefits in their settlers, are now putting towns like
ed otherwise. service areas. For example, GVTC, a Fredericksburg and Boerne on vint-
For example, researcher Michael cooperative telephone company, has ners’ maps. Burgeoning awareness
Render of RVA LLC found that the built out fiber to homes and business- of the area as a forge of American
formation of home-based businesses es in Texas’s Hill Country for several culture and ideas – particularly its
was highly correlated to available years. The region’s growth has out- influences in food, beer, architecture
broadband speeds. Residents with paced the rest of Texas by four per- and music – is drawing people from
FTTH were far more likely to start centage points. all over the United States to the Hill
their own businesses than residents In the coming years, tens of thou- Country as a destination of choice.
with DSL or cable broadband. sands of homes are expected to be This growth isn’t surprising. Sud-
The Fiber-to-the-Home Council built in the 11 counties where GVTC denly, Texans no longer have to choose
recently surveyed 28 FTTH munici- operates and public services, business between the scenic beauty of the Hill
Country and the bandwidth of the big
cities. Central Texas telecommuters
can connect, even videoconference,
between their homes and their dis-
tant offices – sometimes at speeds that
beat their office connections.
GVTC vice president Jeff Mnick
says of FTTH, “It’s what’s going to
keep the big sharks at bay, letting
small-town residents have more say
over what services they want, what pro-
grams and movies they’ll get to watch,
what specific broadband capabilities
their businesses, town councils, high
school football fans and orchid clubs
want. I guess it’s kind of ironic, but in
this way fiber to the home is actually
doing a lot to keep Hill Country life
what it’s always been about.”

The FTTH Council will certify any home installation Details and an application form can be found on the
that meets its standard – fiber optic cable that extends web at www.FTTHCouncil.org.
all the way to the boundary of the home premises.
Certified projects may display the program’s badge in 1. FTTH or fiber-to-the-home identifies a telecommu-
its advertising. nications architecture in which a communications
path is provided over optical fiber cables extending
from the telecommunications operator’s switching
equipment to (at least) the boundary of the home
living space or business office space (the side of the
building or unit). This communications path is pro-
vided for the purpose of carrying telecommunica-
tions traffic to one or more subscribers and for de-
livering one or more services (for example Internet
access, telephony and/or video-television).
2. For the FTTH Council to certify any service pro-
vider’s network as operating over fiber-to-the-home
access; and to grant that service provider use of the
Certification is important because companies like Fiber-Connected Home badge, that service provid-
to claim they have fiber networks, even when the fiber er[, and their network,] must identify the location,
does not go all the way to the home. This can lead to size, and equipment being used in sufficient detail
consumer confusion. Consumers sometimes think they for the Council to effectively certify those deploy-
are getting the full benefit of 100 percent fiber broad-
ments. The service provider must also confirm that
band, when in fact they are not. Once constituents un-
commercial services are currently being delivered to
derstand the benefits of fiber, they will embrace it:
revenue-paying subscribers.
• Consumers will understand the difference between 3. The service provider must exhibit a high level of
FTTH and other “fiber networks” that aren’t as good, commitment to network-wide FTTH deployment as
and will embrace the superior experience of FTTH. indicated by its “Strategic Commitment” to FTTH in
• Communities will understand the benefits that its network. “Strategic Commitment” is defined as
broadband brings in terms of jobs, wages, and di- the ratio of:
rect benefits such as medical and education ser-
Total number of residential households in service
vices – especially when delivered in the best possible
provider’s serving areas to which services can be marketed
form – FTTH.
over an FTTH access network (homes passed), divided by
• Investors will understand the benefits to compa- total residential households subscribed to voice, data or
nies that make the effort to build fiber to the home video services, served by service provider’s entire wireline
networks – in terms of increased customer loyalty, network (total residential communication subscribers).
competitive advantage, return on invested capital,
and revenue. This ratio must be 10 percent or higher.
To learn more about fiber to the home:

FTTH Council
www.FTTHCouncil.org
1-866-320-6444
info@ftthcouncil.org

FTTH Primer BBP Spring 2010

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FTTH CounCil | The Advantages of Fiber | 1

Why FTTH, Why Now? ..............................................................................4

2 | The Advantages of Fiber | FTTH CounCil

V isualizing Fiber - Borne Band wid t h

64 Kbps: Phone Line

128 Kbps: ISDN

FTTH CounCil | The Advantages of Fiber | 3

4 | The Advantages of Fiber | FTTH CounCil

FTTH CounCil | The Advantages of Fiber | 5

6 | The Advantages of Fiber | FTTH CounCil

Source: bbP LLC

FTTH CounCil | The Advantages of Fiber | 7

Bringing the Virtual Office Home

8 | The Advantages of Fiber | FTTH CounCil

FTTH CounCil | The Advantages of Fiber | 9

10 | The Advantages of Fiber | FTTH CounCil

Source: bbP LLC

The least expensive netbooks today come with

12 | The Advantages of Fiber | FTTH CounCil

Home security devices.

FTTH CounCil | The Advantages of Fiber | 13

14 | The Advantages of Fiber | FTTH CounCil

FTTH and the Federal Broadband Stimulus

FTTH CounCil | The Advantages of Fiber | 15

16 | The Advantages of Fiber | FTTH CounCil

FTTH CounCil | The Advantages of Fiber | 17

FTTH Homes Marketed, March 2010

Source: RVA LLC

18 | The Advantages of Fiber | FTTH CounCil

Source: RVA LLC

Percent of US Households Passed and Connected to FTTH,

FTTH CounCil | The Advantages of Fiber | 19

Q: Do any building codes pertain to fiber? The stuff seems inert.

20 | The Advantages of Fiber | FTTH CounCil

Internet from a direct fiber optic line 82%

Green space / walking, jogging 65%

24 hour neighborhood patrol 56%

Community pool / park 36% Current FTTH

eas. A few municipalities specify where

FTTH CounCil | The Advantages of Fiber | 21

Key Questions Municipal Officials Ask

22 | The Advantages of Fiber | FTTH CounCil

FTTH CounCil | The Advantages of Fiber | 23

They can hold the beam splitters that take

24 | The Advantages of Fiber | FTTH CounCil

Such setups may require that the

Microducts into which fiber can be blown.

FTTH CounCil | The Advantages of Fiber | 25

26 | The Advantages of Fiber | FTTH CounCil

2D Ultra (ITU J.601) 200

2D Super (ITU J.601) 50

1 10 100 1,000 10,000

However, QoS is important for width. The more videoconferencing

FTTH CounCil | The Advantages of Fiber | 27

Fiber to the Home (FTTH)

(RFOG node can be located at premises)

28 | The Advantages of Fiber | FTTH CounCil

Simple cassette holds fiber.

FTTH CounCil | The Advantages of Fiber | 29

30 | The Advantages of Fiber | FTTH CounCil

FTTH CounCil | The Advantages of Fiber | 31

To learn more about fiber to the home:

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