Adv ftth2

FTTH COUNCIL | The Advantages of Fiber |
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| The Advantages of Fiber | FTTH COUNCIL
Almost One-Quarter of All US Households
Will be Passed by Fiber by 2011
7,000,000
11,000,000
15,500,000
20,000,000
25,000,000
6,099,000
3,625,000
1,619,500
-
5,000,000
10,000,000
15,000,000
20,000,000
25,000,000
30,000,000
Dec-00 Dec-01 Dec-02 Dec-03 Dec-04 Dec-05 Dec-06 Dec-07 Dec-08 Dec-09 Dec-10 Dec-11
North Ameri can Depl oyments
As the number of
Fiber-to-the-Home
communities and real
estate developments
passed the 2,000 mark in
spring 2008, every region
in the country stood to
share in the bandwidth
capacity, reliability and
economic benets of this
future-proof technology.
Source: BBP LLC
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Reliability... Bandwidth... Affordability... Future-Proofing...
Standards... Security... Economic Development... Sustainability...
New Broadband Content and 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
Wanted: A Bigger Pipe ....................................................................................................... 15
The Light Fantastic: Three Reasons Why ............................................................................ 16
Builders, Real Estate Developers and FTTH ......................................................................... 18
Focus on Municipal Priorities ............................................................................................. 22
Understanding the Technology in Greater Detail ................................................................ 24
Zeros and Ones The Looming Bandwidth Need ............................................................... 26
FTTH in Comparison with Other Technologies .................................................................... 28
FTTH and Economic Development ...................................................................................... 31
FTTH Council Certication Program ................................................................................... 32
This primer was originally written by Steven S. Ross and updated by him and by Masha Zager, both of the Broadband Properties staff. It summarizes
research commissioned by the FTTH Council as well as independent reporting by the authors.
Contents
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Why FTTH, Why Now?
F
iber to the home (FTTH) has become
a reality. More than 6 million consum-
ers now use direct ber optic connec-
tions to the home or building in the United
States, more than 13 million in Japan, and
about 32 million worldwide.
FTTH is widely recognized as the optimal
solution for providing broadband to new
and existing communities alike. In fact, sev-
eral thousand FTTH communities are our-
ishing here. Why? FTTH offers more band-
width and more exibility than alternatives,
at a similar price. It cost $84 billion for the
cable companies to pass about 100 million
households a decade ago, or $850 a house-
hold ($1,500 in todays dollars), with a tech-
nology that offers far less than FTTH in every
respect lower reliability, lower bandwidth,
fewer connections inside the home. For less
money the phone companies, public utilities
and even some cable companies have been
installing future-proof ber.
The basic technological and economic
challenges of FTTH have been resolved.
Based on the immense capacity of ber al-
ready the foundation of the worlds telecom-
munications system FTTH is now being de-
ployed around the country and around the
world. Almost all large developers are putting
5
The Advantages
of Fiber
This primer covers the key economic
and technical issues surrounding
ber to the home. When youve read
it, we believe you will agree that:
FTTH that is, fber to the home
is the only technology that will
deliver enough bandwidth, reliably
and at a low enough cost, to meet
the consumer demands of the
next decade.
FTTH is affordable today, which
is why hundreds of companies
using hundreds of different busi-
ness cases worldwide are racing to
install it in thousands of locations.
FTTH is the only technology that
will meet the needs of the foresee-
able future, when 3D, holograph-
ic high-denition television and
games (products already in use
in industry, and on the drawing
boards at big consumer electron-
ics rms) will be in everyday use.
Think 20 to 30 gigabits per second
to each home in a decade. Cop-
per cant do even 1/1000
th
of that
bandwidth, and then not for more
than a few hundred yards.
FTTH is already delivering high-
margin services that consumers
are willing to pay far more for than
traditional cable TV.
ber in their new developments. Larg-
er telcos are deploying it in the cities
and suburbs, and smaller telcos in the
rural areas. Municipalities in the U.S.
and elsewhere are nding FTTH can
be a feasible solution today that posi-
tions their communities for tomor-
rows jobs and economic growth.
Even today, FTTH subscribers
spend 20 to 30 percent more per
month than DSL subscribers not
because basic services are more ex-
pensive (they arent), but because
more and better premium services
are available.
For example, multiple simultane-
ous HD channels are difcult to im-
plement over any medium but ber;
3DTV and high-denition video com-
munications, which are coming up
soon, will be even more of a struggle.
But optical ber can handle any
bandwidth demand with ease. In fact,
one bundle of ber cable not much
thicker than a pencil can carry ALL
of the worlds current communica-
tions trafc.
So why should there be any confu-
sion about what FTTH offers? Dif-
ferent types of people have different
things in mind when they talk about
FTTH.
Consumers think about the prod-
ucts and services they can get today.
They cant demand services they
dont know about, or that have not
been invented.
Engineers talk about the potential
bandwidth of ber, which is virtu-
ally unlimited.
Political leaders, corporate econo-
mists and academics think of ber
as a utility that will enable people to
develop new products or start new
kinds of businesses.
Public infrastructure makes private
property more valuable. A house, for
instance, is generally worth much
more if it has access to a public street,
water, and sewer services, public
schools and other utilities than if it
does not. In Sweden, homes with ber
connections sell at a 5 to 10 percent
premium. As a result, residents there
and elsewhere in Europe actually are
willing to pay some of the capital costs
of getting connected.
Just as people argue about how
good is good when it comes to roads
and schools, we argue about how
much bandwidth is enough, in what
form the bandwidth should be provid-
ed and who might pay for it. Should it
look like a telephone system, which
historically uses a network technol-
ogy that differs from, say, an Ethernet
home or ofce network? Or perhaps
it should look like the networks cable
companies have developed for deliv-
ering TV channels and other video.
But if you are working in property
development, building residential or
business structures, why would you
equip your building with 120-year-old
copper technology that is already ob-
solescent, costs as much as (or more
than) ber, and will be totally obso-
lete in just a few years?
If you help run a telecom or cable
TV company, why would you cede
your competitive advantage to build-
ers of ber networks networks that
are cheap to run, reliable, and can
deliver premium services you cant?
If you are a municipal ofcial, can
you explain to voters and local busi-
nesses that your community will be
bypassed by the successor to the In-
terstate Highway System, the Infor-
mation Highway?
And if you are a consumer, can you
afford to buy a home that will have
to be modied in a few years to ac-
commodate that fancy new TV or the
phone system your job demands?
In this primer, we explain the tech-
nology in a way you, the nonspecial-
ist, can understand.
We want to communicate... The ad-
vantages of Fiber to the Home.
One bundle of
fiber cable not much
thicker than a pencil
can carry ALL of
the worlds current
communications traffic.
Real estate ads in Korea carry from one to four
stars to describe the bandwidth available. A
four-star rating generally requires ber.
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Fi ber and Bandwidth
Q: What is bandwidth?
A: In a network, bandwidth (what engineers
call bit rate) is the ability to carry informa-
tion. The more bandwidth you have, the
more information can be carried in a given
amount of time.
Q: How much bandwidth or information
do we need?
A: A standard-denition television signal re-
quires a bandwidth of about 2 Mbps two
million bits (zeros and ones) per second.
HDTV requires as little as 4 Mbps if the image
is rather static a person being interviewed,
for instance. But fast action, such as some
sporting events, requires more as much as
8 Mbps, even with new compression technol-
ogy such as MPEG4. 3D immersive HDTV a
technology already being used in some aca-
demic and industrial settings will require
100 to 300 Mbps when it is widely sold to in-
dividual consumers, a few years from now.
Q: What about data?
A: Bandwidth requirements are exploding for
many kinds of data. Some new digital cam-
eras create images up to 40 megabytes before
compression. At the speeds generally avail-
able to people using a cable modem or DSL,
even a picture compressed to 10 megabytes
takes well over a minute to e-mail or upload
to a photo-sharing site. It normally takes even
longer because the network sends extra bits
to help route the network trafc and to pro-
vide security. At dialup speeds, it would take
at least 20 minutes to send one large image.
Q: Cant copper carry high bandwidths, too?
A: Yes, copper can support high bandwidth,
but only for a few hundred yards. The longer
the distance the signal travels on copper, the
lower the bandwidth. Optical ber is unique
in that it can carry a high-bandwidth signal
over enormous distances.
Fiber uses laser light to carry the signal.
Under most circumstances, the signal can
travel at least 20 miles (33 kilometers) with-
out degrading enough to keep it from being
received.
Whats more, the equipment necessary to
send the light signals keeps getting better.
So equipping an existing ber network with
newer electronics and with lasers that pulse
light faster, or lasers using different wave-
lengths of light, can vastly increase the avail-
able bandwidth without changing the ber
itself. Thats why ber networks are said to
be future proof.
Equipping an existing
fiber network 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 the fiber itself.
Thats why fiber networks are
said to be future proof.
New digital cameras create
images up to 40 megabytes.
Even a compressed image can
take more than a minute to
upload at the speeds generally
available to people using a
cable modem or DSL.
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Q: That sounds like magic. But isnt
ber too new to trust?
A: Fiber has actually been used in
communications networks for more
than 30 years. But until 2002, it was
rarely used to deliver a signal directly
to a home. Instead, it was and still
is relied upon to carry communica-
tions trafc from city to city or coun-
try to country. Almost every country
on earth has some ber, delivering
services reliably and inexpensively.
In fact, if you have a cable modem,
with broadband supplied by your
cable operator, or if you have DSL,
which converts your phone line into
a data pipeline, you are already us-
ing ber. The ber carries the signal
close enough to your home so that
copper can carry it the rest of the way.
But this approach requires expensive,
hard-to-maintain electronics where
the ber meets the copper. The avail-
able bandwidth is far less than an
all-ber network. And these halfway
approaches do not allow symmetrical
bandwidth existing cable and DSL
systems can download much faster
than they can upload information.
Q: Isnt that good enough?
A: That depends on what you want to
use your bandwidth for. If all you want
is to send emails, download songs or
share family photos, the bandwidth
provided by todays cable modems and
DSL lines may be good enough. If you
want to log on to the corporate LAN
from home and work effectively, youll
need more. And what about upload-
ing a high-def video of the school play,
or sitting down to dinner with family
members a thousand miles away?
Q: How close to the home does ber
come in DSL and cable systems, and
why does that matter?
A: There is a marked relationship
between distance and available band-
width when you are using copper.
The latest version of DSL is called
VDSL2. It can carry a signal of more
than 200 Mbps, but only for about
750 feet. At a distance of 1,500 feet,
it can carry a signal of only 100 Mbps.
Over a distance of a mile, it can de-
liver only about 30 Mbps. And thats
the theoretical limit. In practice the
real bandwidth is less.
Q: Some telephone companies have
been promising ber to the home
for a decade or more. But until
recently there hasnt been any. Isnt
that because the technology is dif-
cult to master?
A: No, but until recently
it was more expen-
sive than other so-
lutions that offer
far less band-
width, such
as cable TVs
DOCSIS and the
phone companies own
DSL. Those older technologies
were good enough until a few years
ago. But in the past few years, content
that was expected, such as HDTV, and
content that was not predicted, such
as peer-to-peer video (such as You-
Tube), have simply outrun the ability
of these older technologies to handle
the bandwidth needed.
Big cable companies are now begin-
ning to shut off or slow down service,
or to impose prohibitive fees, when a
customer exceeds a monthly band-
width cap of anywhere from
40 to 250 gigabytes.
While these
caps affect a
small num-
ber of cus-
tomers today,
they limit con-
sumers use of
new services like
movie downloads
which means that they limit the cable
companies potential revenues from
these new services.
Without FTTH, the cable companies
simply cant deliver enough bandwidth
to allow everyone who wants them to
take advantage of premium services.
If you have a cable
modem, with broadband
supplied by your cable
operator, or if you have
DSL, which converts
your phone line into a
data pipeline, you are
already using fiber, but
not all the way to your
home or business.
Source: BBP LLC
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FTTH Users Stories
On any other Internet service, Sean Kim
might be considered a bandwidth hog.
This Texan has been an early adopter of
every high-bandwidth application music
downloads, online gaming, sharing digital
photos and videos, and helping his wife set
up teleconferencing to keep up with friends
halfway around the world.
Not surprisingly,
Kim was the rst
in his neighbor-
hood to sign up
for Verizons FiOS
ber-to-the home
service. Whats
cooler than ber
optics to your
house? he asks.
Kim is thrilled that
he can use Inter-
net applications at peak performance espe-
cially his favorite multiplayer game, World of
Warcraft. He explains, Whenever you install
a new game, it makes you download all the
patches that have accumulated since the CD
was burned, and thats like 450 megabytes.
Other players have to wait an hour for a down-
load to complete. I install the new game right
now, patch it quick and kick it off.
The most important advantage is that Kims
video gaming no longer includes the dread-
ed red bar at the bottom of the screen
an indicator that his Internet connection is
not keeping him up to speed with his online
opponents. Fibers blazing speed assures a
rapid ride to the online game site. He says,
With ber, its always green so people want
to play with me more. And if I join a game
and someone lags, I can say Hey, its not
me, Im on ber so theres no way I can lag.
And 3D games are already hereas well.
Video gaming revenue
rivals Hollywoods box
ofce revenue and
online gamers like Sean
Kim are ratcheting it higher,
with the help of FTTH.
The Power Behind the Power Gamer
The luxury of working from home is no lon-
ger a pipe dream now that the big pipe is
arriving at households across America. A sur-
vey commissioned by the Fiber-to-the-Home
Council found that more than 13 percent of
FTTH subscribers say they were able to work
from home more often a monthly average
of 7.3 more workdays at home. Some 59 per-
cent of these telecommuters said their em-
ployers were more favorable about telecom-
muting with an FTTH connection than with
other broadband solutions. And in a rough
economy, many are starting their own busi-
nesses from home. Fiber helps enable it.
Polo Morales works at a technical services
company in the Virginia suburbs of Wash-
ington, DC. Having worked previously for
a small company that built ber optic net-
works, he understood the benets of run-
ning ber to the home. So when Verizons
FiOS service became available in his neigh-
borhood, he jumped at the chance.
Its as fast as being actually in the build-
ing at work, says Morales, who says that his
ber-to-the-home connection has enlarged
his opportunities to work from home. When
Morales had tried working at home via cable
modem, service was not always reliable. His
wife Diann notes that, with several computer
users in the family, there would be a delay or
Bringing the Virtual Ofce Home
More than 13 percent of
FTTH subscribers say
they are able to work
from home more often
a monthly average of 7.3
more workdays at home.
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a lag if everybody was trying to get on
the Internet. We dont have that now.
Morales likes the exibility ber-to-
the-home gives him in balancing his
work and family responsibilities. In
the event that the kids get sick in the
wintertime, its not a problem for me
to stay home and work from home,
says Morales. Im still able to do all
the things like keep my calendar. I can
set up conference calls and still have
multiple folks participate in the con-
ference calls so its not an issue. That
allows me to stay home, take care of
the kids and still actually go to work.
Brian Metelski has become as pro-
ductive from his home ofce in the
Dallas-Fort Worth area as he would
be at his employers premises. Its all
about the bandwidth, Metelski says:
Our FiOS service enables us to work
from home virtually with our PCs and
our VoIP phone and any other appli-
cations we want running along with
TV and along with everything else.
His employer provides Metelski with a
virtual private network tunnel inside
a VoIP telephone connection, which
registers to a secure gateway back at
the ofce building.
As much as he loves the new arrange-
ment, Metelski says his employer
seems to love it more. Because they
know that when were working from
home, we can have our ofce phone
here. We can have our ofce applica-
tions here. Its like Im sitting in an of-
ce. The only times you can tell Im at
home is when you hear my daughter
or my son in the background saying,
Daddy, can you change the channel
on the TV?
For Americans who operate home-
based businesses, the quality, speed
and reliability of Internet service
can be the key to business success.
A survey commissioned by the Fiber-
to-the-Home Council found 10 per-
cent of FTTH subscribers using their
high-speed connections to run home-
based businesses, with 90 percent of
these calling the high-bandwidth -
ber optic connection either very im-
portant or somewhat important to
their business activities.
Ralph Randell, a telecommunica-
tions engineer in Coppell, Texas, says
his FiOS ber-to-the-home service
makes a big difference to his home-
based business. Randell regularly
downloads large RFP fles that were
problematic to download via DSL.
He also uses videoconferencing with
colleagues and potential customers.
Thats very important, that we have a
high-quality connection for videocon-
ferencing over the Internet, he says.
Randells three teenagers all like to
access online video, music and games
usually at the same time. With his
FTTH service, it no longer mat-
ters how many of his kids and their
friends are using their laptops in his
home the response from the Web
is instantaneous and he can continue
his work undisturbed.
And theres a family dividend. He
now spends less time in the morn-
ing downloading les to prepare for
morning meetings, and that enables
him to have breakfast with his kids.
Fifteen-year-old Katie says, Hes a lot
happier and a lot more chipper in the
morning now.
Andrew and Charity Heaton live with
their four children outside Leesburg,
Virginia. Andrew, a lawyer, works one
day a week from home, while Charity
has several home-based businesses,
including a bed-and-breakfast, a re-
tail store, and an eBay store.
The Heatons ber-to-the-home In-
ternet connection gives Andrew the
ability to telecommute and is the
backbone of their businesses. They
use it to manage reservations and
process payments for the bed-and-
breakfast, and Charitys retail store
sells some of its products through a
Web site. Her eBay business is entire-
ly Web-based.
The Internet is critical to our busi-
nesses, says Andrew. Charity is not
really interested in the details of tech-
nology. Having an Internet service
that works and is reliable is impor-
tant to her. [Before getting FTTH] I
would get calls when I was out of town
saying, The Internet service went
out, what do I do? And Id have to
try to walk her through how to do the
connections when I wasnt even there.
And that is a very difcult thing to
do. Andrew says they have not had
to perform one of their Internet re
drills even once in the year since they
switched over to ber.
He adds, Weve gotten to a point now
where Internet service is like your wa-
ter or your sewer service or even your
electricity. People are building their
lives and their livelihoods around
it and they expect it to work and
work easily.
Back in Northern Virginia, scene of
some of worst rush-hour commutes
in the country, Polo Morales refects
on the larger implications of telecom-
muting:
If you consider that the bandwidth
and the connectivity provides you
with the ability to work from home, to
do telecommuting, that facilitates less
trafc, less driving on the roads, right?
And if for whatever reason you cant
go work, you can potentially still get
your work done. So its an enabler.
Weve gotten to a
point now where
Internet service is like
your water or your
sewer service or even
your electricity. People
are building their lives
and their livelihoods
around it and they
expect it to work and
work easily.
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The Inevi tabi l i ty of Bandwi dth Growth
A
ll too often, we think of increased
bandwidth as a matter of speed. It lets
us do things faster. Send an e-mail
message. View a Web site. But the real value
of bandwidth is that it lets us do entirely new
things with our computers, cameras, televi-
sions with our network.
What are these new things? We have the be-
ginnings of glimpses of many of them. In the
past few years, we have seen such new prod-
ucts and services as:
Voice over Internet Protocol telephones.
Theyre not only cheaper for the consum-
er, they are better. Many VoIP providers
allow incoming callers to nd the line you
are on, and easily 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 pho-
tos 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.
Internet-enabled picture frames that auto-
matically display photos sent via e-mail.
Entirely new and unforeseen product suc-
cesses have dazzled, bemused and annoyed
us. YouTube appeared in February 2005 and
quickly became one of the ve largest users
of bandwidth on earth, and the largest single
user of Internet bandwidth. Now it is starting
to distribute HDTV-quality video.
We have every reason to think the innova-
tion will continue and that our need for ever
more bandwidth will grow. Only ber to the
home will be able to deliver it. In fact, only
ber can reliably deliver that bandwidth now,
to meet current needs.
We have absolutely no reason to think inno-
vation will stop. When Thomas Edison built
the worlds rst central-station electrical gen-
erating plants, electric lighting was the killer
app. Although Edison would
later invent hundreds of prod-
ucts that use electricity, he was
not thinking about air condi-
tioning for private homes when
he built the rst electricity dis-
tribution network. Nor was he
thinking about dishwashers,
refrigerators, computers or
those rechargeable batteries
for your iPod, mobile phones
and cameras.
The least expensive desktops
today come with 160 GB hard
Although Edison would later invent
hundreds of products that use electricity,
he was not thinking about air conditioning
for private homes when he built the rst
electricity distribution network. Nor
was he thinking about dishwashers,
refrigerators, computers or those
rechargeable batteries for your iPod,
mobile phones and cameras.
11
Think hundreds of
thousands even
millions of TV
channels from all
over the world.
The least expensive desktops today come with 100
GB hard drives, because everyday users need the
le space. And if they need the le space, they also
need to send les of comparable size.
drives, because everyday users need
the le space. And if they need the
le space, they also need to send les
of comparable size.
And what about digital images? Users
get annoyed when network speeds lag
behind local connection speeds. Us-
ing your computers USB port, it takes
about half a minute to move a 2 GB
memory cards worth of digital pic-
tures (or an hour of TV-quality video)
to your hard drive. At common DSL
and cable-modem upload speeds,
it would still take 5 to 10 hours. At
the dialup speeds still used
by one of every ten American
households in 2008, it would
take more than 90 hours to
move those images to a re-
mote location.
Think about the speeds ber
to the home (FTTH) makes
possible. TV manufacturers
have. New sets coming onto
the market starting in early
2007 display wide-screen high-
denition video from the local cable
or phone company and also from
the Internet. And users dont have to
think Internet to get the TV show
they want. They just check out whats
available using their TV remote. 3D-
capable sets appeared in 2009.
Think hundreds of thousands even
millions of ber-enabled TV chan-
nels from all over the world. Many
vendors already have, and are offer-
ing add-on services or appliances to
sort them out for watching on con-
sumers TVs.
Source: BBP LLC
Wall of LCD screens at University of California at San
Diego allows worldwide telepresence.
12
Appl i cati ons for FTTH Provi ders:
Beyond the Tri pl e Pl ay
Network builders are not investing in
ber to the home only so they can prepare
for future bandwidth needs and appeal to
early adopters who want to live the con-
nected lifestyle. Fiber offers other advan-
tages in the here and now: New broadband
applications are coming onto the market
every day, and many of them present oppor-
tunities for use or resale by ber providers.
Most of these applications can operate on
lower-bandwidth networks, but not with the
same degree of performance, security and
reliability as they do on ber.
These new applications fall into several
categories. Some help differentiate ber-
to-the-home communities; some generate
additional revenue streams for providers or
help retain customers; still others can be
used by providers or property developers to
manage their assets more efciently. (Some
of the applications can be classied in more
than one group, of course.)
Following are some examples.
Differentiating Your Community
Only a few years ago, ber-connected devel-
opments were so rare that ber to the home
was a unique selling
point for develop-
ers. Today, ber has
become the norm
in new develop-
ments, especially in
new master-planned
communities, ac-
cording to market
researcher Mike
Render. In order to
further differentiate
their communities,
developers are now
seeking applications
to leverage their -
ber infrastructure.
Telehealth gives residents in stant access
to medical specialists via videoconferenc-
ing from the home, the tness center or the
community room. The videoconferencing
may be integrated with Internet-enabled
diagnostic devices (blood pressure cuffs,
respiration measurement, etc.), electronic
medical records systems, online prescrip-
tion services, and online appointment
scheduling. Telehealth helps keep older
adults living independently for longer, and
it is a boon for the sandwich generation
that is responsible for caring for both their
children and their elders while holding
down full-time jobs.
Community-based security systems
consist of linked IP videocameras and sen-
sors stationed on light poles and buildings
around a neighborhood. These systems
identify and track intruders, and can auto-
matically notify owners, security companies,
and sometimes police. Community-based
systems may be more effective than individ-
ual home security systems because they trig-
ger alarms even before a home intrusion oc-
curs, and they are less invasive of residents
privacy. Fiber networks support the broad-
cast and recording of very-high-resolution
photos that are more useful for deterring
and apprehending intruders.
Social applications use the ber infra-
structure to build a sense of community an
important function in a new development.
They can range from social networking sites
focused on the community to intranet sites
featuring local news and events, to Web-
based or IPTV video channels broadcasting
local athletic contests, artistic productions
and political discussions. Because they can
be interactive, they easily trump conven-
tional public access stations on cable.
Arts and educational applications use
high-end videoconferencing in community
centers, outdoor arenas or childrens play
centers to bring live performances, virtual
museum tours, music lessons, book readings
and other interactive events into the com-
munity. Residents can experience the ben-
ets of big-city life without its drawbacks.
Concierge and home-automation ser-
vices take advantage of the local ber net-
work to make residents lives more comfort-
able and convenient. Cameras that recognize
residents cars entering the community can
alert parking attendants and security per-
sonnel, and then turn on lights and heating
or air-conditioning at home. Residents can
connect with a single click to community
services and preferred providers, calling to
schedule a dry-cleaning pickup, pizza deliv-
ery or home repair.
Mobility is easier to accommodate with
a robust ber-to-the-home network. Using
the backhaul afforded by FTTH, providers
Telehealth helps
keep older adults living
independently a boon
for those who care for
both their children and
their elders while
working full time.
13
can offer WiFi connections to resi-
dents in indoor and outdoor public
spaces throughout the community.
Residents can bring their laptops to
the pool, check e-mail from the laun-
dry room, or listen to their Internet
radio in the gym.
Generating New
Revenue Streams
Customers have become used to
purchasing over-the-top Internet
services like Skype or iTunes, but of-
ten theyre happier to deal directly
with network providers whom they
know and trust. Broadband provid-
ers of all kinds have begun offering
a variety of applications to their cus-
tomers through Web portals, often
at lower prices than the customers
could obtain by purchasing these ser-
vices directly.
These applications serve several
purposes: They reduce customer
churn; they lower expenses by keep-
ing more trafc in-network; and they
create new revenue streams. Fiber-
to-the-home providers, which dont
have to aim for the lowest common
denominator because their systems
have virtually unlimited capacity,
have a far wider choice of applica-
tions for resale.
Convergence applications
that send Caller ID or text mes-
sages to the television or the
PC, or even allow users to ini-
tiate calls via the TV remote in
response to a TV ad, make the
triple play or quad play more
compelling. Todays consum-
ers want to be connected all of
the time and want to be able
to use any device for any pur-
pose. Convergence is the next
phase of the mobile, always-
on lifestyle.
Online storage allows
customers to store their data
les on the Internet, access
them from anywhere and
share them with others. When users
had only word-processing documents
to worry about, storage was less of a
concern. Now that physical media are
disappearing and many users have
large collections of music, photo-
graphs, and video in digital formats,
secure storage, easy access and con-
trolled sharing have become much
more important.
Home security, like many other
technologies, is migrating from ana-
log to digital form. Digitally-based
home security allows residents to
control settings, receive alerts and
view their homes via the Internet or
cell phone. It also supports a far wid-
er range of sensors not only tradi-
tional motion detectors but cameras,
water detectors, smoke detectors and
many others. Because digital security
uses wiring that is already installed
for broadband, it is inexpensive to
install and makes economic sense for
renters as well as homeowners.
Video on Demand is sometimes
offered as part of the same video ser-
vice that providers use to deliver lin-
ear channels, or it may be provided
as a separate service for customers
who dont want linear TV channels.
Stand-alone VoD generally includes
an Internet-connected set-top box
that can download and store the mov-
ies and TV shows selected by the cus-
tomer, as well as software for choos-
ing and ordering the shows and, of
course, agreements with content pro-
viders to make the shows available.
Videoconferencing is almost
universally available today through a
variety of free or low-cost Web-based
services, but it is still not widely used
because it is cumbersome and the
quality is often poor. Fiber to the
home, because of its high upstream
bandwidth, presents several opportu-
nities for providers to make higher-
quality videoconferencing available
to customers. Providers can offer
specialized videophones, with a vid-
eophone subscription service, for
consumers who prefer stand-alone de-
vices. They can offer PC- or TV-based
videoconferencing with more features
New ber-enabled
broadband applications
reduce customer churn,
lower expenses by
keeping more trafc
in-network, and create
new revenue streams.
Home security devices.
Camera used for community
security application.
14
than the free ser-
vices provide. Or, if
they have installed
high-end videocon-
ferencing equipment
in public areas (see
Differentiating Your
Community) they
can sell time and
guaranteed quality
of service on those
systems to individual
customers. Unlike
desktop video, high-
end videoconferenc-
ing and telepresence
are becoming accept-
able alternatives to
business travel even for important meetings.
Targeted advertising, although it is sold
to advertisers rather than subscribers, still
represents an important revenue stream for
FTTH providers. One mechanism is through
IPTV, which lets providers insert ads based
on nearly any criteria. While cable TV ads
are usually differentiated by zip code, IPTV
ads can be sent to households with certain
demographic criteria, or to households (or
even individual TV sets) with certain viewing
patterns. Another potential source of adver-
tising dollars is t-commerce, where television
viewers can click the remote on an ad or
even a product placement in a television show
and either see more information about the
product or actually order the product.
Property Management
Broadband is enabling owners to control
their properties and assets more efciently
than ever before. The addition of broad-
band especially the
high-capacity, high-
reliability broadband
that ber enables
turns smart build-
ings into genius
buildings, accord-
ing to one industry
expert. Internet-en-
abled sensors and ap-
plications automate
work that was once
done by maintenance
crews and do it
more quickly and ac-
curately. Broadband
Fiber-enabled,
high-capacity, high-
reliability broadband turns
smart buildings into
genius buildings, saving
on energy, maintenance
and security.
Remote music lessons.
applications also help owners communicate
with tenants and employees.
Guarding the construction site can be
managed through IP-based video surveil-
lance. Asset tagging helps prevent theft or
misplacement of equipment, and tags worn
by employees help make sure people are
where theyre authorized to be. Videocon-
ferencing allows construction managers to
make virtual site inspections more frequently
than they could make physical inspections.
Energy management can also be broad-
band-enabled. Motion sensors, intelligent
thermostats and automated ventilation
equipment can keep public spaces and un-
occupied units at appropriate temperatures;
applications that monitor and analyze en-
ergy usage help owners nd opportunities
to shift loads to nonpeak times and reduce
overall energy usage. Broadband-enabled
applications also help reduce water usage.
Utility applications like automated me-
ter reading, SCADA and outage investiga-
tion greatly reduce the costs of operating
electric utilities. These Smart Grid ap-
plications are a major reason that electric
utilities across the country are now building
ber infrastructures.
Online work order scheduling helps
property managers be more responsive to
their tenants, while reducing operating ex-
penses. Tenants can request repairs at any
time not just when the ofce is open or
they can nd the super and management
personnel can deal with problems that re-
quire personal attention, rather than rou-
tine requests. Tenants can be automatically
notied when work is completed.
15
FTTH and Sustai nabi l i ty:
The Envi ronmental Choi ce
Fibers impact on the environment
is certainly positive, according to a
PricewaterhouseCoopers study com-
missioned by the FTTH Council and
released in October 2008. Even with
low assumptions about take rates, the
greenhouse gases that are produced
in constructing equipment and de-
ploying the network are balanced by
the savings from increased telecom-
muting in about ve years.
Thats an annual carbon-reduc-
tion dividend of close to 20 percent.
Other environmental impacts are
recouped in time periods ranging
from one to six years, according to
the report.
The report examined an aver-
age American FTTH deployment.
The impact of any actual network
would be slightly different from the
typical case that was studied.
Earlier studies have shown smaller
annual savings, but almost all studies
show a positive impact. Savings on
gasoline (both for the avoided com-
mute and for those who would enjoy
less congestion on the highways) are
partially offset by extra electricity use
at home, and by the power used to
run the network.
Savings are likely to increase in
the future as the uses of broadband
networks expand. For example, Price-
waterhouseCoopers did not consider
other energy-saving applications
such as:
Telepresence, which is beginning
to replace a signicant amount of
business travel;
Cloud computing, which enables
data centers to be located near
sources of alternative energy;
Smart Grid applications, which
make electricity generation and
distribution far more efcient; or
Distance learning, which reduces
travel for educational purposes.
About three-quarters of the
greenhouse gas emissions come from
the manufacture of active network
equipment, Pricewaterhouse Coopers
found.
After the network is constructed,
telecommuting saves more than tri-
ple the amount of greenhouse gases
released by powering the network.
PricewaterhouseCoopers also ex-
amined how FTTH deployment affect-
ed resource depletion, air acidica-
tion, algae growth in the oceans, and
the release of toxins into the environ-
ment. By every measure, FTTH had a
benecial environmental impact.
A more complete presentation
of the reports results can be found
at www.ftthcouncil.org/UserFiles/
Fi l e/PWC_ FTTH_ Sust ai nabi l -
ity%20Report%20FINAL.pdf
Bandwidth
Comparisons
Only the
Beginning
A decade from now, even
100 Mbps or 1 Gbps will
look small. By then, youll
be seeing 3D television
on the market. It could
require 2.5 Gbps or more.
64 Kbps: Phone Line
128 Kbps: ISDN
1.5 Mbps for a T1 Line
5 Mbps: Wireless maximum per user
with latest technology
50 Mbps: DSL maximum per user with
latest technology
160 Mbps: Cable maximum per user
with latest technology
Today, bers
bandwidth is orders
of magnitude
bigger than other
technologies. In the
next few years, as
10 Gbps equipment
becomes available,
the ber circle will
be off the page.
1
+

G
B
P
S

F
I
B
E
R

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R

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S
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R
,

A
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D

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R
O
W
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N
G

(
2
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9
)
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+

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B
P
S

F
I
B
E
R

P
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R

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S
E
R
,

A
N
D

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(
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9
)
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B
P
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F
I
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E
R

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R
,

A
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D

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O
W
I
N
G

(
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0
0
9
)
1
+

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B
P
S

F
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E
R

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E
R
,

A
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D

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R
O
W
I
N
G

(
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0
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)
16
Fiber optic cable carries information by carry-
ing pulses of light. The pulses are turned on
and off very, very fast. Multiple streams of in-
formation can be carried on the same ber at
the same time by using multiple wavelengths
colors of light.
The pulses of light are usually created by
lasers (some short-range ber systems use
LEDs). The equipment to do that keeps get-
ting faster, so the same old ber can be used
to carry ever more information. New equip-
ment is just slipped in.
The ability to carry information is called band-
width. Lots of bandwidth allows lots of infor-
mation to be carried. Fiber has a lot of advan-
tages over copper wire or coaxial cable, as it is
easier to maintain and delivers far more band-
width. Three of the biggest advantages are:
1
Signals travel a long distance inside
ber cable without degradation 20
miles or more under some circumstanc-
es. By contrast, as the distance traveled by a
signal in copper wire or coax increases, the
bandwidth decreases. Short lengths of coax,
for instance the lengths typically found in a
small building can carry 1 Gbps if the coax
network is well designed.
Thats a thousand times more bandwidth
than typical broadband service using DSL
over copper wire, and 200 times more than
typical broadband over cable TV coax. But
those speeds are impossible over longer dis-
tances. The closer ber gets to a building,
the faster the service that is available to the
buildings residents and businesses. Service
providers have been bringing ber closer
and closer for years, and now they are bring-
ing it inside end-users buildings. For cable
companies, a technology called RFOG brings
ber all the way to the premises as well.
2
Fiber cable is thin. It can, in fact, be
made thinner than a human hair. It can
be carried on a thin ribbon, or inside a
microduct of hollow plastic only an eighth
of an inch wide. One typical ber cable con-
The Light Fantastic: Three Reasons
17
guration with about 200 super-thin
strands is about the thickness of a
standard coax cable. That ber ca-
ble could theoretically carry enough
bandwidth to handle all the informa-
tion 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 exible and rugged. In 2007,
many vendors introduced ber that is
tough enough to be stapled to walls
by installers, and exible enough to
be bent around sharp corners. Such
ber has been available for years, but
had been difcult and expensive to
manufacture. Optical bers made of
polymers plastics are now starting
to be deployed for indoor networks.
3
Once installed, ber is upgrad-
ed by changing the electronics
that creates the light pulses, and
not by replacing the cable itself. The
ber 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 of network.
They use a minimum of electron-
ics. In fact, there are no electronics
at all between the providers central
ofce and users. This improves net-
work reliability and cuts deployment
costs. But optical networks that do
require electronics in the eld have
some advantages as well, especially
when a network is built to carry con-
tent from multiple providers on the
same ber. Either way, the amount of
power needed to run a ber network
is far less than that needed to run a
coax or other copper network. This
aids reliability and contributes to sus-
tainability as well.
As we noted, bandwidth providers are
increasingly bringing ber optics all
the way to customer premises. That
technology, FTTH or ber to the
home (also called FTTP, for fber to
the premises) is the gold standard.
Almost as good at least for the
short term is bringing ber to the
basement of a building (FTTB) and
distributing it over copper wires to
the apartments or business premises
within the building.
Where the population density is low,
or where high-quality coaxial cable or
copper networks exist, it may make
sense under some circumstances to
bring ber only partway to the cus-
tomer. The ber is then connected to
the existing copper for the last jump
to users premises.
As time goes on, ber is moved closer
and closer to the customers, to pro-
vide more bandwidth. That approach
is called FTTN for ber to the neigh-
borhood or node or (for greater
bandwidth) ber to the curb (FTTC).
Today, the looming bandwidth needs
are so large, and FTTH construc-
tion prices so reasonable, that go-
ing straight to FTTH makes more
economic sense in
most situations.
Even in rural
areas, hun-
dreds of net-
work builds
have chosen
FTTH over
FTTN and
copper. In
rural set-
tings, FTTH
usually costs
more to build,
but the builders
can expect much
higher revenue
from customers.
In the US until recently, single-family
homes have been the easiest to equip
with FTTH. Apartment buildings and
other multiple-dwelling-unit (MDU)
structures in the US started to be
served with FTTH in really large num-
bers only in 2006.
MDU ber service is already common
in Europe and Asia, however. Thus,
there is no technology risk in specify-
ing FTTH now, in any circumstance.
18
Builders, Real Estate Developers and FTTH
FTTH Homes Passed, March 2009
19,400
35,700
72,100
110,000
180,300
189,000
970,000
1,619,500
2,696,846
3,625,000
4,089,000
6,099,000
8,003,000
9,552,300
11,763,000
13,825,000
15,170,900
0
2,000,000
4,000,000
6,000,000
8,000,000
10,000,000
12,000,000
14,000,000
16,000,000
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
Source: RVA LLC
(Cumulative, North America)
FTTH Homes Marketed, March 2009
1
9
,
4
0
0
3
5
,
7
0
0
7
2
,
1
0
0
1
1
0
,
0
0
0
1
8
0
,
3
0
0
1
8
9
,
0
0
0
4
1
3
,
2
2
1
829,700
1,754,300
3,218,600
5,079,999
6,643,000
7,996,400
10,082,065
12,369,000
13,875,600
0
1,000,000
2,000,000
3,000,000
4,000,000
5,000,000
6,000,000
7,000,000
8,000,000
9,000,000
10,000,000
11,000,000
12,000,000
13,000,000
14,000,000
Source: RVA LLC
Virtually every large developer of
single-family homes, condominiums
and rental properties has an active
program to add FTTH to new prop-
erties. Most are working on retrot-
ting older properties as well. That
work has expanded as new home
sales have fallen.
What do the major players know that
not all smaller developers realize?
Before the boom ended, Michael
Render of RVA LLC estimated, on
the basis of surveying home buy-
ers and developers, that FTTH adds
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 develop-
ers were on the sidelines until recent-
ly. Thats now changing. By mid-2006
it was clear that FTTH was economi-
cally viable in new developments with
as few as 80 MDU living units or 100
single-family homes. That number
has continued to fall due to improve-
ments in deployment technology.
As ber and ber deployment costs
have continued to come down and
copper costs have increased, ber
has achieved cost parity with copper
in nearly all new construction even
without taking the added home value
into account.
19
Approximate Annual Growth in FTTH Subscribers
213%
82%
20%
112%
55%
35%
0%
50%
100%
150%
200%
250%
USA Japan Europe
2006
2007
FTTH Homes Connected, March 2009
5
,
5
0
0
1
0
,
3
5
0
2
2
,
5
0
0
3
8
,
0
0
0
6
4
,
7
0
0
7
8
,
0
0
0
1
4
6
,
5
0
0
2
1
3
,
0
0
0
3
1
2
,
7
0
0
548,000
671,000
1,011,000
1,478,597
2,142,000
2,912,500
3,760,000
4,422,000
-
500,000
1,000,000
1,500,000
2,000,000
2,500,000
3,000,000
3,500,000
4,000,000
4,500,000
5,000,000
Source: RVA LLC
Source: RVA Market Research
Source: RVA Market Research
20
Q: Cant 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. Whats more, FTTH homes
sell faster than non-FTTH homes in the same market. In good times this may translate into
a greater prot, but its 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 rm to design
the installation?
A: Until recently, 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,
the growth of distributor-supplied design help and an expanding corps of qualied techni-
cians. There were almost 250 American colleges with courses for ber technicians by the end
of 2007, almost double the number of the year before. By the end of 2008, the number had
grown to more than 350. Overall, the various FTTH technologies differ only in detail, with
one or another offering advantages in specic situations.
Fiber does need to be engineered in very large apartment complexes thats 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 ber is rather fragile and
can be damaged before walls and trenches are closed.
A: The ber itself is very, very thin thinner than a human hair. But ber vendors have
evolved many ways to protect the bers 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 ber can
be blown through the microduct for hundreds of feet.
Q: Do any building codes pertain to ber? The stuff seems inert.
A: Yes, all the regular re 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 produced when it burns,
so would various plastics used in -
ber that is meant for outside instal-
lation. Indoors, look for LSZH ca-
bles (it stands for Low Smoke Zero
Halogen). If you are using thin
plastic microduct that ber can
later be blown through, it should
be labeled Halogen-Free Flame
Retardant. You use a simple junction box to change
Questions Real Estate
Developers Ask About FTTH
Typical ber distribution
cabinet or hub. It
can be placed anywhere
outside, because it needs
no electric power.
21
Percent of Homes Passed with FTTH in
First-Year Master Planned Communities
2%
7%
11%
8%
23%
45%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
from outside to inside wiring, just
as you might with electrical cables.
And of course, check with your local
building code inspector. Aside from
re issues, codes may govern where
ber ONTs (the boxes that convert
pulses of light from the ber into elec-
trical signals for your computer or TV)
are placed on the outside walls or in
common areas. A few municipalities
specify where in the home the network
connections should be placed.
Q: Im building new single-family
and residential MDU structures,
and weve made the decision to add
FTTH. Where should we put the us-
ers network connections, assuming
there is no specic building code or
guidance document covering that?
A: You should expect users to desire
broadband connections in virtually
any room in the house bedrooms,
ofce-dens, the kitchen. Thats be-
cause Internet connections these
days accommodate telephones, tele-
visions, set-top boxes, digital picture
frames, and of course computers. You
should also think about home secur-
ity, monitors for re, smoke, and your
other household utilities. And, down
the road, what about that telemedi-
cine connection to your refrigerator
or the alarm in your bathroom?
Q: In a single-family home, I often
see the ONT box hung onto the out-
side wall. Is that the only way?
A: No. In harsh climates, for instance
where heat or heavy snow could
affect the outside installation - you
will probably want to put the ONT
indoors. You can now buy ONTs that
are small, portable units, more like
cable or DSL modems, and connect
them to the network with tough, ex-
ible ber that can be laid anywhere.
Q: I hear that ONTs require a back-
up battery. Why is that? When the
power goes out, after all, the phone
usually keeps working.
A: Optical ber cannot conduct elec-
tricity. Thus, to keep the network con-
nection running at times electricity
has been cut, you need a battery at
the user premises. This may change
as cellular phones replace landlines.
This has already happened in most
of Europe, so backup batteries are
unheard-of there. But here, we have
many standard designs for in-wall,
between-stud boxes that hold the bat-
tery, ONT, and ber connections.
Q: Is lightning a problem with ber?
A: No. In fact, because ber does not
conduct electricity, lightning strikes
do not affect ber at all.
You should expect users to desire
broadband connections in virtually any room
in the house bedrooms, ofce-dens,
the kitchen. Thats because Internet connections
these days accommodate telephones,
televisions, electronic picture frames
connected to your home computer, and of
course the computer itself.
Network connections built into the wall.
This one is next to a kitchen counter in
Loma Linda, California.
22
Q: Nearby towns and new housing
developments are beginning to install
FTTH, and local real estate agents say that
property values in my town suffer because
homes and businesses do not have access
to FTTH. But the franchise cable operator
offers 8 Mbps and says 50 Mbps or more is
becoming available in some locations using
DOCSIS 3.0. And the local phone company
says it will be bringing in FTTN with VDSL.
Isnt that good enough?
A: It may be good enough for the next few
years, but it sounds like it will be installed
just as broadband needs will increase be-
yond what DOCSIS and FTTN can deliver.
Q: But they tell me both use ber.
Is that true?
A: It is true, but not ber all the way to the
home. The last 1,000 to 5,000 feet from the
bers endpoint to the home is copper
coaxial cable in the case of DOCSIS, plain
copper wire for VDSL. That limits band-
width, reliability and versatility. There is a
new FTTH transitional technology for cable
companies called RFOG (for Radio Fre-
quency, or RF, over Glass. It is more com-
patible with existing cable networks than is
conventional FTTH. RFOG networks can
eventually be converted to conventional
FTTH at low cost, too.
Q: My towns residents are just like others
in the region, and maybe have even slightly
higher incomes. Why dont the phone and
cable companies consider them attractive
customers for FTTH?
A: A few cable companies are installing
FTTH. Many telephone companies and
independent broadband providers are do-
ing the same. But the companies operating
in your town may be following an overall
policy they think will work for them.
Q: The telephone company that operates
here is installing FTTH in the new
development just 10 miles up the road.
Why not here?
Focus on Municipal Priorities
Municipal ofcials face many issues with FTTH. Should they build their own network, or
invite corporate providers in? Should they go for FTTH, or settle for something less? And
what about wireless? Should they just ignore the whole issue and hope it will go away?
Key Questions Municipal Officials Ask
23
A: It is usually easier to install ber in
new developments than in existing
ones. The ber goes into the same
trenches that have to be dug anyway
for water, electricity and sewer ser-
vice. In fact, copper wiring usually
cant be run that way, so ber is usual-
ly cheaper. Also, the new residents are
not already tied to a cable or phone
provider, so whoever installs a FTTH
network in a new community has an
easier road to signing up customers.
Thats why most new, large housing
developments are being equipped
with ber.
Q: Would installing ber require that
my streets be dug up?
A: It depends. Many network builders
in North America use aerial ber,
installed on poles along with existing
telephone, electric, and cable wiring.
In areas where trenching is impracti-
cal, contractors can often use hori-
zontal drilling, or pull ber through
existing ducts, water pipes, sewers
and gas lines rather than digging up
streets and sidewalks. In addition,
many cities already have usable ber
under their streets, ber that is not
being used to its limit.
Q: What might I do to get ber to
my residents, without building my
own network? We might qualify for
federal stimulus funds. But my town
has too much debt now to borrow
more, and we have no experience
operating a municipal utility.
A: You might try lobbying the incum-
bents the cable and telephone compa-
nies serving your town now. You could
offer such incentives as a reduced fran-
chise fee, access to public property, or
an accelerated permitting process. You
might also invite outside companies to
consider bringing FTTH to your resi-
dents. In Europe, public-private part-
nerships are common, and are the
norm for the biggest projects such as
those bringing ber to all homes in
Amsterdam and Vienna. In such part-
nerships, the municipality and private
enterprises own the new ber network
together. Theres no reason it cant be
done in North America, but it rarely
is. Many states already subsidize broad-
band to libraries, schools and colleges;
these existing broadband networks
can be starting points for adding ber
to the home.
Q: Are we giving something up by
allowing one utility to run a network
and provide content at the same time?
What about open-access networks?
A: There is no clear answer. Open-
access networks, where the network
builder (either a municipal or a pri-
vate entity) rents bandwidth to
a potentially unlimited number
of content providers, have worked
in many locations. They are more
common in Europe and Asia than
in the United States. But they have
worked here as well. At present
here, they tend to be municipal
networks, or networks built by com-
panies that specialize in bringing
ber to new buildings and subdivi-
sions. When the same organization
provides con tent and maintains
the network as is more typical in
the US the network tends to be
more reliable and the interfaces for
choosing programs more consistent
and easier to follow. But there may be
less content and services variety.
Q: What about WiFi or WiMAX?
Some companies will even come in
and provide basic wireless service
free to residents. Isnt that a good
substitute for ber?
A: WiFi and WiMAX are important
public amenities. But they are not
substitutes for FTTH. They comple-
ment and extend a xed ber net-
work. They cant replace it, however.
No new businesses or other economic
activities are generated by wireless,
and wireless networks covering wide
areas are not reliable enough to de-
liver video and other broadband ser-
vices that are emerging although
serving individual homes in rural
areas with point-to-point wireless,
where running ber might still be too
expensive, can work well. Also, virtu-
ally all the companies that promised
to build free municipality-wide WiFi
networks have reneged. The business
model simply did not work for en-
tire cities and towns. It may, however,
work in targeted areas such as com-
mercial shopping streets.
Q: Where could I go to nd out
more? I cant tell my voters the
advantages of ber, except to
support higher property values,
unless I have examples.
A: There are several conferences and
academic organizations you could try.
The FTTH Council, www.ftthcouncil.
org, has an annual meeting and
monthly webinars.
WiFi and WiMAX
are important public
amenities. But they are not
substitutes for FTTH. They
complement and extend a
xed ber network. They
cant replace it, however.
The telephone
company that operates
here is installing FTTH
in the new development
just 10 miles up the
road. Why not here?
Distribution box for ber lashed to
existing aerial cable; this method is
quick and inexpensive.
24
Understandi ng the
Technol ogy i n Greater Detai l
In FTTH, much of the alphabet soup of ac-
ronyms has to do with devices that convert
electrical signals that travel in wires, to pulses
of light for the ber and back again. Heres
what you might want to know so you can un-
derstand the technical jargon. Lets start at
the beginning of a ber network.
OLT stands for Optical Line Terminal.
OLTs put the pulses on the ber in the rst
place. Because they are located in telephone
exchanges and other network central of-
ces, residents and property owners rarely
see them.
ONTs are Optical Network Terminals. They
are also sometimes called ONUs, for Optical
Network Units. In networks just beginning to
be built by cable companies they are called
RFOG micro-nodes. They are the devices at
the consumer end that turn the light pulses
back into electrical signals. Usually, custom-
ers will have equipment such as computers
that expect an Ethernet connection. This
is a standard way of networking thats 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.
In the United States the ONTs are typically in-
side cigar-box sized enclosures on the outside
walls of houses or apartments. But they can be
made smaller than a deck of cards, and can
be used inside customer premises as well.
Youll also hear about the point of presence,
or POP. Thats the point at which the signal
from multiple customers joins the rest of the
extended network.
Hybrid ber coax, or HFC, is the cable com-
panys coax, with ber bringing the signal
fairly close to the building, or even into the
basement or a central area on your property.
A DOCSIS node, fed by ber, then distrib-
utes the signal to individual households over
coax. One node typically feeds 100 to 500
homes. But an RFOG micro-node may serve
only one.
Pedestals and larger ber distribution hubs
are enclosures close to the user premises.
They can hold the beam splitters that take
the signal from one ber that extends back
to the central ofce, and divides it (typically
8:1 up to 32:1 but as much as 64:1) among
bers that go to individual dwelling units.
Pedestals and hubs can be below ground,
above ground (they often look like short
posts or squat air-conditioner-size boxes), or
attached to buildings. Connections and splits
can also be made in boxes hung under roof
eaves, in attics or basements, on telephone
poles, or on what look like power lines or
phone lines. For best reliability, many con-
tractors bring two bers into each dwelling
unit from the pedestal, rather than one. The
bers leading from the hub or pedestal to
the user premises is called the drop cable.
25
All pulses of light look the same to
ber, and to consumers equipment.
At the user premises, the pulses get
converted to Ethernet signals that
move over copper Ethernet wiring
(typically Category 5 or Category 6
wiring, Cat 5 or Cat 6 for short).
Many companies make special equip-
ment that converts the cable compa-
nys coax, or your buildings electrical
wiring, so that it can carry an Ethernet
signal. The standard for carrying Eth-
ernet over coax is called MoCA (for
Multimedia over Coax Alliance; see
www.mocalliance.org). The standard
for using electrical wiring is called
HomePlug, and generically BPL (for
Broadband over Power Line).
There are many standards-setting bodies that serve the networking indus-
try. Foremost among them is the Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers, or IEEE. This group, international in reach but American-
based, is concerned with how signals are sent, managed, interpreted and
kept secure.
The common WiFi standards (802.11b or 802.11g, for example) are from
IEEE. So are most of the standards for Ethernet. The standards do not
cover everything. So many vendors have to add their own extensions to
make everything work smoothly. Thats a necessary evil. But avoid vendors
who ignore the standards entirely, and use their own proprietary methods
and software in place of IEEE standards.
Physical standards the ones that ensure that plugs will mate property
are mainly the realm of the TIA, which stands for the Telecommunications
Industry Association. This is a trade association.
But what about durability, or ability to withstand high temperatures or
moisture? The technology has been moving so fast that standards-setting
bodies cant entirely keep up. Many independent groups, such as Telcor-
dia (a private company) have developed their own testing standards to
assure reliability. You will see them show up as references in contracts.
Theres nothing entirely unusual about any of this. Property is subject to
standards from the National Electrical Code, building and re codes, Un-
derwriters Laboratories, and so forth. But the organizations that are re-
sponsible for fber may be strange to you. Get acquainted with them on
their Web sites.
Some ber 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 stan-
dardization 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.
Network Standards Del i veri ng
Servi ces to
End users
Aerial distrbution housing.
Microducts into which ber can be blown.
Such setups may require that the
same companys 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 an interim solution, but some
companies technology is so robust
that it can be depended upon for
many years.
26
Zeros and Ones
If all pulses look the same, whats the differ-
ence between video, voice, and data? Theo-
retically, there is no difference. But each re-
quires special skills on the part of providers.
Voice, for instance, does not require much
bandwidth; 100 Kbps per second will carry
a high-quality phone conversation over Eth-
ernet. A regular analog phone line uses
as little as 8 Kbps. But the voice signal must
be very clean, with no noticeable delay and
no static. Thats difcult to do on a network
such as the Internet, which is used for many
purposes at the same time.
Technical people thus describe voice as re-
quiring a high QoS (quality of service) and
low bandwidth. Telephone service over digi-
tal data networks is called VoIP for Voice
over Internet Protocol. Cable companies
have been offering both VoIP and switched
telephone services (similar technically to
regular telephone company services). But
they are now transitioning quickly to VoIP.
Video also requires good QoS, but not al-
ways as good as voice. Small delays and a bit
of static will often go unnoticed by viewers.
But video requires a lot of bandwidth 2
Mbps for standard-denition TV, and 4 to 8
Mbps (and as much as 20 Mbps) for high-
denition TV, or HDTV. The higher the
bandwidth requirements, the worse a small
glitch in the transmission will seem. Mod-
ern HDTV is so crystal-clear that users are
annoyed by things that would be missed on
old-style sets.
Projected download
bandwidth needed by
typical home in 2010,
2020, and 2030,
assuming three video
and voice streams, one
gaming stream and
one data/e-mail stream
per home, simultane-
ously. The highest
estimates for 2030
are close to 30 Gbps
because of 3D HDTV.
Projected Download Bandwidth
Needed by Typical Home
23
558
3,118
53
1,398
8,892
113
2,227
28,799
1 10 100 1,000 10,000 100,000
2010
2020
2030
Bandwidth, Mbps
High
Medium
Low
But the video world is changing. Part of that
change is already obvious: Cable and tele-
phone companies are offering video on de-
mand, or VoD. To deliver, they have to send
extra signals down the coax, to individual
customers. This increases the need for high-
quality service.
Today, almost all of those signals arrive as
RF (radio frequency, which can be analog or
digital) signals. Even when the signals move
over ber, they are often treated as if they
are RF.
This is changing. The new technology is
IPTV. In IPTV, the video moves as data, us-
ing the same Internet Protocol (hence IP)
as any other data. As IPTV develops, expect
thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of
channels, mainly sending video on demand
to consumers who will be able to view the vid-
eo on computers or portable devices (think
iPODs) as well as on conventional TV sets.
The video service for Verizons FiOS is main-
ly RF (for the time being), with IPTV for
program guides, VoD, and soon some niche
channels.
Satellite TV vendors, who now count almost
a fourth of American households as sub-
scribers, cannot directly compete with VoD,
because they can only send signals one way
from satellite down to subscribers. But
some video providers are supplementing the
satellite feed with VoD through a terrestrial
network, ber or coax or
both. They can also pack-
age personal video re-
corders (think TiVo) with
their services.
Data is requiring more
and more bandwidth to
meet consumer needs,
although 1 to 5 Mbps is
typical. QoS needs are
not as great as for voice or
video, because the Inter-
net Protocol automatically
splits up data streams into
packets each containing
many thousands of zeros
and ones, and reassembles
them when they arrive at
their destination. They do
27
not have to arrive at the same time,
as long as they arrive within a short
period typically a few fractions of
seconds but sometimes much more.
Providers of all of these services have
been used to thinking about con-
sumers bandwidth needs as asym-
metrical. That is, the bandwidth has
to be higher in one direction (the in-
bound direction to consumers) than
the other. Few consumers create vid-
eo now, for instance, but almost all
view it from elsewhere.
Likewise, most users download more
data than they upload. But those pat-
terns have been changing. In much
of Europe, where providers have of-
fered symmetrical bandwidth, users
have tended to upload more data,
and even to create their own video.
In the US, service providers have
started to talk about being allowed
to charge different users of the net-
work different fees, depending on
QoS as well as on bandwidth.
It is unclear how American poli-
cymakers will handle this issue,
which has come to be called net
neutrality, while being fair to all
sides and while maximizing eco-
nomic potential. But so far, the
issue, despite the publicity it has
received, has not proven to be an
obstacle to building new, faster
fiber-based networks.
The issue is complex, and cannot
be solved if people resort to slogans
without understanding the under-
lying issues. Phone and cable com-
panies, for instance, are upset that
third-party VoIP companies ride
free over their networks, as long as
end users pay for the bandwidth in
the frst place. Phone and cable com-
panies are also worried that IP video
will reduce the need for convention-
al cable services.
But if regulators were to allow them
to block such services, or charge too
high a price, innovation would be
squelched and the rest of the world
could harbor most of the innova-
tion happening on the Internet.
A quality-priority based pricing
scheme would differ from the usual
approach elsewhere in the world,
where most governments are simply
pushing for universally high band-
width and QoS. But overseas, direct
and indirect government subsidies
to network builders tend to be
higher. In Asia, governments have
developed national policies to push
for bandwidth to all residents and
businesses, with the ultimate goal of
using FTTH to deliver it.
Standards for 3D video are
already being formulated.
The technology already exists
and is used in industrial settings.
Bandwidth Needed to Receive
One TV Channel Over the Next 25 Years
2
10
50
126
200
280
796
2,571
1 10 100 1,000 10,000
2D Standard-definition
TV
2D HDTV
2D Super (ITU J.601)
3D Standard-definition
TV
2D Ultra (ITU J.601)
3D HDTV
3D Super
3D Ultra
Bandwidth, Mbps
All light pulses
whether voice, video,
or data look alike,
and travel over a single
glass ber.
But providers need
special skills for each.
28
FTTH Versus Other
Types of Fi ber Networks
In September 2006, the FTTH Councils for Europe, Asia and North America standardized
the denitions for Fiber-to-the-Home and Fiber-to-the-Building (also called Fiber to the
Basement). They are:
Fiber to the Home (FTTH)
A ber optic communications path that extends from the operators switching equipment
to at least the boundary of the home living space or business ofce space. The denition
excludes those architectures where the optical ber terminates before reaching either the
home living space or business ofce space and where the access path continues over a physi-
cal medium other than optical ber.
, RFOG
, RFOG
(RFOG node can be located at premises)
29
Fiber to the Building
(FTTB)
A ber-optic communications path that
extends from the operators switching
equipment to at least the boundary
of the private property enclosing the
home(s) or business(es). In this archi-
tecture, the optical ber will terminate
before reaching the home living space
or business ofce space. The access
path will then continue over another
access medium such as copper or
wireless to the subscriber.
There are also other denitions com-
monly used by people in the industry:
Fiber to the Node
or Fiber to the
Neighborhood (FTTN)
FTTN is not dened by the FTTH
Councils. But in general it refers to
a system where ber is extended to
a point typically a street-side or on-
pole cabinet to within 1,000 to 5,000
feet of the average user. From there,
Simple cassette holds ber.
copper or wireless serves the user. Typ-
ically, the service is through a variant
of DSL (Digital Subscriber Line).
FTTN should not be confused with
Hybrid Fiber Coax (HFC), used main-
ly by cable companies to implement
DOCSIS, the standard that allows
data to be transmitted over cable TV
systems. Each DOCSIS node, typically
served by ber, with coax extending
to users, passes 100 to 500 homes. Nor
should it be confused with RFOG,
which is an FTTH technology.
Fiber to the Curb (FTTC)
Like FTTN, except that the ber is
brought much closer to a user prem-
ises typically closer than 1,000 feet
and often closer than 300 feet. In ad-
dition to DSL, FTTC installations may
use Ethernet (over copper cable or
wireless) to bring the signal from the
ber termination point to the user.
Point-to-point wirelesss is sometimes
used in rural areas simply to bring a
signal from the roadway to a home
that could be a mile or more away.
GPON OLT.
30
Standard Name Year Finalized
BPON ITU G.983 2001
GPON ITU G.984 2004
10GPON/NG-PON ITU G.984 Evolves constantly
EPON IEEE 802.3 2004
GePON IEEE 802.3 2005
10G-EPON IEEE 802.3av 2009 (expected)
RFOG SCTE IPS910 2009 (expected)
FTTH and FTTB Network Archi tectures
A Li ttl e Hi story
The family of optical networks has two major
branches PON and AON and many technical
variants within those branches.
PON stands for passive optical network. It
refers to the fact that there are no active elec-
trical devices between the central ofce and the
end user. All the handling of the light beams that
carry the signal is done with mirrors, prisms and
ber. There are no electrical devices needed.
AON stands for active optical network. As
the name implies, there are electrical devices
between the user and the central ofce. These
devices are routers and switches, almost always
using the Ethernet standard. But these days, the
active electronics are not in a remote cabinet
or local point of presence. They are often in
the central ofce itself. Thus, the industry has
begun to call active networks point-to-point or
P2P networks. This refers to the fact that each
end user gets a dedicated ber (or several dedi-
cated bers) extending from the central ofce.
Because each fber requires its own laser, P2P
networks require more power and space within
the central ofce. But because they do not re-
quire ber distribution hubs (containing opti-
cal splitters) in the eld, they tend to be simpler
to operate.
Evolution of PON Standards
Within the general category of passive optical
networks, there are two branches. One is based
on Ethernet, the same standard that is used in
home and corporate local-area networks. The
Ethernet branch has been standardized by IEEE
the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engi-
neers. The other is based on carrier standards,
from the ITU International Telecommunica-
tions Union and are more telephone-like.
The ITU Family
BPON (for Broadband PON) was the frst
PON standard widely used in North America.
It is based on the ATM protocol, and has a top
speed to users of 622 Mbps and upstream speed
of 155 Mbps. But it allows the use of a separate
wavelength of light to support video services.
BPON is being replaced by GPON, which al-
lows 2.48 Gbps downstream to the user and 1.24
Gbps upstream. GPON supports ATM, Ethernet,
and TDM (the protocol phone companies use
for ordinary telephone service) by wrapping
or encapsulating the data packets with some
extra bits. This is called GEM, which stands for
GPON Encapsulated Mode.
The GPON standard was fnalized early in
2004, but it was not until early 2006 that inex-
pensive electronic chips to implement it became
widely available in volume. A new upgrade,
10GPON, is already being tested. As the name
implies, downstream bandwidth is about 10 Gbps
-- four times the current standard. Upstream
bandwidth has also been increased fourfold.
The Ethernet Family
The second branch of the family tree is the Eth-
ernet branch. Ethernet is also used for active
networks.
The frst Ethernet PON (EPON) standard
was released by the IEEE a few months after
the GPON standard in 2004. The standard was
quickly upgraded to 1.25 Gbps, twice the original
bandwidth, as new electronic parts became avail-
able. Networks using that speed are sometimes
called EPON and sometimes called
GePON (for Gigabit Ethernet PON).
2.5 GigE equipment started to be de-
ployed this year, and equipment using
10 GigE is currently being tested.
A point of confusion: Although P2P
networks are called active, the typical
Ethernet P2P has no active electronics
between the end user and the central
offce, just as in PON. The difference
is that in a P2P network, each custom-
er is served by at least one dedicated
ber. Each ber (and thus each customer) has
its own laser to generate the pulses of light. In a
passive optical network, one central-ofce la-
ser might serve anywhere up to 64 customers.
New Types of FTTH Networks
New ber optic technologies are being devel-
oped to meet new needs. The RFOG (Radio Fre-
quency Over Glass) standard, still under develop-
ment, allows cable providers to use their existing
DOCSIS protocols and electronics with all-ber
networks. And WDM-PON adapts wavelength-
division-multiplexing electronic equipment de-
veloped for the transport portion of the network
for use in the access network. WDM-PON can
provide the kinds of speeds seen in intercity net-
works (currently up to 100 Gbps) and will prob-
ably be used rst for businesses and MDUs.
31
Common sense suggests that com-
munities with plentiful, reliable band-
width available will do better than
those without. FTTH-powered band-
width is essential for:
Hometown businesses competing
in a global economy.
Professionals and others who work at
home.
Quality of life provided by online
entertainment, education, culture
and e-commerce.
Special services for the elderly and for
shut-ins.
FTTH thus helps dene successful com-
munities just as good water, power, cli-
mate and transportation have dened
them for millennia.
Thats obviously so for greeneld
developments the data, in previ-
ous sections of this report, show that
ber-equipped homes and ofces
sell faster, and command a price pre-
mium over real estate developments
without ber.
But what about existing communities?
Direct comparisons are admittedly
difcult because FTTH has not been
widely available until recently, but vir-
tually all of the real-world economic
studies have borne out the predic-
tions; none has suggested otherwise.
By far the most comprehensive look
at broadbands impact is a 2005 study
by William H. Lehr, Carlos A. Osorio,
and Sharon E. Gillett at the Massa-
chusetts Institute of Technology, and
Marvin A. Sirbu, from Carnegie Mel-
lon University. It was funded by the
Economic Development Administra-
tion of the U.S. Department of Com-
merce and by the MIT Program on
Internet & Telecoms Convergence
(http://itc.mit.edu).

The study found that broadband en-
hances economic activity, helping to
promote job creation both in terms
of the total number of jobs and the
number of establishments. Broad-
band is associated with growth in
rents, total employment, number of
business establishments, and share of
establishments in IT-intensive sectors.
There are also numerous case stud-
ies, comparing specic communities
before and after public investment
in broadband.
A few examples:
One early study, of a municipal f-
ber network built in 2001 in South
Dundas, Ontario, showed substantial
benets. It was prepared for the UKs
Department of Trade and Industry.
A 2003 study by D. J. Kelley com-
paring Cedar Falls, Iowa, which
launched a municipal broadband
network in 1997, against its other-
wise similar neighboring community
of Waterloo. Cedar Falls bounded
ahead of its neighbor.
More recently, Ford and Koutsky
compared per capita retail sales
growth in Lake County, Florida,
which invested in a municipal broad-
band network that became opera-
tional in 2001, against ten Florida
counties selected as controls based
on their similar retail sales levels
prior to Lake Countys broadband
investment. They found that sales
per capita grew almost twice as fast
in Lake County compared to the
control group.
Similar patterns have emerged for
communities using FTTH provided
by private enterprise. Fort Wayne, In-
diana, has taken good advantage of
a Verizon FiOS investment there, for
instance. And in February 2007, two
big studies of housing sales in Mas-
sachusetts where FiOS was coming
on line in numerous communities
showed a startling recovery. Sales
were up, and prices were down only
slightly (after a decade-long rise that
makes housing there among the most
expensive in the United States). It is
too early to tell how positive the effect
of FTTH is on home sales in the cur-
rent downturn, but initial, somewhat
anecdotal evidence is positive.
The data are clear and consistent:
FTTH, whether provided by private
or municipal organizations, is an eco-
nomic plus for all communities, and
an outright boon for many.
FTTH and Economic Development
FTTH helps
dene successful
communities just
as good water,
power, climate and
transportation
have dened them
for millennia.
The FTTH Council will certify any home installation
that meets its standard ber optic cable that extends
all the way to the boundary of the home premises.
Certied projects may display the programs badge in
its advertising.
Certication is important because companies like to
claim they have ber networks, even when the ber
does not go all the way to the home. This can lead to
consumer confusion. Consumers sometimes think they
are getting the full benet of 100 percent ber broad-
band, when in fact they are not. Once constituents un-
derstand the benets of ber, they will embrace it:
Consumers will understand the difference between
FTTH and other ber networks that arent as good,
and will embrace the superior experience of FTTH.
Communities will understand the benets that
broadband brings in terms of jobs, wages, and di-
rect benets such as medical and education ser-
vices especially when delivered in the best possible
form FTTH.
Investors will understand the benets to compa-
nies that make the effort to build ber to the home
networks in terms of increased customer loyalty,
competitive advantage, return on invested capital,
and revenue.
To learn more about ber to the home:
FTTH Council
www.FTTHCouncil.org
1-866-320-6444
info@ftthcouncil.org
Details and an application form can be found on the
web at www.FTTHCouncil.org.
1. FTTH or ber-to-the-home identies a telecommu-
nications architecture in which a communications
path is provided over optical ber cables extending
from the telecommunications operators switching
equipment to (at least) the boundary of the home
living space or business ofce space (the side of the
building or unit). This communications path is pro-
vided for the purpose of carrying telecommunica-
tions trafc 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-
viders network as operating over ber-to-the-home
access; and to grant that service provider use of the
Fiber-Connected Home badge, that service provid-
er[, and their network,] must identify the location,
size, and equipment being used in sufcient detail
for the Council to effectively certify those deploy-
ments. The service provider must also conrm that
commercial services are currently being delivered to
revenue-paying subscribers.
3. The service provider must exhibit a high level of
commitment to network-wide FTTH deployment as
indicated by its Strategic Commitment to FTTH in
its network. Strategic Commitment is dened as
the ratio of:
Total number of residential households in service provid-
ers serving areas to which services can be marketed over
an FTTH access network (homes passed), divided by total
residential households subscribed to voice, data or video
services, served by service providers entire wireline net-
work (total residential communication subscribers).
This ratio must be 10 percent or higher.

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FTTH COUNCIL | The Advantages of Fiber |

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