Abstract
DSL technology has been incredibly successful at allowing copper telephony wires to deliver broadband services. However, the physics of copper dictate that as speeds increase further it will be necessary to push optical fibre closer to the customer — to the cabinet, and ultimately to the premises. Deploying optical fibre to the mass consumer is well known as representing a significant capital investment and will take many years to deploy. It would be fair to say that putting fibre in the residential access network is a ‘once in a century’ investment. There are many different choices of ‘high fibre’ broadband access systems and as technology develops further, this situation is likely to continue. When operators deploy fibre in the access network, it is therefore vital that they do so in a future-proof manner which can support technologies and architectures yet to come, and allow migration and further evolution.
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References
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Davey, R.P., Payne, D., Barker, P. et al. Designing a 21st and 22nd century fibre broadband access network. BT Technol J 25, 73–79 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10550-007-0062-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10550-007-0062-0