Fiber-to-the-Home Technologies and Standards

Abstract

Fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) refers to the provisioning of narrowband and broadband services to the residential customer over an optical cable rather than traditional copper wiring. Early trials in the United States, England, and France to provide telephone and broadcast video service to residential customers occurred in the mid- to late 1980s, however, widespread deployment did not follow from these trials (Esty, 1987; Rowbotham, 1989; Shumate, 1989; Veyres & Mauro, 1988). Studies conducted at the time suggested that consumer demand for video and telephone service was not sufficient to warrant the funds necessary for wide-scale deployment of the systems (Bergen, 1986; Sirbu & Reed, 1988).