Fibre access networks for India and other developing countries

Copper based wired local loop has served us well for over 100 years. However much we may decry the copper for its bottlenecks today, it has served us so long due to the following (i) it is a passive network, which does not fail unless cable is cut, (ii) it carries power for subscriber terminals, (iii) it carries voice signals both ways, (iv) 56 kbps data can be carried in 4 kHz copper loop, (v) n-isdn, HDSL, ADSL, VDSL is enabling tens of Mbps data to be carried on the copper loop. It is such a loop that one wishes to replace with Fibre. How does fibre handle these issues? While fibre finds it difficult to provide one to one replacement of copper loop, and is still struggling to make a mark in the Access Network of developed world, a certain kind of Fibre Access Networks is suddenly becoming the way of deploying new telecom networks in developing countries. Fibre in the Loop today provides the most cost-effective solution for new deployment in urban areas; most Basic Services Operators in India plan to use this in major way. It is likely that in the next three to four years, more Fibre in Access Network will be deployed in India than in any other country in the world. This paper examines the issues involved in use of Fibre in the Access Network and suggest solution which are likely to make it the technology of choice for new operators.