FTTH Technology

One of the stumbling blocks in the path to a last mile/last inch fiber communications infrastructure in this Country is communication.  I'm not trying to be funny or make a joke.  The truth is that there are so many technical details and acronyms that more than half the battle is just making sure that everyone in the conversation is talking about the same thing.  Case in point: FTTH vs FTTP.  It would take more fingers than I have on my two hands to count the number of discussions that were almost derailed by the time spent clarifying the difference between the two terms when, in fact, their difference had no consequence for the content of the intended discussion.  Unlike FTTN (Neighborhood) and FTTC (Curb), there is little to no technical distinction between the "Home" in FTTH and the "Premises" in FTTP.  Although I personally prefer the use of "Premises" because of its greater definitional capacity to encompass more varied points of fiber termination than could be assumed by the more constrained location "Home", I have to agree with the decision by the FTTH Council to formally settle on one of the two terms -- FTTH, in this case -- rather than allow the ambiguity of the two terms to persist in undermining communication.

The mission of all the FTTH Councils in North America, Europe and Asia-Pac includes the communication to stakeholders in our respective regions of the extent of usage of FTTH throughout the world and forecasting the growth of FTTH.

This task has been made difficult by the proliferation of terms and acronyms while no doubt useful to individual organizations for their specific purposes, lack precise definitions.

This is of particular concern when different research organizations choose their own definitions when conducting research. As a consequence it becomes impossible to compare the research on FTTH between different regions, or between different studies of the same region.

This document defines the terms used by all the FTTH Council’s (North-America, Europe, Asia-Pacific). To promote consistency when commissioning or commenting on research the Councils’ members will confine themselves to those terms defined in this document.

This document specifically aims to reduce the terms used to a subset that are well defined, adequate and useful.

FTTH Council - Definition of Terms - Rev. January 9th, 2009 [link]

Everyone involved in the task of advancing the fiber for local loop cause would do well to spend some time on developing language that connects the cause with a larger constituency. It's unlikely that fiber or lasers or megabits will become a loud enough rallying cry.  Instead, it's going to surely come down to jobs, opportunities, and better life quality.

A recent development in fiber optic cable deployment promises to cut both the costs and time required to build FTTH networks in the metropolitan terrain.  Fiber deployments that aren't suspended on power poles typically require trenching a three foot channel in the public right-of-way.  That means cutting concrete or asphalt surfaces and digging out a substantial part of the roadbed so that a fiber conduit can be safely buried.  Rural fiber deployments can have the luxury of what's known as continuous conduit laying, where a piece of heavy equipment lays fiber optic cable conduit by forcing it into soft ground.  That isn't possible in the concrete jungle.  TeraSpan's micro trenching and Vertical Inlaid Fiber (VIF) has changed the equation for urban fiber deployments.  Micro Trenching requires only a little more than a quarter inch wide by six to twelve inch deep duct in the public right-of-way.  Road closures and general public disruption are keep to a minimum when micro trenching.  Cost savings is estimated at 60% to 80% of normal trenching.

TeraSpan is headquartered just over the Canadian border in Vancouver, British Columbia.