Evolution of fiber-to-the-curb networks toward broadband capabilities

Proposals for fiber-to-the-curb (FTTC) systems have been made in recent years as optical system researchers and telecommunication providers have sought ways to deploy optical technologies close to the home based only on plain-old-telephone service (POTS) revenues. Fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) systems, in contrast, offer maximum bandwidth per subscriber, but at significantly greater cost per subscriber today. One issue to explore with FTTC systems is their ability to support future broadband services since FTTC systems do not bring fiber all the way to customer premises. This paper presents an economic and technical analysis of various FTTC upgrade alternatives from a system supporting only POTS to later-generation systems also capable of broadcast video transport.