Europe in the Fiber Optic Age

Europe is at the threshold of the fiber optic age. Swiss cabling specialist Reichle & De-Massari (R&M) says year 2009 marks the start of a new era. Numerous network operators, municipal utilities and local governments have set off a wave of investment in recent months.

They want to supply residential and business buildings with largely fiber optic connections because the old copper cabling will soon no longer suffice to access communication networks. The growing Internet data network plus new online and multimedia services require increasing amounts of bandwidth and better transmission technology.

From what we know today, FO cabling is needed throughout the system to achieve transmission speeds higher than 50 megabits per second. The solution for which many locations are striving is called FTTH or Fiber To The Home (fiber from the cabinet to the home). Forums, workshops and conferences are being conducted nearly weekly throughout Europe on the subject of FTTH. Everywhere experts are confirming that copper cabling will soon be outmoded. Heavy Reading, a market research institute, has found that the number of European FTTH households will increase more than five-fold from 2009 to 2013, from four million to over 20 million.