The world focuses on optical networks, Europe develops strategies

Architecture of FTTx systems
(source: Wikipedia)

In 2007, the number of FTTH/FTTB (Fiber To The Home/Building) users was about 16 million. In 2008, the number increased by over 30%, this year it is expected to grow by 40%! The FTTH/FTTB services have most subscribers in Asia. In 2008 the percentage was 78%. The European market is only 5% of the global market.

Analysts estimate that by the end of 2011 year approximately 16 million homes in Europe will be connected to FTTH/FTTB - it will be about 8% of all dwellings. This "ambitious" plan contrasts with the results which were achieved in the end of 2008 in Asian countries: South Korea - 45%, Japan - 25%, Taiwan - 12%.

FTTH saturation at a level higher than 1% was also in Sweden, Norway, Slovenia, the USA, Iceland, Denmark, Andorra, Netherlands, Finland, Singapore, Lithuania, China, Italy, Estonia, Russia, Latvia. It is interesting that the list does not include Germany, France, and Great Britain. A bold policy aimed at quick development of optical networks is conducted by Slovakia which this year entered the group of 20 countries with the most developed infrastructure of this kind.

The penetration of FTTH/FTTB on the U.S. market is about 5%, and the most popular FTTH service is FIOS (Fiber Optic Service). Verizon, the operator of FIOS, has about 3 million subscribers. In China, the FTTH/FTTB share is 1.9%. However, the pace of growth is so fast (about 80% per year) that the report issued by FTTH Councils of Asia-Pacific announces Chinese leadership in the number of installed FTTH/FTTB within two years.

In Asia and the U.S., the development of telecommunications infrastructure is one of the most important elements in overcoming the crisis. In Europe, the need for progress in modern technologies was alreadyrecognized in 2000, when the Lisbon Strategy emerged. The aim of the plan was to make the EU "the most dynamic and competitive knowledge-based economy in the world capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion, and respect for the environment by 2010". The implied meaning was to overtake the USA. Unfortunately, Europeans have not managed to overtake Americans, but in many fields have been overtaken by Asian countries...

It stimulates Europeans to step up their efforts for the new strategy "EU 2020", which will replace the existing 2010 EU agenda for growth and jobs (Lisbon Strategy). The basic premise of this project is "more intelligent and ecological, knowledge-based market economy".

The European Commission launched a consultation on the new strategy, waiting for comments and suggestions sent by e-mails to EU2020@ec.europa.eu till January 15, 2010. On this basis, the EC will develop detailed proposals and present them for approval to the heads of states and governments during the summit in March 2010.

Admittedly, the optical infrastructure will not grow from the wide-ranging consultations, but the new strategy will be at least a bright vision of the future.

2009 Nobel Prize in physics for groundbreaking achievements in fiber optics

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded half of this year's Nobel Prize in physics to Charles K. Kao "for groundbreaking achievements concerning the transmission of light in fibers for optical communication", and the other half jointly to Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith for the invention of the CCD sensor.

The research conducted by the Chinese physicist allowed a rapid development of fiber optic technology. First experiments with rays of light guided by glass fibers were conducted in 1870. Thanks to the phenomenon of total internal reflection the beam was propagated through the fiber, but the transmission was possible only on short distances. This resulted from high attenuation of light waves, reaching up to 100 dB per kilometer (currently, attenuation of modern optical fibers is about 0.2 dB/km).

The situation radically changed in 1966 when Charles Kao published the results of his research and pointed out the cause of so high attenuation. He proved that pollution of the fiberglass with hydroxide ions and ions of elements such as iron, copper and cobalt was the main reason of this phenomenon. The study also proved that another reason of increased attenuation was dissipation of energy occurring in the glass structure due to its inhomogeneity. Thanks to the publication of Ch. Kao, already in 1970 the followers were able to obtain the first pure glass fibers without such contaminants and flaws.

Currently fiber optic networks connect the whole world being the main means of communication and transmission of huge volumes of data between any parts of the worldwide information infrastructure. Nowadays fiber optic installations are competitive in price compared to traditional wiring, and they have far more transmission capacity. It's the reason why they start to reach end users (FTTH - Fiber To The Home).