Optical fibers are broadband infrastructures with huge potentials. Here the physical capacity is not indicated by Mbps but by Gbps, and with regard to coverage we talk about distances of around 10 km from the central points. Even though it is possible to offer capacities of Gbps, these capacities are not implemented at the end user's site. Different reasons for this are, amongst others, cost of termination and the resource planning, as well as pricing issues at the service provider side.
Optical fiber infrastructures are implemented using different architectures which can be denoted commonly: FTTx (FTTHome, FTTArea, FTTCabinet, FTTCurb etc.).
The cost of deployment of the optical infrastructures is higher than other broadband technologies, but the broadband products which can be offered in the fiber infrastructures are incomparable with the traditional broadband. The development in the last couple of years shows that the implementation of fiber infrastructures is becoming more and more viable, and that power companies in particular have been very active in the area. This is mainly due to the decreasing cost of fiber, the decreasing cost of termination equipments, general liberalization and the possibilities for offering triple/multi-play.