Fiber and economics - adding fuel to the debate

If you ask a bunch of people about the role of fiber to the home as an economic enabler, there's a good chance you could stir up a decent debate. The logic behind both arguments is simple. On one side, people claim that fiber is just too expensive to be worth the price and the economy could grow more effectively if that money goes elsewhere. On the other, people will claim that fiber improves communications, attracts businesses and creates a high-tech culture that creates long-term revenue potential. While it's tough to pin down specific statistics on either side of the debate, a recent research paper published byKTH Information andCommunication Technologyand written by industry expert Ziyi Xiong explained that the positive economic impact of FTTH is clear, at least in Sweden.

Considering the impact of FTTH investments in Sweden
According to the research paper, the FTTH investments in Sweden have gone a long way toward improving the socio-economic climate in different regions of the country. Generally speaking, investing in FTTH within a municipality has attracted new residents and helped make a region more attractive. This, in turn, has fueled local development in those regions as the general attractiveness often breeds real business results.

This is all made possible because fiber not only brings more bandwidth, but more reliability. The news source explained that increased consumer demand for fiber is clear, as are the performance gains offered by the technology. At the same time, the positive economic implications are not quite as precise. While there are definitely statistics that point to municipalities becoming more attractive because of FTTH availability, the statistics that are currently available are not conclusive enough to make much more definitive statements about the economic implications of FTTH.

Dealing with economic problems in FTTH deployment
One way to improve the viability of FTTH deployments is to create a better revenue climate. That cannot be easily done by creating better consumer response. However, it may be possible through cost reduction in the actual FTTH installation process. For example, using cost-effective fiber to Ethernet media converters can alleviate many interoperability concerns and help telecoms install FTTH infrastructure quickly and easily. As a result, telecoms can get fiber to market quickly and position themselves to take advantage of demand before competitors and maximize the revenue potential of the FTTH installation.

Perle has an extensive range of Managed and Unmanaged Fiber Media Converters to extended copper-based Ethernet equipment over a fiber optic link, multimode to multimode and multimode to single mode fiber up to 160km.