Chapter 1 - Introduction

Abstract

This chapter discusses the history of broadband access network and passive optical network (PON) developments. It also discusses the economical and policy forces behind broadband infrastructure developments. PON standardization work began in the 1990s when carriers anticipated fast growth in bandwidth demands. The full service access network (FSAN) consortium was formed by seven global telecommunication operators including British Telecom, NTT, and Bell South in 1995. It was to standardize common requirements and services for a passive optical access network system. The FSAN recommendations were later adopted by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), as the ITU-T G.983 BPON (i.e., broadband PON) standards. In most of the Asian countries government restrictions exist for telecommunication service providers to offer content services such as streaming video. Although PON was invented more than 20 years ago, it has not been commercially successful until recently. There is a trade-off between the cost of electronics in the remote terminal (RT) and the savings achieved from the pair gain. If the cost of the RT is high, in general, more users are required to share the cost, and the length of local loops will tend to be longer. PON belongs to access networks. Access equipment is usually deployed in large volumes. It is therefore very cost-sensitive. In a PON system, the cost of the optical network unit (ONU) needs to be multiplied by the number of users.