Overall Plan for Copper-Fiber Infrastructure Switchover: Why, Where, and When

Abstract

AbstractNowadays, broadband plays an important role in our society. Countries around the world are pursuing initiatives to provide high-speed broadband as a universal service. Currently, digital subscriber line technologies (xDSL) dominate the broadband market, covering more than half of the subscriptions in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. However, these technologies are unlikely to keep up with these ambitious broadband goals; consequently, traditional copper carriers should need to undertake a costly transition in their access infrastructure sooner or later by moving from copper- to fiber-based lines. It is crucial to study, understand, and evaluate different ways of performing this transition to take advantage of the required investment. This paper presents an overall strategy for a copper-fiber switchover, transitioning from the analysis of current copper access, including its limitations, to systematic methods for planning the fiber upgrade and evaluating its ...