The life expectancy of fibre
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Armidale might be live, but for how long? Will the fibre need replacing in 20 to 25 years?
No, is the short answer. Despite NBN detractors claiming that fibre lasts only a couple of decades, people building networks are working on 40 years as a minimum, and some are expecting it to last 100.
This week on Twisted Wire, we look at the life expectancy of the cable and the technologies used to run across it. Listen in to hear how network planners ensure that they get maximum life from the fibre itself and future-proof network design to accommodate technology upgrades.
You'll hear from Andrew Lord, optical networks research and development specialist at BT. BT is busy rolling out fibre to three quarters of the UK population (a mix of fibre to the premises and fibre to the Cabinet). I also talk with Steve Christian, head of network operations at NBN Co, just after he stepped off a plane from this week's launch of NBN's first mainland deployment in Armidale. We also get an explanation of passive optical network (PON) technologies from Gordon Oliver, director at Fast Networks.
Running time: 30 minutes 5 seconds.