FTTH Council has issued guidelines on how to define FTTH and other optical fiber based network concepts. There has been more confusion on what terminology to be used to name the type of network using Optical fibers to the premises, homes, curbs, etc. FTTH Council in an attempt to unify the terminologies and streamline the activities of optical fiber-based networks more efficiently introduced the following guidelines.
The mission of all the FTTH Councils in North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific includes communication to stakeholders at respective regions of the extent of usage of FTTH throughout the world and forecasting the growth of FTTH. This task has been made difficult by the proliferation of terms and acronyms that, while no doubt useful to individual organizations for their specific purposes, lack precise definitions.
This is of particular concern when different research organizations choose their own definitions when conducting research. As a consequence, it becomes impossible to compare the research on FTTH between different regions, or between different studies of the same region.
Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH)
“Fiber to the Home” is defined as a telecommunications architecture in which a communications path is provided over optical fiber cables extending from the telecommunications operator’s switching equipment to (at least) the boundary of the home living space or business office space.
This communications path is provided for the purpose of carrying telecommunications traffic to one or more subscribers and for one or more services (for example Internet Access, Telephony, and/or Video-Television).
This definition excludes architectures where the optical fiber terminates in private space before reaching the home living space or business office space and where the access path continues to the subscriber over a physical medium other than optical fiber (for example copper loops).
This definition excludes architectures where the optical fiber cable terminates in public space (for example an operator’s street-side cabinet) and where the access path continues to the subscriber over a physical medium other than
optical fiber (for example copper loops). It is acknowledged that other parties such as the US FCC make specific concessions for such architectures.
However, for the formal communications of the Councils, architectures that are excluded by this definition are NOT Fiber-to-the-Home.
Fiber-to-the-Building (FTTB)
“Fiber to the Building” is defined as a telecommunications architecture in which a communications path is provided over optical fiber cables extending from the telecommunications operator’s switching equipment to (at least) the boundary of the private property enclosing the home or business of the subscriber or set of subscribers, but where the optical fiber terminates before reaching the home living space or business office space and where the access path continues to the subscriber over a physical medium other than optical fiber (for example copper loops).
FTTB construction is a transitional form commonly used as a means to deliver services to existing buildings in conjunction with associated FTTH construction (for example for new buildings). By introducing fiber cables from the fiber termination point to the home living space or business office space FTTB can be converted to full FTTH. Such a conversion is desirable as FTTH provides better capacity and longevity than FTTB.
This communications path is provided for the purpose of carrying telecommunications traffic to one or more subscribers and for one or more services (for example Internet Access, Telephony, and/or Video-Television).
This definition excludes architectures where the optical fiber cable terminates in public space (for example an operator’s street-side cabinet) and where the access path continues to the subscriber over a physical medium other than optical fiber (for example copper loops).
However, for the formal communications of the Councils, architectures that are excluded by this definition are NOT Fiber-to-the-Building.
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