Launch of 5G is going to catapult data usage to a whole new level. 5G is all set to move beyond mobile, to the world of billions of connected devices and pave way for a new era of consumer-technology interactions. Launch of 5G is going to catapult data usage to a whole new level. 5G is all set to move beyond mobile, to the world of billions of connected devices. Today, every two days we create as much data as we have from the beginning of time till 2003. Connectivity is now as important as running water and electricity, and Smarter Networks are the new core infrastructure...

The Fibre Optics network infrastructure is highly immune to electromagnetic waves and provides unlimited bandwidth to transport data and voice signals at a very high rate, over extremely long distances. [ref. 1]. This makes it a suitable communication channel to support a large number of network architectures: FTTH, FTTx, Data centre interconnect, Access/Metro/Long distance networks, smart cities infrastructure and wireless backhauling for 4G and 5G networks...

I did touch this subject about 5 years ago but I felt the subject needed an update based on newer experiences but above all, price points mentioned in a previous version did evolve dramatically and it has an impact on the overall result. Read: prices of OLT cards have dropped so why would you still save on active equipment? Well today you might install GPON line cards whose prices have decreased over the last few years but tomorrow one might want to upgrade directly to the latest generation like NG-PON2 line cards which come at a higher price...

While optical fibre is a fantastic means of transportation of data it does have its limitations. There are a range of optical parameters that limit how far a given transmission system can transmit a signal before optical-electrical-optical regeneration is required. As transmission systems and fibres have developed over the last 25 years, we have also seen those limitations shift amongst the fibre parameters...