TV MAG Issue 4
25/3/08
01:13
Page 10
FEATURE visit our new website at: www.television-magazine.co.uk
Setting Europe alight J.LeJeune visits the Fibre to the Home Council for Europe Conference 2008
S
ince the concept of a fibre optical network that is wholly fibre from end to end was first mooted, the FTTH Council for Europe Conferences have been held annually in a major European city, last year it was Barcelona, this year it was staged in Paris. Interest is growing internationally in the “last mile” of the cable network. At present the majority of Cable Networks are termed HFC (Hybrid Fibre/Copper) networks. This means that the last portion of the network, the bit that enters the customer’s house, is most definitely copper co-axial cable, the transition from optical to electrical signals being performed in a cabinet in the street somewhere in the neighbourhood. The copper network is the weakest link in a long chain of telecommunications cables that cover the whole of the British Isles and beyond. Although the technology is reliable it is also old and slow in relation to the data carrying capability of optical fibre.
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