A Comparative Economic Analysis of different FTTH Architectures

Bandwidth demand is rising sharply in the world. The ultimate solution is the substitution of copper with fiber in access networks. There are multiple architectures of implementing fiber and it is crucial to find one which is most cost effective. External factors like housing costs, area characteristics and labor cost play an important role in cost estimations. In this paper engineering cost method is employed to calculate the cost per subscriber of different architectures under different conditions. As sunk costs are very high so take rate (number of homes covered by the access network that subscribe to the service) plays a vital role. Feeder fiber length and maintenance costs are other important factors. The architectures utilizing the existing copper or cable distribution networks are most cost efficient but the ultimate solution will be fiber up to the home fulfilling all future bandwidth demands. The maintenance cost over the life is also lowest for all fiber networks. At present telecom companies are encouraged to employ fiber in their feeder networks.