Japanese Field Trails and Applications in Telephony

Since the development of low-loss optical fibers, the excellent characteristics of optical fibers in general have been widely recognized. Research and development activities have been extensively carried out in the past decade and many field trials have been conducted toward realizing fiber optic communication systems. At present, fiber optic communication systems are being practically used in a wide range of application areas. This paper reviews field trials and applications of fiber optic communication systems in Japan, focusing on public telecommunications.