Business Prospects of Wide-Scale Deployment of Free Space Optical Technology as a Last-Mile Solution: A Techno-Economic Analysis

In this paper, a techno-economic evaluation of the business prospects of a wide scale deployment of Free Space Optical (FSO) technology as a last mile solution is carried out. The evaluation is based on the TONIC tool which takes into account network topology, area characteristics, service demand and price evolution forecasting and calculates key economic figures-of-merits. It is shown that FSO technology could provide a viable alternative in situations where the duct availability is limited and Fiber-to-the-Home/Office or Fiber- to-the-Cabinet scenarios have negative or less favorable business prospects.