This was a paper I wrote in 2001 to describe the benefits and the reality of Fibre to the home. The paper was a supporting document to the business case that showed it was a profitable and doable venture. It was a great project and a lot of work was done on it by the private and the public sector. In the end, it was killed due to lack of vision by the public sector. It was a road not taken and that community today would have been changed for the positive. Recently, I was doing some work and I was asked about the possibility of Fibre to the home. It is as relevant and doable today as it was in 2001. It takes leadership to create change. You only management to maintain the change.
What is the Station?
The Station is an engine to awaken the community to the potential of the technological revolution, which started a mere 5 years ago with the advent of the affordable desktop computer and the opening of the world by the Internet. This engine is built and defined by the community and services all members of the community using an “equal access to all” model. Its lifeline is fibre optics.
Fibre to the home is not an engineering exercise; it is an old business case with a new twist. This business case is built on connecting the unconnected. It’s roots go back as far as the phone and even further back to the postal service. The basic need for people to communicate is as pervasive today as it was for our ancestors.
The new twist is a high-speed connection to the community and the world. This new connection, involves infrastructure similar to the phone system, and content similar to the postal service. This fibre method of delivery is very personal, fast, reliable and extremely flexible.
Build it, and they will come. The question is who is “they”. The common model places the businesses at the forefront. The business first model is to wire the businesses and the consumers will follow. This model is flawed for a community because it is based on high cost of entry and complex entry devices. Our model is a community model. Once a community is connected, the business groups now have a common access point to a given community, not just the technical elite. Due to the pervasive nature of the rollout, the community businesses now have access to a concentrated, wired community. This wired community will now have a louder voice and increased purchasing power.
Click here if you would like to see the full paper.