How Novel Installation Solutions and Smaller Lighter Cable Deliver More Economic Deployment of Optical Fiber

Abstract:
With the so-called “Internet of Things” emerging and 5th Generation Mobile Networks (5G) under development, the amount of data that mobile networks will soon have to handle will be multiple times greater than the volume of data backhauled today. Although wireless technologies have mostly coped so far with bandwidth demand, operators regard fiber as the truly future proof solution for backhaul of data from macrocells and small cell sites. However, the high level of investment, driven by the high cost of civil works, when installing optical cable, has hindered the growth of optical fiber in mobile backhaul networks. This paper analyses the economics behind this trend and explores innovative optical cable designs and installation techniques to demonstrate how the level of investment required for new fiber builds can be reduced and how operators can develop new revenue streams from such infrastructure.