The issues and practicalities of providing power to the fiber loop

It is argued that the key to increasing the deployment of fiber in the local loop has long been the economics of fiber versus copper. One major contributor of cost to the network is the requirement for power for the optical network unit (ONU), which will decline as the power needed for the ONU electronics is reduced by improved designs and by system suppliers. The history of loop powering is reviewed, and several innovations that will reduce the initial cost and long-term total system cost, including service and upgrade of loop systems, are described. It is shown that improvements in battery life expectancy will provide greater reliability of POTS service