Future Local Telephone Network Configurations

This paper presents the concept of dividing a local office service area under the present telephone network into blocks of switching areas to make up a local network with small, distributed switching nodes because switching costs will become much cheaper relative to cable laying costs due to LSI technology progress. In this paper, cable laying cost and switching cost are taken as the two main factors in determining future local network configurations. First, the cable laying cost is formulated using cable duct and circuit length. Next, the switching system cost is formulated based on the relation between capability and cost of components such as gates and memories. Finally, local telephone network cost is calculated, using the cost formulas obtained and data available at present. The conclusion is that from the cost-effective point of view, conventional local network office service areas should be divided into 9 to 16 blocks.