Fiber Optics
You can find more infographics at Statista
Fiber optics is the most powerful technology for internet access.
It consists of a glass or plastic strand, thinner than a human hair, which carries a light signal capable of transporting large amounts of data at the speed of light over several hundred or even thousands of kilometers.
This technology has been used for over twenty years for backbone networks, but what's new is its deployment right up to the subscriber's home (FTTH deployment).
The Advantages of Fiber Optics
Fiber optics is a technology with many advantages, such as:
- Higher speeds: Fiber optics offers considerable speeds, approximately 100 times higher than the current ADSL network and can reach several gigabits for the end user. This ultra-fast Internet access allows for comfortable browsing and streaming of 4K content.
- Equal speeds between users: Unlike copper, fiber optics carries data over very long distances with virtually no signal attenuation. Furthermore, it is immune to potential electromagnetic interference.
- Symmetrical speeds: unlike the current network, data flows from the user to the network can be as fast as those from the network to the user.
- Virtually zero latency: data travels very quickly between the sender and the receiver, enabling an optimal experience for streaming video games.
- Access to new uses: the high symmetrical speeds offered by fiber enable the development of new and simultaneous uses (e.g., teleworking, telemedicine, home automation, etc.).
Fiber optics in France and around the world
Fiber optics accounted for approximately a quarter of fixed broadband Internet connections in OECD countries in the first half of 2018, a 7-point increase compared to 2015.
However, there are considerable differences in the deployment status of this technology between countries, according to the OECD. South Korea leads the way with 78.5% of broadband connections using fiber optics, just ahead of Japan (77.3%). The Baltic and Nordic countries are also well represented among the territories where this network is most developed. In contrast, countries like Germany and the United Kingdom are seriously lagging behind in comparison: fiber optics accounted for only 2.6% and 1.5% of broadband connections respectively in 2018.
It should be noted that in France, the share of fiber optic connections on the country's broadband internet network increased by 211% between 2015 and 2018, rising from 4.4% to 13.7% in the space of three years. France is now on par with Canada (13%) and the United States (13.8%).
Broadband
You can find more infographics at Statista
In France, the Autorité de régulation des communications électronique et des postes (ARCEP) classifies internet access as "broadband" when it offers a speed greater than 512 Kbps and less than 30 Mbps (a higher speed being called Very High Speed).
Broadband in France
Today, almost the entire country is covered by broadband. Indeed, copper networks, initially deployed for landline telephones, gradually enabled the introduction of DSL (generally ADSL) technology to a large proportion of homes starting in the 2000s.
Launched in 2013, the France Very High Speed Broadband Plan (THD) now aims to cover the entire country with THD by 2022, primarily relying on the deployment of shared fiber optic networks. The French government, local authorities, and private operators have invested €20 billion over ten years in this project.
Submarine Cables
Today, most coastal countries have at least one submarine cable. These cables account for nearly 99% of intercontinental traffic (the remaining 1% is handled by satellites).
As of February 2019, there were some 380 cables in service, representing approximately 1.2 million kilometers of pipes, and around sixty more were planned or under construction.
How They Work
A submarine cable operates using fiber optic technology. Thanks to fiber, this information travels from one end of the cable to the other at the speed of light.
One or more pairs of fibers can be housed within a submarine cable. One for the information path in one direction, and one for the data path in the other.
To install kilometers of fiber from one side of the oceans to the other, it is necessary to:
- Define their route, based on the underwater terrain and other existing infrastructure,
- Produce the cable,
- Install the cable. The lines are loaded onto large cable-laying ships, which unroll them and allow them to settle on the seabed, except near the coast where, generally for safety reasons, the line is "buried," i.e., buried. Then, the lines are connected to the terrestrial network at a landing station,
- Maintain the cable.
xDSL
Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) is a family of telecommunications network access technologies, also known as xDSL. These technologies generally provide high data transmission speeds (several megabits per second) over the traditional copper network used for analog telephone calls.
How it works and how it's evolving
This xDSL technology makes it possible for a telephone channel, a high-speed downstream channel (for downloading), and a medium-speed upstream channel (for uploading) to coexist on the same line. DSL generally relies on the existing telephone network and has thus been an attractive solution for providing fast internet access without requiring huge investments. The main drawback of copper wires, and therefore of DSL technologies, is signal attenuation with line length: not all users on the same local loop can benefit from the same theoretical maximum speeds. Thus, ADSL speeds depend primarily on four criteria: line length, telephone line quality, the modem or router used, and the type of connection between the computer and the modem (e.g., Wi-Fi, Ethernet cable, etc.). For proper voice reproduction, filters located at each end of the line eliminate unnecessary portions of the signal. Despite its limitations, DSL has been the foundation of a true digital revolution, providing fast Internet access to the greatest number of people since the turn of the millennium. This is why nearly a billion such connections are installed worldwide. In France, there are approximately 20 million ADSL subscriptions, representing two-thirds of fixed Internet access.
DSL has undergone several technical developments:
- Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) generally allows for speeds between 1 and 15 Mbps. ADSL 2+, a technical development of ADSL, allows for theoretical speeds of 20 Mbps.
- VDSL (Very High Bitrate DSL), also known as FttC for Fiber to the Cabinet, allows for theoretical speeds of around 15 to 50 megabits per second. Its unique feature is that it carries these high speeds via optical fiber to the subscriber's sub-distribution frame (which must be equipped with specific DSLAM equipment), with the rest of the local loop consisting of a pair of conventional copper wires. However, only subscribers located within one kilometer of the sub-distribution frame will be able to benefit from the increased speeds enabled by VDSL, due to the attenuation on the copper pair. VDSL2, a technical development of VDSL, allows for a theoretical download speed of 100 megabits per second, but Arcep is more cautious: the actual observed speed would be closer to 80 megabits per second due to greater sensitivity to electromagnetic interference.
Services
Choosing an xDSL offer generally means purchasing a package of services commonly referred to by commercial operators as a "triple-play" (landline telephony, broadband internet connection, and IP television). This is the primary solution for homes that are not yet covered by fiber but still want to enjoy high-speed broadband.
The Local Loop
The local loop refers to the facilities that connect the network termination point at the subscriber's premises to the main distribution frame or any other equivalent facility of a fixed electronic communications network open to the public. More simply, it is the part of the network infrastructure that connects the customer's home to the Connection Node, and therefore to the backbone.
The Local Loop in France
In France, this network was massively deployed in the 1970s by the telecoms administration to provide fixed telephony throughout the country.
Today, Orange (formerly France Télécom) owns this network, which consists of more than 30 million lines, connecting 13,000 telephone distribution frames, or subscriber connection nodes (SCNs), to subscriber premises (homes or businesses), via sub-distribution frames (intermediate levels).
The Backbone
The backbone, or internet backbone in French, is the nerve center of a broadband network.
In the telecommunications sector, it refers to the part that carries the bulk of traffic using the fastest technologies with high bandwidth and over long distances. The use of fiber optics is therefore mandatory in this segment of the network.
The backbone is connected to the various carriers' collection networks. It thus concentrates and transports data flows between tributary networks to the main Internet Exchange Points (IXPs).
A GIX
A Global Internet eXchange (GIX) or Internet eXchange Point (IXP) is an infrastructure that allows Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to exchange data with other telecommunications network operators and service providers such as Netflix, Amazon, or Dropbox. ISPs connect their backbones to IXPs to route their traffic. They therefore constitute strategic points of presence for all web players.
In Europe, the main IXPs are those in Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London, Stockholm, and Paris. A GIX therefore develops a "local" Internet by bringing service providers geographically closer to users.
In France, most GIXs are located in Paris. The main one is the Equinix Exchange Paris, consisting of two Data Centers and hosting 366 telecommunications operators and service providers in 2019.
External Sources
Benjamin Fradelle
Contact Benjamin Fradelle
A question about fixed network technologies? Need clarification for a future project? Send an email to Benjamin Fradelle, Associate Director at Tactis.