Fibre can support the speeds and applications we are increasingly using now and will into the future
What is ‘fibre to the premises’?
Fibre is a thin glass or plastic strand that carries light along its length. Light from lasers is shone down the fibre and detected by a receiver at the other end of the fibre.
How fast is the NBN fibre network?
The NBN fibre network currently offers speeds up to 100 megabits per second (Mbps) download/40 Mbps upload.
It is capable of delivering speeds up to one gigabit per second (1000 Mbps) download and higher in the future.
- NBN Co will launch new products and more features over time in a series of product releases
Why is fibre to the premises called a ‘future proof’ technology?
Fibre to the premises provides the high speeds and reliability required for advanced digital services and can support a wide range of high bandwidth applications at once.
Fibre can also be easily upgraded to meet increasing demands for bandwidth, as it’s actually the network electronics not the cable itself that sets the limits on speeds.
Why are we rolling out a fixed network instead of wireless?
Wireless technologies are well suited to low population areas, but to get consistently high speeds a limited number of users is best––the more people sharing the service the slower the speeds become.
Fibre provides far better broadband services for populated areas than other technologies.
It can transmit more data over longer distances than copper or wireless technologies and can be upgraded to provide faster speeds.
There is a global trend towards rolling out fibre to the premises as the preferred technology for delivering next-generation broadband, with countries including the United States, Japan, Korea, Denmark, France, Spain and Sweden using similar technology when rolling out broadband networks.
How is fibre to the premises different from fibre to the node?
Fibre to the node (FTTN) relies on a copper network in the last part of the network to deliver broadband to homes and businesses. This means that while it is faster than copper alone, it can’t achieve the same speeds and reliability as a fibre to the home (FTTH or FTTP) network. It also means that in order to roll out FTTP a further technology upgrade would be required with associated rollout costs.
FTTP is designed to take advantage of future developments in technology––in fact it’s been the technology of choice for high capacity networks for around 30 years.
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