Fiber Optic Infrastructure

Fiber optic networks provide critical infrastructure for both cellular and broadband service providers. There are three main functions.

Cellular Backhaul

Radio frequency antenna and equipment on towers only transmit between a cell phone and the tower. Cellular service providers need fiber optic networks to backhaul, or transport voice and data between their tower installations and national and international phone networks. 

Middle-mile Broadband 

Broadband service providers – whether wired or wireless - need fiber networks to transport data over the middle miles to network hubs that make Internet connections worldwide. If providers don’t have access to enough bandwidth, end-users experience slow Internet speeds, even if the infrastructure within a local community can handle very high speeds.

Last-mile Broadband 

Fiber is capable of providing very high speed broadband service directly to end-users by extending the last mile, all the way to homes or businesses. This is known as Fiber-to-the-Premise (FTTP). In some cases, telephone and video services are also offered on the same FTTP lines that carry broadband service.