Broadband access to the Internet - an overview

The evolution of the modern telecommunication environment depends on three main factors: (i) the market demand for new services, (ii) the politically stimulated liberalisation of the telecommunication market, and (iii) the technological advances of new telecommunication technologies. The technological advances include getting the fibre closer to the subscribers, cheaper equipment costs and standardisation. Network operators are forced nowadays to enable, by offering new services, very high profit in a very short period of time with limited investment. For this reason, especially the access network and the technologies linked to it have an increasing importance for the economic success of an operator in a liberalised telecommunication market. This article describes the most distinguishing aspects of an access network, its positioning within a telecommunication system, and the most important technological developments in this field: Fibre In The Loop (FITL) systems, Digital Subscriber Line (xDSL) technologies on copper twisted pair and the Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) technology on CATV networks.