Bell South To Deliver Fiber-To-The-Home

Bell South has announced that it is building the nationís first fiber-to-the-home network in an Atlanta, Georgia suburb to verify the technical and financial viability of its current approach to combining voice, data and video onto a single fiber-optic cable that goes all the way to a customerís home.Bell South has already connected about 300,000 homes with fiber-to-the-curb networks, which carry a high-capacity fiber-optic cable to a point a few hundred feet from customers. From there a single electronic device known as an optical network unit serves to eight to 16 homes. The newest network, which services 400 of Bell Southís fiber-optic customers uses a passive optical network technology, called PON, which directs lightwaves without the use of an electronic optical network unit in the field. Bell South plans to use an Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) network initially to deliver high-speed data, along with 120 digital video channels, 70 analog video channels and 31 digital audio channels. Voice service is planned within the first year of operation. The network can deliver data at speeds up to 100 megabits per second.Bell South has been part of a global consortium investigating ATM-PON networks, known as the Full Service Access Network group and is working with Nippon Telegraph & Telephone, the Japanese telecom service provider recognized to be the world leader in fiber-to-the-home technology.