Fixed Network Business Case Remains Challenging

No single access platform ever is the “best” or “only” solution for a communications objective. Though mobile widely has become the key enabling platform in much of the world, there are times when satellite or fixed wireless is the only economically-viable option.

Likewise, despite the bandwidth advantages of a fiber-backed fixed network, the business case

is severe, in many cases.

By some estimates, fiber to the home or fiber to the curb has a positive business case in less than 50 percent of instances, and far less than that in the developing world, according to the International Telecommunications Union.