Optical transmission has several advantages over copper wire:
optical fibre's high bandwidth means that a lot more data can be transmitted faster.
A pair of copper wires (which is what most houses in urban areas use for the initial point of access to the Internet can transmit two telephone calls simultaneously, while a single optical fibre can transmit over80,000;
glass is cheaper and lighter than copper;
optical fibre is unaffected by electro-magnetic interference, and so is ideal in electrically "noisy" environments, eg where there is high voltage equipment nearby;
no electrical current is transmitted down a fibre (glass is a good insulator), so it is suitable in hazardous environments where electrical discharge would dangerous;
as transmission technology continues to improve, higher and higher bandwidths are possible over the same optical fibre links without having to replace the cables.
by
اسامة الصاوي , Head of maintenance department , alfa group
Because they can carry many times as many signals, with far
less degradation of the signals. One pair of optical fiber cables
can carry thousands of telephone conversations with better clarity
and requiring far fewer amplifiers along its path.
