Fibre optic infrastructure has a virtually unlimited life – the oldest fibre optic installations have been deployed since the late 1970s and are still providing service after 40 years. The speeds of transmission over fibre optic cables do not need the physical infrastructure to be re-laid to obtain increased speeds: all that is required is more sophisticated electronic laser technology converting the electronic signals into light signals.
In the late seventies, fibre optics for communications ran at 45Mbps. In the last year, speeds in excess of 45 terabits/sec have been implemented – a performance upgrade of over 1 million times!
We envisage depreciating HCN's fibre optic infrastructure over twenty years, though in reality its life may be considerably greater. It is not only a viable infrastructure for Herefordshire's residents today, but is genuinely future-proofed.