Will Fiber Optics play a major role in the future of telecommunications?

Answer 1

They already do. In fact, WilTel laid too many lines, and couldn't lease them all. There is a glut of fiber optics already. It is the only way to go for data communication.

You're about 10-15 yrs behind.

Answer 2

I think that Fiber Optics will continue to play a very imporant role in Telecom. It is the main way to transmitt large amounts of information. At the end of the line people are using wireless, but it is way too slow for major line transmission. Currently, there are many dark fibers in the ground for main line transmission, but metro areas still need a lot of new fiber to bring the signals out to the curb and even into the house. Even with the glut of dark fiber in the ground, many side and smaller areas still need a lot fiber. Now is the time to build out to the smaller areas.

Corning is major producer of optic fibers check their annual report for more info. Other companies lay it and lease the lite and dark fiber.

Answer 3

I never expected to find a Time Traveler here on Yahoo! Answers.

I asume you come from the 80s.

We now have fiber optics under the Ocean! and they connect America with Europe.

We also have fiber optics from Alaska to Argentina.

Can you believe we now can call to any telphone number in the United States of America for FREE?

All you need is a software called Skype from a company called Ebay.

Also AT&T was declared a monopoly back in 1984 and it was break up in seven companies:
Ameritech
Bell Atalntic
Bellsouth
NYNEX
Pacific Telesis
Southwestern Bell
US West

AT&T is now gone. (Can you believe it?)

Last year AT&T was bought by one of their former "babies" and Soutwestern Bell bought AT&T and renamed itself .

Fiber Optics was huge in the last two decades.

We now can send information over Coaxial Cables (Those black cables plugged to your TV) over Satellites in Space and over the air with a technology called 802.11n

Answer 4

Agree with dredude, but it's not quite dead.
U.S. telco's are spending billions to build fibre to your house (verizon) or to your local node (at&t). They plan to do this to sell tv-video type services and compete with cable ...who are using voip to take traditional telephony business.