FTTH (Fiber to the Home)
An access architecture where optical fiber runs all the way from the operator's central office or remote terminal directly into the subscriber's premises.
FTTH stands for Fiber to the Home. It refers to the fiber-optic access network architecture in which optical fiber runs from the operator's central office, headend, or local distribution point all the way to the subscriber's home or building, terminating at an Optical Network Terminal (ONT) inside the premises.
FTTH is the highest-performance and most future-proof of the common fiber access architectures, supporting symmetric multi-gigabit speeds and dramatically lower maintenance overhead than mixed copper/fiber alternatives like FTTC (Fiber to the Curb) or HFC (Hybrid Fiber-Coax). It's the architecture being deployed under most BEAD-funded broadband expansion programs in 2026.
FTTH networks are typically built using GPON or XGS-PON passive optical network technology, in which a single fiber from the central office is split — usually 1:32 or 1:16 — to serve multiple homes from one feeder strand. Active Ethernet (AON) is an alternative for higher-bandwidth or business-grade deployments.
In MapItRight, FTTH networks are modeled with strand-level connectivity from the OLT through the splitter cabinet to each subscriber's ONT, with full visibility into the splice plan, drop routing, and service-activation status of every endpoint.
FTTH networks are governed by ITU-T G.984 (GPON) and G.9807.1 (XGS-PON) standards, with downstream wavelengths of 1490 nm (GPON) or 1577 nm (XGS-PON) and upstream at 1310 nm. The optical power budget for a GPON link is typically 28 dB, accommodating up to 20 km of fiber distance and 1:32 split loss of approximately 17 dB, with the remainder allocated to connectors, splices, and fiber attenuation (~0.35 dB/km for G.652D single-mode fiber).
FTTH vs FTTC: FTTH eliminates the copper "last mile" entirely, eliminating distance-dependent bandwidth degradation. FTTC supports 100 Mbps over copper runs under 1,000 ft but degrades to 20–40 Mbps at 2,000 ft; FTTH sustains 1–10 Gbps regardless of home distance from the serving node. FTTH has higher upfront capital cost ($700–$1,500 per passing in greenfield) but 30–50% lower operational cost over a 20-year asset life due to the absence of copper maintenance and active field equipment.
Accurate FTTH network records directly affect BEAD eligibility, fault resolution time, and OSS/BSS provisioning accuracy. The FCC's location fabric requires operators to document every served location with GPS-grade coordinates; FTTH builds without strand-level GIS records cannot satisfy this requirement without manual reconciliation that typically takes 4–8 weeks per project. Fault localization in an unmodeled FTTH network can require 4–8 hours of manual OTDR tracing; a well-maintained GIS reduces that to under 30 minutes.
FTTH is deployed in three main configurations: greenfield residential subdivisions (typically 1:32 GPON, 200–600 homes per node), MDU/high-density urban (FTTB-style aggregation to building + in-building fiber, 1:16 or 1:32 split), and rural cooperative builds (smaller 1:16 or 1:8 splits over longer 15–20 km runs). Rural electric cooperatives and municipal utilities represent the fastest-growing operator segment in 2026 BEAD funding, deploying FTTH across territories where incumbent operators never built fiber.