[LINK] Anticipated service life of fibre (was: Does NBN need a third satellite?)

[Scott Howard]

On Mon, Apr 4, 2016 at 4:53 PM, Andy Farkas <andyf at andyit.com.au> wrote:

> David, you've mentioned this "anticipated service life" a few times now.
>
> None of us can see into the future, but what would replace something
> that can go at the (constant) speed of light? The life of a fibre cable
> is vastly longer than a century. They will probably only have to replace
> broken/crushed cables.
>

Not that it really matters, but the speed of flight is not at all a
constant.  The speed of light through a vacuum is a constant, but for
example through fiber optics (ie, glass) it is only around 2/3rds that
speed.

Do you have any references to fiber cabling having a lifespan of "vastly
longer than a century"?  Most cable manufacturers give a stated lifetime of
somewhere in the 20-40 years, with a general industry expectation that it
will normally last more than that - but I've never heard anyone claiming
"vastly longer than a century" before now...

  Scott