[LINK] Anticipated service life of fibre

[Andy Farkas]

On 05/04/2016 10:52, Scott Howard wrote:

> 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...
>

On 03/12/2015 11:47, Andy Farkas wrote:
 >
 > "Quigley's response to senate Estimates on the life of fibre ...
 >
 > Senator McEWEN—Just on the same issue, there are claims
 > made that fibre technology does not have a life long enough
 > to guarantee a return on investment. Can you make some
 > comment about that, Mr Quigley?
 >
 > Mr Quigley—Yes, I have heard those. I have had the same
 > debates with some of the media, who simply, as I said before,
 > are not particularly interested in the facts on this issue. It
 > astonishes me, to be honest, given that we are seeing huge
 > increases worldwide in fibre deployments. Companies such as
 > AT&T, Verizon and DT, all throughout Asia, are all deploying
 > fibre. We speak to the manufacturers of fibre. They simply do
 > not know how long the fibre will last because they can see no
 > mechanism by which it would degrade—unlike copper, which
 > is metal and which is carrying current. There is a natural
 > tendency, then, to get levels of corrosion. This is glass. It is
 > inherently stable. It is strengthened. Clearly if somebody puts
 > a spade through it, as through a piece of copper, they will
 > break it. But there is no inherent reason why this fibre should
 > degrade over time. It is very, very stable. So there have been
 > lots of reports about a 12-year life. I do not know where this
 > data is coming from, but it certainly is not supported by the
 > evidence we see overseas and not supported by any of the
 > people who should know, who are the fibre manufacturers.
 >
 > Senator BIRMINGHAM—So you cannot put a lifespan on it at all?
 >
 > Mr Quigley—I could not, frankly. I cannot put a lifespan on it.
 >
 > <http://www.aph.gov.au/hansard/senate/commttee/S13299.pdf>

-andyf