Abstract

The history of broadband communication networks in the United States, which has been coming over the last decade, has been one of initial trials in the trunk network followed by early deployment prototypes in the early 1980s. The proof came very rapidly, first, in the operating company metropolitan trunk networks with particular emphasis on long-haul trunk fields. This was especially evident at divestiture as interexchange carriers rushed to provide a high-quality medium to gain both cost and service advantages in a rapidly emerging market.

© 1989 Optical Society of America