Editing Last mile (telecommunications) (section)

====Optical fiber====
{{Further|Optical fiber}}
Fiber offers high information capacity and after the turn of the 21st century became the deployed medium of choice ("[[Fiber to the x|Fiber to the ''x'']]") given its scalability in the face of the increasing bandwidth requirements of modern applications.

In 2004, according to Richard Lynch, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of the telecom giant [[Verizon]], the company saw the world moving toward vastly higher bandwidth applications as consumers loved everything broadband had to offer and eagerly devoured as much as they could get, including two-way, user-generated content. Copper and coaxial networks would not&nbsp;– in fact, could not&nbsp;– satisfy these demands, which precipitated Verizon's aggressive move into [[Fiber to the x|fiber-to-the-home]] via [[FiOS]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www22.verizon.com/Content/ExecutiveCenter/Richard_Lynch/ftth_conference_expo/ftth_conference_expo.htm|title=Verizon Leadership Executive Biographies - Verizon}}</ref>

Fiber is a [[future-proof]] technology that meets the needs of today's users, but unlike other copper-based and wireless last-mile mediums, also has the capacity for years to come, by upgrading the end-point optics and electronics without changing the fiber infrastructure. The fiber itself is installed on existing pole or conduit infrastructure and most of the cost is in labor, providing good regional [[economic stimulus]] in the deployment phase and providing a critical foundation for future regional commerce.

[[fixed line|Fixed copper lines]] have been subject to theft due to the value of copper, but optical fibers make unattractive targets. Optical fibers cannot be converted into anything else, whereas [[Copper#Recycling|copper can be recycled without loss]].