The Opening Up of Communications -- Towards Wideband Telecommunications

For a century telecommunications services have been restricted to fit into a 3000 Hz channel. Now we are beginning to see the glimmer of both an ability and a demand to provide wideband services. On the ability side, optical technology is doubling the capacity of lightwave communication links each year. Though this increased capacity has so far been confined largely to the longhaul network, engineers are pushing hard to bring fibers into the home. On the demand side, ISDN is stimulating the derivation of wider band telecommunications services, while local area networks are creating markets in the much higher rate regimes. Many of the potential services have to do with image transmission, from facsimile and still photos through HDTV. Is a picture worth a thousand words? Wideband is betting it is.