Where is Fiber Optics Taking Us?

Fiber optic technology is evolving at an enormous pace. A single fiber today can support experimental speeds of as much as 16 gigabits per second, and this limit has been doubling about every two years. Yet the growth in telecommunications traffic is less than 10% per year. How can we resolve the apparent paradox represented by these figures? Will bits become free? Will communications channels become routinely wideband? And what new service opportunities are made possible by an evolution to higher capacity fibers? These are the questions that make the fiber world go round and round.