Fiber networks connect more people than ever before. More than one billion homes and businesses worldwide rely on fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) technologies for internet connectivity. But advances in fiber performance can support many other use cases beyond providing access to the web. Fiber is everywhere, so it can be used to connect everything—homes, businesses, Industry 4.0, smart cities and 5G cells—all on the same infrastructure.

In other words, fiber networks are gifts that keep on giving. For evidence, we can look to EPB, world-class energy and connectivity provider to the Gigabit City of Chattanooga, Tennessee, and winner of the 2024 Network X award for Leading PON-based Smart City Service with technology partner Nokia. EPB uses a 100 percent fiber optic infrastructure to reliably and efficiently deliver energy, communications and related services ranging from mission-critical services for America’s most resilient smart grid to the world’s fastest internet service, delivering data rates up to 25 gigabits per second.

EPB’s fiber optic network has transformed Chattanooga into a thriving smart city. Now, with 10G and 25G passive optical network (PON) infrastructure, EPB is helping the city improve internet access, reduce power outages, boost the local economy and enhance public safety through real-time traffic monitoring.

Smart grid

All the mission-critical communication that drives EPB’s smart grid runs over the same fiber optic network that provides internet services. This network connects more than 1,400 smart switches, which automatically reroute power when infrastructure is damaged to prevent as many outages as possible and increase the reliability of the power system. It also connects to EPB’s supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system to ensure that its operations teams have full visibility of what’s going on in the electricity grid. These capabilities have helped reduce annual power outages by 50 percent.

Smart city

EPB and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC) have collaborated to create the largest smart city test bed in the US. UTC has put up cameras, LiDAR sensors, and weather and sound detectors to gather data and study traffic and pedestrian patterns in Chattanooga’s downtown area. It plans to use the data to develop better ways to time traffic lights, move people and cars more efficiently, and avoid traffic accidents.

Smart business

Since 2022, EPB has offered up to 25G broadband services to boost fiber broadband capacity and address new opportunities. The Chattanooga Convention Center and the Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport were the first to connect. Ultra-fast broadband services have allowed these business to provide better communications services to their customers for personal entertainment and business activities.

Quantum networking

EPB launched America’s first industry-led, commercially available quantum network in 2022. The EPB Quantum Network is designed to enable private companies and government and university researchers to run quantum equipment and applications in an established fiber optic environment.

One fiber network, many opportunities

Watch our video interview with EPB to find out more about how the company is using Nokia 10G and 25G PON infrastructure to provide faster internet service, reduce power outages, enhance public safety, build the first commercially available quantum network and more.

Visit our Fiber for Everything page to learn more about how our PON solution can help you reduce cost, cut power consumption and meet current and future demands—all with one network infrastructure.