ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the different architectures for the provision of broadband interactive services. These architectures can be further categorized into two levels of sophistication: the plain vanilla flavors, which provide only telephony or analog video services, and the upgrades to these same architectures, which provide interactive video and other advanced services. The chapter focuses on Hybrid Fiber-Coax (HFC), Digital Loop Carrier, and Fiber-to-the-Curb (FTTC), which are provided as the baseline architectures designed for telephony or broadcast video service provision. It presents an economic comparison of HFC- and FTTC-based architectures when they are deployed to carry a full range of services. In particular, cost analysis of the HFC architecture supporting analog broadcast, interactive video, and telecommunications services is presented. From a public policy perspective, if the long-term goal is to empower everyone to be a producer as well as a consumer of content, policymakers should be opposed to HFC systems due to the asymmetric nature of the architecture.
