FALLBROOK, Calif. -- The Fiber Optic Association, Inc. (FOA) has introduced a new certification program for Fiber To The Home/Premises (FTTx) technicians to be offered through the network of FOA-approved training organizations. Many of the 140+ FOA-approved schools are expected to offer specialized training and certification based on the FOA CFxT (Certified FTTx Technician) program.

Fiber is now gaining acceptance in the final frontier of telephone networks, the "last mile," the connection to the home. Many homes are connected with aging, low performance copper telephone wire that cannot even support DSL connection speeds to allow the phone companies to compete with the cable modems used by CATV companies for broadband access.

Phone companies are now realizing the only choice for upgrading the subscriber connection is fiber to the premise or home (called FTTP, FTTH, or FTTx). Low priced components and new network architectures along with new broadband services make FTTx financially attractive for the first time. Phone companies like Verizon, AT&T and Bell Canada are committing billions of dollars to plans for connecting millions of home with fiber in the near future.

If any progress is to be made on FTTH connections, literally millions of connections must be made each year. If one installer can do two houses a day, 500 per year, then 2,000 installers will be needed to do a million homes. Right now, phone companies are hiring hundreds of techs to install FTTx. CATV companies are considering fiber to replace aging hybrid fiber-coax networks. Municipalities and private developers are looking at installing their own FTTx systems because users are demanding the highest bandwidth broadband connections for new and future services.

All these plans depend on finding or training adquate numbers of technicians. The FOA, working with operating companies, municipalities, installers and our approved schools has developed requirements for FTTx training and certification, with the goal of providing enough qualified FTTx installation technicians to make these plans possible.

Fiber Optic Association