Fiber to the Curb (FTTC)
FTTC extends high-capacity fiber from the central office to a street cabinet or pedestal located at the curb — typically within 300 meters of subscriber premises. From that curb-side cabinet, the final connection to each home or business runs over existing copper or coaxial infrastructure, dramatically reducing the cost of the last-mile upgrade while delivering substantially higher bandwidth than legacy all-copper networks.
iFiber Optix supplies the complete fiber infrastructure for every layer of an FTTC deployment, with particular depth in the feeder cable, splice and splitter hardware, street cabinet termination, and outdoor-rated enclosures that curb-side deployments demand.
FTTC Network Architecture
Select any segment in the diagram to see the iFiber Optix products deployed at that layer — from CO feeder through street cabinet termination and curb-side distribution.
Select any segment in the diagram to see the iFiber Optix products at that layer of the FTTC architecture.
Select Your Deployment Environment
FTTC street cabinet deployments vary significantly by environment — urban density, available duct infrastructure, and cabinet type all affect the fiber hardware required. Select your environment below.
High-Density Urban Street Cabinet
Urban FTTC deployments use high-count duct-buried feeder cable running from the CO to dense street cabinets serving 50–200 premises each. Compact enclosure hardware inside the cabinet must organize high fiber counts in minimal space — with full weather and tamper resistance.
- Feeder count: 96–432 fibers from CO to FDH
- Cabinet drops: 12–48 fibers per street cabinet
- Installation: Duct-buried, conduit, or direct-buried
- Cabinet rating: NEMA 4X / IP 65 minimum
Suburban Residential Street Runs
Suburban FTTC deployments serve lower-density residential streets with smaller cabinets — typically serving 24–96 premises each — fed by medium-count direct-buried or conduit-run feeder cable. Pedestals or above-grade cabinets provide accessible, weatherproof fiber termination at each serving area.
- Feeder count: 24–96 fibers CO to pedestal
- Cabinet drops: 4–24 fibers per cabinet
- Installation: Direct-buried or conduit, aerial secondary
- Cabinet type: Pedestal or above-grade pole-mount
Overhead Aerial Cable Plant
Aerial FTTC deployments lash singlemode feeder cable to existing utility poles or use self-supporting ADSS cable — running from the CO or hub site along pole routes to street cabinets or aerial-mounted pedestals. Cable must withstand wind, ice, UV, and the sag and tension demands of aerial spans.
- Cable type: Lashed aerial or ADSS self-supporting
- Span length: 30–100 m pole spacing typical
- UV & weather: Full outdoor aerial rating required
- Cabinet: Pole-mount or strand-mount enclosure
Outside Plant Feeder Cable
The OSP feeder connecting the CO to street cabinets — gel-free singlemode construction for fast mid-span access at every splice and distribution point along the route.
Corning ALTOS® Loose Tube, Gel-Free Cable
The standard FTTC feeder backbone — gel-free waterblocking eliminates splice closure cleanup at every mid-span access point, which is particularly valuable in dense urban FTTC deployments where feeder access is frequent. SZ-stranded loose tube design allows rapid buffer tube access at pedestals and FDH enclosures without special tools or cleanup.
Enclosures & Distribution Hardware
FTTC requires weather-rated enclosure hardware at every point in the outside plant — CO rack, FDH pedestal, and street cabinet — organized to manage high fiber counts in compact outdoor footprints.
CCH Housings & Panels
1U–4U Corning LANscape® compatible rack enclosures for organized CO feeder cable termination, splice management, and equipment interconnect.
HD Rack Mount — P Series
Ultra-high-density 1RU–4RU rack panels for high-count CO and hub site feeder termination — up to 576 LC DX ports in 4RU with MTP cassette modules.
Wall Mount Enclosures
Compact NEMA-rated LGX wall-mount and mini wall-mount enclosures for street cabinet and pedestal fiber termination in outdoor curb-side environments.
Splice Cassettes
LGX and Corning-compatible splice cassettes for organized fusion splice management inside FDH pedestals and street cabinet fiber enclosures.
How FTTC Differs from FTTH & FTTP
- Fiber reaches every individual premises
- No copper in the subscriber path
- ONT or structured panel at each unit
- Higher infrastructure cost per premises
- Unlimited bandwidth potential to each subscriber
- Fiber ends at the street cabinet — copper last mile
- Existing copper pairs reused from cabinet to premises
- No fiber termination hardware at individual premises
- Lower cost per premises — faster large-scale rollout
- Bandwidth limited by copper length (up to ~300 m)