Fibertothebuilding

Fiber to the Building (FTTB) is a form of fiber optic telecommunications architecture in which optical fiber reaches the exterior of a building, such as a multi-dwelling unit or office block, but does not extend fiber to each individual unit. The in-building distribution then carries the service to the premises using copper, coaxial, or internal fiber networks. FTTB is commonly deployed in urban environments to provide high-bandwidth access to multiple tenants from a single aggregation point.

In typical FTTB deployments, fiber terminates at a central point within the building, often a basement or a telecommunications room. From there, the internal network distributes the signal to units via an in-building infrastructure such as Ethernet, coax, or copper pair cables. The service provided to tenants is then delivered by an Optical Line Terminal (OLT) at the service provider and an Optical Network Terminal (ONT) or Network Termination Equipment located inside the building. Inside the building, technologies may include Passive Optical Network (PON) architectures or active Ethernet, depending on the provider and building characteristics.

FTTB is often compared with FTTH (fiber to the home) and FTTC (fiber to the cabinet). It can reduce the cost of fiber deployment by sharing the fiber backbone among multiple units while still delivering high-capacity downstream and upstream connections. However, final performance can be constrained by the building’s internal wiring and in-building distribution equipment. Deployment considerations include planning for security, maintenance responsibilities, and coordination with building management and tenants. FTTB remains a common stepping-stone toward full FTTP in many markets.