Passive Optical Network (PON)
A passive optical network is a fibre access network that uses unpowered splitters to share a single fibre from the provider among many customers.
What is Passive Optical Network (PON)?
In a PON, one OLT port sends light down one fibre. Passive splitters divide it in a branching tree to reach many customers' ONTs, and nothing in the field needs power. Capacity is shared among the users on the tree, which makes PON a cost-effective way to bring very high speeds to many homes, especially in built-up areas. The main standards families are ITU-T PON (GPON, XGS-PON) and IEEE Ethernet PON (EPON, 10G-EPON).