It currently works for TCI Cablevision in Washington and Oregon. Locally, TCI plans to have most of the Puget Sound area on a fiber optic system by 2000, according to Bill Bennett, general manager of the North Seattle office. The total project cost in the Puget Sound area will run into the hundreds of millions of dollars. The current coaxial cable system offers 330 megahertz. Cable companies are working with the same intensity nationwide.
Utility companies explain that the reason is so they can be poised to meet the future.
On a practical level, fiber optic systems are cheaper to design, construct and maintain. In spite of the fevered pace of design and construction, and the huge capital investment, the current copper system is adequate for most uses, according to Doug Bors, principal in charge of technology at Sparling Inc., a 100-person electrical engineering firm in Seattle. In its telecommunications division, about 20 percent of the revenues come from fiber optic design. Special cases, such as a company with over one thousand phone users at one location, demand fiber optics, Bors said. But, unless the owner is already embroiled in a serious electrical remodel, present copper systems hold their own, Bors said.