## 1 Introduction
For instance, it was shown in [5] that by using XG-PONs instead of point-to-point fibers, fiber backhaul deployment costs in 4G CoMP architectures can be reduced by up to 80%. In fact, in emerging LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) heterogeneous networks (HetNets), where femtocells with small, inexpensive, low-power BSs are introduced to supplement existing macrocells for the sake of an improved (indoor) coverage, enhanced cell-edge user performance, and boosted spectral efficiency per area unit, a cellular paradigm shift is required that recognizes the importance of high-speed backhaul connections, given that most 4G research so far has been focusing on the achievable performance gains in the wireless front-end only without looking into the details of backhaul implementations and possible backhaul bottlenecks [6]. Very recently, however, in their seminal work on quantifying the impact of different backhaul topologies (mesh _vs._ tree) and backhaul technologies (e.g., WDM PON) on the performance of cellular networks, [PERSON] _et al._ have shown that ultimately the major factor limiting CoMP performance in 4G mobile networks is _latency_ rather than capacity of the backhaul [7]. To help identify open key research challenges for NG-PONs and converged fiber-wireless (FiWi) broadband access networks, it is important to consider emerging trends in related areas in order to shift the post NG-PON2 research focus from mere capacity provisioning to more lucrative solution offerings by developing holistic groundbreaking solutions across multiple economic sectors other than telecommunications _per se_. Toward this end, we will first elaborate on emerging trends and open challenges for post NG-PON2 research. We will then highlight advanced techniques to reduce latency in NG-PON based backhaul infrastructures and describe them in greater detail. More interestingly, to better comprehend the true potential of the aforementioned emerging trends, it is helpful to put them into a wider non-technical context and see how they fit into the bigger picture of present (and past) economic recessions. The current global crisis is far from unexpected, but rather represents a recurrent historical event that is typical for capitalist economies. As recently explained by [PERSON] in her excellent work on the implications of financial collapses [8], there have been four previous situations equivalent to the current crisis in the past two centuries since the first industrial revolution. Figure 2 illustrates the historical recurrence of recessions as turning points, where roughly every 50 years the installation period of new technologies, the time when financial capital shapes the economy, has led each time to a major bubble followed by a major crash. This is the time for states to come back actively to change the focus from the stock market indices to the job-creating expansion of the real economy and increase in social wellbeing and to take convergent and synergistic actions that will lead markets and society to the next golden age, or deployment period, where the benefits of new technologies are fully realized across the entire economy, thereby offering a vast innovation and growth potential across multiple economic sectors. Toward this end, according to [PERSON], it is vital to expand Internet access either with fiber to the home (FTTH) or with wireless broadband access and combine ICTs with massive \"green\" innovations in order to usher in a _sustainable global golden age_, which appears to be the only sustainable means to both stimulate the US and European economies and allow the incorporation of hundreds of millions of new consumers of a rapidly rising global middle class with more sustainable lifestyles and consumption patterns than in the past. In this paper, we argue that NG-PONs and FiWi access networks will represent a cornerstone of future broadband installations and explore ways of how they can be deployed across relevant economic sectors other than telecommunications per se.