Asked how Tullahoma’s FTTP differs from others, Toccalino said, "Honestly from what we can see it’s that the system is a very clean system," meaning that the TUB power poles are not heavily "encumbered" which would make it harder for Atlantic crews to install the needed equipment to provide fiber optic services to TUB customers.

“Certainly all estimates of markets have error, but RVA uses one of the most extensive processes ever used in the telecom industry to minimize this error…"

In a hybrid system, carriers would replace their GPON wavelengths with four different GPON wavelengths, all within the existing 20 nanometer window but partitioned in smaller 5-nm slices. Carriers might add filters to the nodes between their central offices and their customers rather than to all customers’ homes.

However, a full-scale nationwide deployment is unlikely. According to Telstra, the company is only considering FTTH in "new greenfield estates where there is appropriate investment by the developer, and Telstra can make a commercial return on its investment".

In general, start-ups can attract attention by promising to cut the in-home costs of fiber deployment. Though discussions of fiber-to-the-x costs typically focus on getting fiber to the side of the home, in-home costs can add more than $500 per home to that equation, Jones said. Start-ups that can ease those expenses, through home networking, storage consolidation and consumer electronics such as set-top boxes, will have investors’ ears.