City of Light: The Story of Fiber Optics

222 CITY OF LIGHT
puter that showed only boxy letters and pictures. To Elie in 1982, it was a
marvel of modern technology. A man who farmed nearly three square miles
used it to check grain futures and hog prices. Children mastered the new toy
quickly, briefly overloading the system when they discovered video games.
The system was a humble wonder, serving everyday people. I talked with
them in the local headquarters, a carpeted trailer partly filled with electronics,
parked in back of the small block building that housed the local telephone
office. They welcomed me, the visiting reporter from distant Boston, as part
of the exotic world that had entered their ordinary lives. I relaxed, reflected
on the future I thought was coming soon, and wrote an optimistic feature on
the future of ‘‘Fiberopolis’’ for Omni. 23
The Canadian communications department and Manitoba Telephone were
less optimistic when they added up the numbers. Fiber-optic hardware
worked, but it was expensive. Funding for a planned second stage fizzled, and
they shut the system down after 18 months. 24
A Grand Plan for Biarritz
Meanwhile, France was trying to assemble the world’s biggest, boldest system,
serving 1500 homes in the coastal resort of Biarritz. Politics played a big role
in the decision. France was lagging badly in technology; in 1974, only 6.2
million phone lines served the country’s 53 million people, and cable television
was virtually nonexistent. The government pumped $30 billion into
France Telecom for a badly needed modernization program, which added 10
million more phone lines by the end of 1980. 25 France became the only country
to get videotex off the ground, by giving customers cheap terminals called
Minitels in lieu of phone directories.
French planners also embraced fiber optics with an enthusiasm that made
Hi-OVIS look almost timid. French engineers had returned to fiber optics after
Charles Kao generated global interest, building up a small fiber industry. 26
Most observers thought France lagged well behind the United States, Britain
and Japan. The Biarritz project, announced in September 1978, was intended
to change that. Located on the Bay of Biscay near the Spanish border, Biarritz
is a flashy resort with 28,000 year-round residents and an international reputation.
Cliffs rise above warm ocean beaches that are crowded with sunbathers
in the summer. The famous playground was a striking contrast to
the upper-crust Japanese suburb and the tiny Canadian prairie towns.
The Biarritz system was designed to carry all the latest services—including
videotex, picture telephone, standard telephone, and radio and television signals.
27 When initial contracts were signed at the end of 1980, the estimated
bill was $100 million, more per home than the less-ambitious Elie system,
but much less than Hi-OVIS. 28
The initial goal was to connect 1500 homes in early 1983, 29 with possible
later expansion to 5000 homes, but the schedule slipped because of laser
problems. The first 50 homes went on line in 1984, and not until the summer