Until the early 1980s the bulk of long-distance transmission was provided by analog systems in which individual telephone conversations were stacked in four-kilohertz intervals across the transmission band—a process known as frequency-division multiplexing (FDM). However, particularly with the development of fibre optics (see below), these analog systems were rapidly replaced by digital systems. In digital transmission, which may also be carried over the coaxial and microwave systems, the telephone signals are first converted from an analog format to a quantized, discrete time format. The signals are then multiplexed together using time-division multiplexing (TDM), a method in which each digitized telephone signal is assigned a specific slot within a fixed time frame. In order to provide standard interfaces between transmission and switching equipment, multiplexed signals are further combined or aggregated in hierarchical arrangements.

Coaxial cable

Long-distance coaxial cable systems were introduced in the United States in 1946. Employing analog FDM methods, the first coaxial system could support 1,800 two-way voice circuits by bundling together three working pairs of cable, each pair transmitting 600 voice signals simultaneously. In the last analog coaxial system, deployed in 1978, each pair of cables transmitted 13,200 voice signals, and the cable bundle contained 10 working pairs; this combination supported 132,000 two-way voice circuits. Digital coaxial systems were introduced into the U.S. long-distance network beginning in 1962. TDM, a digital cable system first deployed in 1975, can support up to 40,320 two-way voice circuits over 10 working pairs of coaxial cable.

Microwave link

Long-distance transmission also has been provided by radio link in the form of point-to-point microwave systems. First employed in 1950, microwave transmission has the advantage of not requiring access to all contiguous land along the path of the system. Because microwave systems are line-of-sight media, radio towers must be spaced approximately every 42 km (25 miles) along the route. Point-to-point microwave systems generally operate in the frequency ranges of 3.7–4.2 gigahertz or 5.925–6.425 gigahertz; some systems operate at 11 or 18 gigahertz. Following the trend of coaxial cable systems, the first microwave links were analog systems. Early systems had a capacity of 2,400 two-way voice circuits, and later systems could support 61,800 two-way circuits. Beginning in 1981, digital microwave systems began to be deployed in the U.S. system that could support the wide range of digital services available over the PSTN.

Optical-fibre cable

Because of their great bandwidth, reliability, and low cost, optical fibres became the preferred medium in both short-haul and long-haul transmission systems following their first deployment in 1979. Since 1990 there has been significant progress in the development of fibre optics, permitting transmission at ever higher data rates. Several different technologies have been essential in this development: so-called nonzero-dispersion optical fibres, which permit the transmission of multiple wavelengths of light at high data rates; erbium-doped fibre amplifiers, which use a laser pump source to amplify optical signals over long distances; and “tunable” lasers, which generate light at several frequencies, thereby permitting transmission of multiple wavelengths over a single optical fibre. Multiple wavelength transmission, known as wave division multiplexing (WDM), allows higher data rates to be achieved over a single fibre; when 40 or more different wavelengths are multiplexed, the technique is known as dense wave division multiplexing (DWDM). DWDM technology has permitted data transmission at rates of 400 gigabits per second, each wavelength supporting approximately 10 gigabits per second. These data rates are equivalent to some 6,000,000 voice circuits per fibre and 150,000 voice circuits per wavelength. Long-distance carriers in the developed world make use of optical fibre technology at a variety of data rates. Most systems employ the standardized hierarchy of digital transmission rates known as the synchronous optical network (SONET) or optical carrier (OC) in the United States and as the synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH) elsewhere, as shown in the table.