Abstract
This review paper examines how large-scale fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) deployment in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) can be optimized for cost without weakening network quality, scalability, or long-term digital policy goals. The topic is strategically important because Saudi Arabia’s digital transformation agenda depends on robust fixed infrastructure to support cloud services, smart homes, e-government, education, telemedicine, enterprise connectivity, and the backhaul requirements of wider 5G and smart-city ecosystems. Although the Kingdom has made notable progress in extending fiber access and stimulating infrastructure investment, the economics of mass FTTH rollout remain challenging because civil works, labor, permitting, route selection, demand uncertainty, low-density pockets, duplication of infrastructure, and technology migration all influence unit cost. Using a structured narrative review of recent literature and authoritative policy and industry sources published between 2020 and 2026, this paper synthesizes evidence across six cost domains: civil works and outside-plant design, architecture and splitter planning, infrastructure sharing and open access, demand-led rollout strategy, operational and energy efficiency, and governance and procurement. The review finds that the most effective cost optimization strategy is not a single technical choice but a portfolio logic. Costs fall materially when operators reduce unnecessary trenching, reuse ducts and poles, cluster demand through geospatial planning, align split ratios with realistic take-up, coordinate with utilities and municipalities, phase deployment according to adoption probability, and use open-access or wholesale mechanisms to avoid wasteful duplication. In the Saudi context, those levers are reinforced by national broadband targets, the open-access policy direction, operator scale, and strong urban demand, but they are constrained by heterogeneous urban form, patchy economics at the urban edge, and the need to future-proof networks for multi-gigabit demand. Based on the review, the paper proposes a KSA FTTH Cost Optimization Framework that links policy, planning, engineering, execution, and operations into one decision structure. The study contributes a set of unique review objectives, a Saudi-oriented analytical framework, and an implementation logic for reducing cost per home passed and cost per connected home while preserving long-run network value.
Keywords
FTTH; Saudi Arabia; KSA; Cost Optimization; GPON; XGS-PON; Broadband Policy; Open Access; Infrastructure Sharing; Fiber Deployment
Citations
IRE Journals:
Malik Faisal Ahmad "Cost Optimization Strategies for Large-Scale FTTH Deployment in KSA" Iconic Research And Engineering Journals Volume 9 Issue 10 2026 Page 829-839 https://doi.org/10.64388/IREV9I10-1715869
IEEE:
Malik Faisal Ahmad
"Cost Optimization Strategies for Large-Scale FTTH Deployment in KSA" Iconic Research And Engineering Journals, 9(10) https://doi.org/10.64388/IREV9I10-1715869
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