scope:

This Interim European Telecommunication Standard (I-ETS) specifies requirements for fusion splices to be used in single mode optical fibre telecommunications land-based (not submarine) systems. The scope covers the establishment of minimum uniform requirements for the following aspects: - optical, environmental and mechanical properties; - test conditions; - acceptance criteria. The splices considered are between single fibres, between ribbon fibres and between ribbon and multiple single fibres. The optical fibres which are spliced are intended to conform to EN 188100 [4] and EN 188101 [5]. In order to obtain the required functional behaviour of the fusion splices, it is necessary to follow a number of procedures for fibre preparation, fibre alignment, jointing and protection as described in ITU-T Recommendation L.12 [6].