The upshot was a huge increase in the number of competitors and of overlapping fibre-optic networks.

ECONOMIST: Booms and busts

Carbon fibre is made from thin threads that each contain a number of carbon filaments.

BBC: Knitting and baking the cars of the future

He filed the information away with a number of other discoveries, including a nylon fibre which is widely used in industry.

ECONOMIST: Otto Wichterle

She's also something of a fibre fanatic - try telling her that satellite or 4G or any number of other technologies might be a more economic way of filling in the gaps in broadband coverage, and you'll get short shrift.

BBC: DIY fibre broadband

For that is the number that will be important if we decide to lay more fibre.

FORBES: You Can't Use Google's Broadband To Justify National Broadband