Communications network

A passive optical network (PON) comprising an optical fibre connection 140 from an exchange to a PON node 130 located at a distribution point. The PON node 130 comprises an optical splitter 134, which may have direct optical connections 142 from one or more outputs of the optical splitter 134 to respective customer premises. The optical splitter 134 also receives one or more opto-electronic transceivers 136, which can convert a PON signal into an electrical signal which can be transmitted over an existing metallic link 152, for example as a digital subscriber line (DSL) signal. The opto-electronic transceivers 136 may receive electrical power over the metallic links 152.