A technique for transmitting a large amount of information, including voice, data, and video, over long distances using the same communications channel. Sometimes called wideband transmission, it is based on the same technology used by cable television.
The transmission capacity is divided into several distinct channels that can be used concurrently by different networks, normally by frequency-division multiplexing (FDM). The individual channels are protected from each other by guard channels of unused frequencies. A broadband network can operate at speeds of up to 20Mbps.
See also baseband network; multiplexer.