System and method for transporting time-division multiplexed communications through a packet-switched access network

A system for providing communications between a customer premise equipment and a service edge, the system comprising:

• a time-division multiplexing fabric to route time-division multiplexed communications;
• a packet fabric to route packet-switched communications;
• and
• at least one time-division multiplexing to packet conversion switch to convert a first communication between a time-division multiplexed signal format and a packet-switched format based on the communication being associated with a carrier tag value;
• wherein the packet-switched communication is sent along a packet-switched communication path based on the carrier tag value;
• the carrier-tagged packet-switched communication is converted to a second communication according to a time-division multiplexed signal format different from the time-division multiplexed signal format of the first communication;
• and
• the second communication is sent to the service edge.

A method comprising:

• receiving a first communication according to a time-division multiplexed signal format, the first communication being associated with a first carrier tag value;
• converting the first communication to a packet-switched communication based on the first communication being associated with the first carrier tag value, where the conversion of the first communication to the packet-switched communication is performed at one of a building aggregation system, a layer 2 switch, a service emulation instance terminator, or a service edge;
• sending the packet-switched communication along a packet-switched communications path;
• receiving a second communication according to a time-division multiplexed signal format, the second communication being associated with a second carrier tag value;
• and sending the second communication without converting the second communication to a packet-switched communication.