2019.11.15 – Open Broadband News

Gfast accelerates as Broadband Forum and UNH-IOL make speedy progress on certification

Broadband Forum has announced that ADTRAN, Broadcom, Cisco, and Nokia have joined the expanding list of companies and equipment to have successfully completed its Gfast certification program. Now enhanced to include 212 MHz certification, this program continues to widen the options available for carriers to confidently deploy Gfast technology globally.

This series of certifications was recently completed at Broadband Forum’s official Gfast test house, the University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL). In addition to a number of 106a profile certifications for Cisco, Broadcom has joined ADTRAN, Intel, NetComm, and Nokia on the growing list of companies that have successfully completed certification with the new 212a profile, which demonstrates interoperability between 212 MHz Gfast products. This signals market readiness for multi-vendor installations in this highly anticipated segment of the market.

“Operators are continuing to invest in Gfast technology as it allows them to diversify their tools for delivering gigabit speeds and excellent performance, without having to invest in costly network overhauls,” said Teresa Mastrangelo, principal analyst at Broadbandtrends. “The new 212 MHz Gfast equipment and certifications bring further benefits as consumers demand faster and more reliable broadband. Interoperability remains key to unlocking the mass deployments that will make the technology successful and the Broadband Forum’s early certification program plays a significant role in enabling this.”

100 million subscriptions show US must really Leich broadband!

According to new data from Leichtman Research Group, US broadband subscriptions have exceeded 100 million for the first time ever.

By the end of the third quarter this year, the broadband market had swelled to 100.6 million subscribers. By the end of September, top cable operators had 67.1 million broadband subscribers and top telephone companies had 33.5 million subscribers, Leichtman Research revealed. Combined, these top operators represented 96% of the US market.

“With the addition of 605,000 subscribers in the quarter, the top broadband Internet providers in the U.S. cumulatively account for over 100 million subscribers for the first time ever,” said Bruce Leichtman, President and Principal Analyst for Leichtman Research Group. “These top providers had about 5 million net broadband additions over the past two years, with top cable companies adding about 5.9 million broadband subscribers, and top telcos having a net loss of about 950,000 subscribers.”

Full-fiber is in Openreach for more than 500,000 premises

Vodafone has sealed a deal with BT’s Openreach to expand its gigabit broadband network by 500,000 premises – on top of its existing deal with alternative network provider CityFibre for 5 million premises.

Starting in spring 2020, Vodafone will begin using Openreach’s Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) pipes in Birmingham, Bristol and Liverpool, intended to reach 500,000 premises by mid-2021.

“This initiative with Openreach builds on our existing commitments with CityFibre and

underlines our belief in the power of digital technology to connect people for a better future and unlock economic growth for the UK,” said Nick Jeffery, Chief Executive at Vodafone.

Take a chance on 5G! Common Networks says it will replace cable internet in the home

At first, inventing a start-up to challenge AT&T, Verizon and Comcast for high-speed broadband dominance seemed unthinkable.

It takes billions of dollars to lay fiber in the ground — historically, the only way to deliver ultrafast Internet speeds to residential homes. The prohibitive cost has stopped some of the largest companies in the world from making a national mark in constructing high-speed broadband networks, including Verizon and Google. Meanwhile, Verizon and AT&T already plan to roll out 5G fixed broadband services in cities across the U.S, using wireless technology to compete with cable companies to provide home Internet.

Zach Brock, the CEO of Common Networks, has said that he believes he has helped design a technology that can upend the U.S. telecommunications market, with plans to build out its 5G wireless home broadband service across California cities.

“Our focus is proving out of technology and showing we can deliver at an affordable cost,” said Zach Brock. “Our vision for the company is that everyone is connected to true broadband internet.”

I want to break free! TIP advances give router vendors another wake-up call

For network operators looking for ways to break free from vendor lock-in, Telefónica is offering real hope with its plans to deploy white box mobile transport network routers in Germany and Ecuador in the coming months.

The routers are based on one of the Disaggregated Cell Site Gateway (DCSG) designs developed by the Telecom Infra Project (TIP) and Telefónica has been one of the most active operator members of TIP’s Open Optical Packet Transport (OOPT) group.

The specific design is a 100G version of a DCSG design known as Odyssey, and these network elements (Layer 2/3 and MPLS features) form part of the backhaul network designed to handle existing and ultimately 5G traffic, feeding large volumes of mobile data traffic to aggregation and core router elements.

David del Val Latorre, Chairman and CEO of Telefónica and a TIP board member, said that the initial deployments will involve “a handful” of white box routers in each country to start.

Home secure home! Zyxel releases smart home gateway security solution

Zyxel Communications, a provider of secure broadband networking, Internet access and connected home products, has announced it has teamed up with F-Secure to integrate the company’s award-winning cyber security software into Zyxel’s residential gateways and devices.

The integration of F-Secure’s software with Zyxel’s world-class hardware enables service providers to deliver secure high-speed broadband and WiFi connectivity to their subscribers while protecting them from a growing array of cyber-attacks targeting their connected home devices.

The products provide robust protection from hackers that can easily access the home network through smart internet-connected devices such as smart TVs, gaming consoles or webcams that have poor online security provisions. Once access to the home network is achieved by hackers, all devices on the network can be accessed potentially resulting in loss of privacy, identity theft, threats to physical safety, and use of the network to launch distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks.

Tell all your trends! Broadband Forum participates in expert report

Broadbandtrends has recently conducted a global service provider survey of leading broadband operators regarding their plans to deploy 10G PON technology within their network. With Broadband Forum members actively participating in this report, key findings of the survey include the following:

• XGS-PON is the 10G PON technology of choice to serve both residential and business segments
• Coexistence and migration from existing network to new network, was the overwhelming concern for operators followed by costs to deploy 10G PON
• The ability to have a converged architecture supporting multiple applications and support for multi-gigabit residential broadband are key drivers for implementation of 10G technologies

Other key findings cover the application of 10G PON in the residential market, the migration of NG-PON2 and when the need for even higher bandwidth PONS is likely to be needed.

Broadband Forum has also provided expert input into a new report – ‘Managed Home Wi-Fi Networks for the Smart Home 2020-2025 – published by Maravedis LLC. Many of its members were invited to participate in the research, with managing the quality of the broadband experience in the home a priority for most service providers. An infographic summarizing key findings can be seen below.

A Series of Fortunate Events – by Broadband Forum

Registration for Broadband Forum’s fourth quarterly meeting, Q4 2019, which will take place from Monday December 2 until Thursday December 5 in Panama City, Panama, is now open. For more information about the powerful event, bringing together the world’s largest and most influential service providers and broadband ecosystem participants, please visit here.

For companies interested in attending Broadband Forum Q4 2019 as guests, please contact Rhonda Heier at rheier@broadband-forum.org.

Broadband Forum is also actively recruiting sponsorships for its 2020 Broadband Acceleration Seminars (BASe). The BASe initiative rose to new heights in 2019 and set a new standard for excellence and participation. We are looking forward to taking it to even higher levels in 2020 are looking for innovative and visionary vendors to participate. For more information, click on the links provided for details on the 2020 Global sponsorship and UFBB BASe sponsorship packages, or reach out to info@broadband-forum.org.