Mar/Apr 19 - ChannelVision Magazine

The good news for such providers is that the money to pay for build-outs should be available, suggests Ste- phane Piot, Analysys Mason partner. Encouraged by lowering construc- tion costs, governments pushing for near-national fiber rollouts and emerg- ing routes to monetization (think small cells and smart cities), among other factors, investors are showing a healthy appetite for fiber investment and high valuations, said Piot. But even if the dollars to dig are available, service providers are facing a number of significant challenges as they seek to move customers and services to their new fiber infrastructures. Indeed, the rapid pace of deployment, sug- gests the Incognito survey, is putting some strain on existing network and back office systems. Not that service providers have much choice. They cite a myriad of drivers for deeper fiber, including the need to offer customers new and advanced services. Gigabit broadband leads the way in terms of new services, with nearly three-quarters of respondents citing it as a service their company either now offers or plans to offer over fiber net- works. Advanced video services and 5G mobile backhaul also are top of mind when it comes to fiber utilization, shows the survey. It also should be noted that 53 percent of cable companies and carriers surveyed cited intentions to deliver business services over new fiber resources. Clearly, network operators also are motivated by a desire to move away from aging infrastructure, even more so than might be expected. “Surprisingly, nearly half of respon- dents (48 percent) said their company is replacing or overbuilding legacy networks in ‘brownfield’ situations at least some of the time,” writes Alan Breznick, study author and Heavy Reading analyst. “That’s far more than was expected going into the survey, indicating that many providers are more than willing to junk their legacy Zettabytes Biggest Drivers for Installing More Fiber Offer new services 24% Improve network performance and the customer experience 22% Address surging customer demand 20% Eliminate aging infrastructure 12% Cut operating costs 7% Prepare for 5G 7% Offer higher data rates 5% Other 3% Source: Incognito; Heavy Reading y see increased und 30 ives, New Services Planned Over Fiber Source: Incognito; Heavy Reading 17 Leaders >15% Leaders Gigabit broadband IP video streaming 5G mobile backhaul Business services 4k/8k video VR/AR IoT 71.9% 57.5% 55.6% 52.9% 51.0% 15.7% 8.5% BSS/OSS Systems Affected by Introduction of New Fiber Services 42 Channel Vision | March - April, 2019