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Gfast Munches Up DSL Sales![]() The availability of Gfast Amendment 3 chipsets and service providers' adoption of earlier Gfast solutions damaged sales of DSL equipment, a new report by Dell'Oro Group finds. Between 2016 and 2017, DSL (digital subscriber line) equipment sales dropped 13% to $2.5 billion, Alam Tamboli, senior analyst at Dell'Oro Group, told Broadband World News. In large part, operators are reviewing DSL and VDSL (very-high-bit DSL) solutions because of Gfast advances -- especially the advent of Gfast Amendment 3 chipsets that recently became available, he noted. Service providers are testing and trialing Gfast Amendment 3 and PON solutions, even though Gfast commercial availability is limited and not expected to become more widespread until next year, Tamboli said.
Green for go The list of service providers publicly sharing Gfast deployment plans continues to grow -- especially those adopting Gfast to serve multi-dwelling units (MDUs), where the technology is more cost-effective than fiber-to-the-home (FTTH). For MDUs, operators usually deploy fiber-to-the-basement (FTTB) or fiber-to-the-cabinet (FTTC), and then use existing copper or coax to serve each individual unit. Among those using Gfast:
But Gfast sales by vendors like Huawei to operators such as BT and Swisscom are only the beginning, said Dell'Oro's Tamboli. Gfast advances incorporated into Amendment 3, now under review by many providers, will spark a tsunami of demand, he said. "There definitely have been sales beyond and from vendors other than Huawei, but so far it's been relatively immaterial," said Tamboli. "I believe once the higher frequencies (212 MHz) and higher port groupings (i.e., 48-port and 96-port) are successfully tested and trialed, this will change, especially at MDUs." Amendment 3 chipsets are the catalyst to much broader Gfast adoption, agreed Simon Stanley, analyst-at-large at BBWN sister company Heavy Reading in a January report. Both Broadcom and Sckipio introduced second-generation Gfast DP chipsets with eight 106MHz Gfast ports, he wrote. Both generations of Broadcom Gfast chipsets support VDSL2 and ADSL, and some of the latest Gfast DP chipsets can support vectoring on up to 96 ports, noted Stanley. Second-generation Gfast DP chipsets have been introduced by both Broadcom and Sckipio with eight 106MHz Gfast ports. Beyond the basic Gfast functionality there are significant differences in the support for 212MHz Gfast, vectoring and other features. Broadcom has a strong portfolio of DSL solutions and both generations of Broadcom Gfast chipsets also support VDSL2 and ADSL. Some of the latest Gfast DP chipsets can support vectoring on up to 96 ports, a significant improvement on first-generation chipsets. "Gfast … does not remove the need for fiber deployment further into the access network, but it does enable gigabit broadband without fiber being installed over the last hundred meters into the customer premises," Stanley wrote in Light Reading. "The latest Gfast chipsets are being designed into a wide range of DP and CPE systems, which will allow network operators to start a significant rollout of Gfast during 2018 and into 2019."
Internal review = DSL delays "It is our understanding that this carrier is reviewing major capital programs and our vectoring program is part of this review," said ADTRAN CEO Tom Stanton during its 4Q earnings call, according to a Seeking Alpha transcript. "We have been told that this review would take approximately 60 days to 90 days and we expect our review to be complete in the first quarter 2018." Other industry mergers and acquisitions have had less impact on DSL adoption, Tamboli said. "CenturyLink's shift in demand isn't completely due to the normal pause in spending that's associated with big deals, but rather I believe CenturyLink is evaluating its broadband access strategy as some of the new management probably has a keen eye on the flat to down subscriber net-adds at CenturyLink in recent years," he added. By all accounts, CenturyLink is close to ending its review period and soon will back up its post-merger plans with actions. No doubt they, along with every other service provider, are considering how symmetrical gigabit-speed Gfast fits into their infrastructures. Related posts:
— Alison Diana, Editor, UBB2020. Follow us on Twitter @BroadbandWN or @alisoncdiana. |
In a flurry of activity throughout the week, Donald (DJ) LaVoy, Deputy Under Secretary for Rural Development at the US Department of Agriculture, and his team spent about $145.8 million in the non-urban or suburban areas of seven states.
Calix reported revenue of $120.19 million – up 4% – in Q4 2019, putting a bounce in the step of company president and CEO Carl Russo and a shine to Calix's ongoing transition from hardware vendor to a provider of platforms enabled by cloud, APIs and subscriber experience.
Looking to curtail e-waste and improve the bottom line, BT will require customers to return routers and set-top boxes, although subscribers will not have to pay a fee when they receive regular broadband equipment.
The industry standards organization is looking to ease operator pain from residential WiFi, while it also sees initiatives in connected home and other projects bear fruit.
Deploying DOCSIS 3.1 across its entire footprint gave Rogers Communications the ability to offer speeds of up to 1 Gbit/s,
contributing to a broadband segement that generated about 60% of the Canadian operator's $3.05 billion (US) in Q4 cable earnings.
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Thursday, December 17, 2020
12:00 p.m. New York / 5:00 p.m. London Today’s access network architecture is under mounting pressure due to a continued surge in the number of connected devices, a proliferation of bandwidth-intensive customer applications and dramatic shifts in usage patterns related to the pandemic, such as work-from-home and e-learning. Learn why now is the right time for cable operators to build greenfield networks or expand their existing networks with 10G PON, arming customers with high-speed symmetrical broadband. Gain a clear understanding of the drivers impacting the access network and the various approaches being considered to deliver higher speed services. Plus, find out the best practices that operators are employing as they leverage the latest in passive optical technology to future-proof their networks. Topics to be covered include:
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