BBWN Bites: Genesis heralds a new chapter for Gfast
Also in this broadband market news roundup: KPN sounds death knell for copper; WOW gets friendly with OTTs; Humax targets the cable CPE sector; and more from around the globe.
Genesis Technical Systems has teamed up with Broadcom to launch a new set of Gfast products that, the vendor claims, can deliver Gigabit broadband speeds over copper lines stretching more than 1 km. Genesis says a number of North American operators have signed up for commercial trials starting next month. The vendor's new GSLAM and GDPU products are based on Broadcom's BCM65450 multichannel system-on-chip (SoC), which supports 212MHz Gfast as well as other DSL modes. Gfast has been around for years and has had a limited impact so far due to distance and speed constraints, but if Genesis can deliver on its promises then there's little wonder network operators are wanting to check out its technology. (See Genesis unveils new Gfast products.)
Not everyone's so keen on pumping new life into their metal lines, though... Dutch national operator KPN plans to decommission its copper plant at all homes and businesses where a fiber connection is available starting in early 2023, with 2.4 million addresses included in the plan. "By converting from copper to fiber optic, all of KPN and KPN Wholesale's customers will benefit from the best network in the ground and eventually KPN will only have to maintain one network," noted the national operator in a way that tried to not sounds too selfish. Want to know more? Check out this KPN announcement.
Competitive US cable operator WideOpenWest (WOW) has teamed up with a range of OTT video service specialists, including Sling TV and fuboTV, for a trial offering in Charleston, SC, to see if a package of third-party video services can persuade customers to ditch their traditional pay-TV service and sign-up for or keep WOW's high-margin broadband services. Find out more by reading WOW embraces pay-TV cord-cutting.
The French government has reopened the application process for local authorities to apply for fiber rollout funds that will help the country reach its 100% FTTH coverage target by 2025, reports Telecompaper. That's a bold target, given that 25 regions have yet to even apply for any funds for the rollout and that there's only €280 million ($305 million) to share out.
With CommScope/Arris and Technicolor in its sights, Humax has launched a range of customer premises equipment (CPE) products for the cable broadband sector based on the Reference Design Kit (RDK) open source software platform. For more details, see Humax expands RDK device lineup, encroaches on CommScope's and Technicolor's turf.
In the Middle East, Saudi Arabia's Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) has brokered an "open access agreement between all six telecommunications companies, guaranteeing the provision of broadband services through any subscriber-selected service provider, independent of infrastructure ownership." As a result, households and businesses can buy a high-speed broadband connection from any of the six operators they choose. The lucky six are Saudi Telecom Company (STC), Saudi Mobily Company (Mobily), Mobile Telecommunications Company Saudi Arabia (Zain), Integrated Telecom Company (ITC), Dawiyat Integrated and Etihad Atheeb Telecom (GO), all of which now have an interesting marketing and customer care challenge on their hands. For more details, see this CITC announcement.
Spying an opportunity to get a foothold in the privacy protection market, home networking and IoT security expert Cujo AI has launched Incognito, which offers privacy and tracking protection for service providers and their broadband customers. For more, see Cujo AI takes aim at online consumer privacy protection .)
— Ray Le Maistre, Editor-in-Chief, Light Reading, special to Broadband World News
