BBWN Bites: Verizon Shoots, Scores With NBA Fiber Network Deal
The week begins with the departure of a Liberty Global exec, Airtel Africa IPO news, CityFibre's new fiber pact, fiber-optic testing by the numbers, and the complexities of enterprise IoT.
Verizon will develop and deploy a high-speed fiber network to connect all 29 NBA arenas, under an agreement designed to give fans high-quality 1080p-resolution video on all broadcasts. Under the agreement with the National Basketball Association, Verizon will connect each arena using two 100G fiber circuits that will increase bandwidth tenfold. Go-live is second half of next year.
Having overseen Liberty Global's sale of many eastern European operations to Vodafone, C-level exec Eric Tveter has departed Liberty Global, the operator said today. Effective July 1, Robert Redeleanu will become CEO for eastern Europe; once Vodafone's acquisitions wrap up, he'll lead Liberty Global's businesses in Poland and Slovakia.
CityFibre awarded Prysmian a multi-million-pound, two-year deal to supply optical cable for underground and aerial deployments of its wholesale access network. The altnet operator continues to build out its all-fiber network as part of its goal to extend current metro-area networks to almost all UK homes and businesses, intending to reach 5 million UK homes in 50-plus cities by 2025.
More than 1.2 million units of fiber-optic test equipment were sold worldwide in 2018, and the market is expected to increase at a compound annual growth rate of more than 6% through 2027, according to new research from Future Market Insights. Operators want gear that's easy to use, highly automated and capable of handling the complexity of next-generation networks, the report found.
Internet of Things is real and companies are deploying solutions -- but face barriers like cost (37%), security (37%), lack of expertise (36%) and poor understanding of benefits (35%), according to "The IoT Implementation Survey," by Longview IoT and Informa Engage. Half of companies handle IoT projects internally, 40% use a system integrator, 35% tap multiple vendors and 34% rely on an IoT solutions provider.
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— Alison Diana, Editor, Broadband World News. Follow us on Twitter or @alisoncdiana.
