Cable MSOs have been tied to the mobile space for years, but expect those ties to grow even stronger with the advent of 5G
One of the great debates in the U.S. mobile industry is to discuss when the cable multiple system operators are going to get into the mobile industry. This topic came up (again) at the Wells Fargo Convergence & Connectivity Symposium in New York a few weeks ago. The answer we came up with may surprise you.
The Cable MSOs have actually been in the U.S. mobile industry for some time and are significant players. Consider that the cable companies are also providers of fiber and data services to many businesses, including the mobile operators. In short, the cable MSOs have been providing backhaul to cell sites. And with the current trends in mobile, they are likely to provide more.
Consider that:
–More small cells being deployed means much more front- and backhaul connections (depending on the small cell architecture used). This will mean more dark fiber in more places to more cells (obviously other companies other than the cable MSOs will also be providing fiber).
–Macrocell sites are still being built and will certainly be well supplied with fiber. Since new macrocells are usually built where people live and businesses do business, the chances of the cable MSOs having fiber plant in that area are high. In other words, they will be able to compete for these connections.
–The increase in demand for mobile bandwidth from consumers and businesses means the demand for front- and backhaul will also increase; traffic needs to be moved from the cell site to the core and beyond. Couple this with the increased demand for bandwidth in the home (where the cable MSOs have a significant market share) and on Wi-Fi, and it is clear that demand for the cable MSOs’ data services is not going to decrease.
–Part of the evolution to the “5G” network will include moving more processing and content storage to the edge of the mobile network; mobile edge computing is an European Telecommunications Standards Institute standard that accomplishes just that. The question is where the edge processing equipment will actually be housed. The size of the equipment will vary from just a few slots on a rack to multiple full racks; this will depend on how much content and which apps are to be moved to the edge. The cable MSOs already have data centers and house their own network equipment toward the edge of the network, and this could also be used for some of the MEC equipment.
–And of course the cable MSOs have already deployed some small cells on their strands (there are numerous examples of this) as well as their own Wi-Fi hot spots. As the mobile industry hunts for accessible and affordable small cell locations, the cable MSOs will be in the discussion and in the mix; the trick is to have the right locations available. Not all small cells will use cable locations, but some will, further integrating the cable MSOs in to the mobile networks.
Cable Labs also just filed applications for Special Temporary Authority with the Federal Communications Commission so they can test 5G equipment in the 27.5-28.35 GHz and 71.0-75.0 GHz bands. The application states Cable Labs will be looking at the coverage, throughput, latency, power requirements, physical footprint and operating metrics of the network. The plan is to start testing on July 8, 2016, for six months in locations around Colorado (including Louisville, Brighton and Dillon).
So rather than waiting for the cable industry to offer end-user mobile services under their own brands (the usual focus of these types of discussions), the reality is the cable folks are already in the mobile industry. And they appear to be doing well.
The end result is the cable industry is likely to be a significant part of 5G networks, both for mobile services (backhaul, MEC locations, etc.) and with some role in the higher frequency bands used for video delivery. Certainly this will be competitive to the current cable infrastructure, but there is no reason the MSOs could not supplement cable with 5G network equipment. Stay tuned, this could get interesting.
Iain Gillott, founder and president of iGR, is an acknowledged wireless and mobile industry authority and an accomplished presenter. Gillott has been involved in the wireless industry, as both a vendor and analyst, for more than 20 years. The company was founded in 2000 as iGillottResearch in order to provide in-depth market analysis and data focused exclusively on the wireless and mobile industry. Before founding iGR, Gillott was a group VP in IDC’s telecommunications practice, managing IDC’s worldwide research on wireless and mobile communications and Internet access, telecom brands, residential and small business telecommunications and telecom billing services. Prior to joining IDC, Gillott was in various technical roles and a proposal manager at EDS (now Hewlett-Packard), responsible for preparing new business proposals to wireless and mobile operators.
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