Hitron, one of the cable industry's top suppliers of DOCSIS modems and gateways, is bringing some AI to the broadband party.
Looking to help its operator partners cut down customer care costs and truck rolls by rapidly getting to the crux of technical issues, Hitron has built in an AI-powered platform from Aprecomm that is already being used by several operators around the globe, including several based in India.
DOCSIS 4.0 on the horizon
Hitron, which has signed on as Aprecomm's exclusive partner for DOCSIS-based products throughout the Americas, is integrating Aprecomm's engine inside its newest line of DOCSIS modems and multimedia terminal adapters (MTAs) that support both data and IP voice services. Hitron will do the same with its DOCSIS gateways and newer Wi-Fi routers and Wi-Fi extenders that run Wi-Fi 6 or Wi-Fi 7, according to Greg Fisher, president and CTO of Hitron Technologies Americas.
The initial focus is on Hitron's latest lineup of DOCSIS customer premises equipment (CPE). While that will include DOCSIS 3.1 devices, Hitron is also developing a DOCSIS 4.0 family of products powered by MaxLinear's Puma 8 chipset, which uses the Extended Spectrum DOCSIS flavor of the specs and competes in the market with Broadcom's "unified" DOCSIS 4.0 chip.
Fisher said Hitron's initial D4.0 lineup reached general availability in December 2024, with trials expected to get going in Q2 2025, starting in small volumes. Mass production on D4.0 products are anticipated to begin in Q3 2025. He expects trials and deployments with some mid-tier and Tier 1 operators to get underway in the first half of 2026. Notably, some of those operators are expecting to use Hitron's new D4.0 devices on DOCSIS 3.1 networks that can boost speeds by opening up additional downstream channels – an approach that is sometimes referred to as DOCSIS 3.1 extended or DOCSIS 3.1+.
Hitron, he added, is also exploring ways to integrate Aprecomm's "lightweight" software with its legacy lineup of DOCSIS gear.
Fisher said the integration will complement Hitron's work with partners such as Plume and Axon, which recently acquired DZS's Wi-Fi management product line.
He said Aprecomm's platform will help Hitron's operator partners reduce costs with AI-assisted chatbots designed to resolve customer issues directly (such as helping them retrieve a Wi-Fi password) or to pass along pertinent information to human customer care reps if the issue needs to be escalated.
Hitron is enabling this new capability by integrating Aprecomm's software agent on its DOCSIS devices and extending support to an app that Hitron's cable operator partners make available to broadband subs.
Hitron said the rollout will use the TR-369 User Services Platform (USP) standard developed by the Broadband Forum.
AI rollout has begun
Fisher said Hitron, which works primarily with Tier 2/3 operators and some Tier 1s, already has trials and some live deployments underway with unnamed operators.
"We've seen some good call deflection numbers" early on, he said referring to customer care instances that the AI could handle without having to pass the inquiry to a live customer rep.
One Hitron operator customer has already seen customer care deflections as high as 80%, and generally in the range of 50% to 60% with others, Fisher added.
Truck roll deflections vary by operator, but early trials and deployments have seen those drop in the range of 15% to 30%, he said.
Aprecomm said its deployments, including those with Hitron, have helped to reduce truck rolls by 62% and call resolution times by 30%, resulting in a 20% cut reduction in subscriber churn.
While such declines will save operational costs, this use of AI technology is also emerging as cable operators seek out ways to improve service and network reliability alongside the need to beef up their baseline speeds and feeds.
This new AI capability is initially being offered at a "pretty low recurring cost," Fisher said. However, Hitron is also looking into alternative models, including those that would bundle the software into the hardware and amortize the software cost over multiple years.
Breakthrough for Aprecomm
The partnership with Hitron aids Aprecomm's break into the Americas.
Aprecomm has an agreement with Mercku, a Canada-based CPE company, but the Hitron deal is Aprecomm's first significant strategic partnership announcement, a company official said via email. Aprecomm also has partnerships with Nokia and Qualcomm, with the Nokia agreement focused on enterprise Wi-Fi/5G products and its MXIE platform.
Aprecomm said it has more than 7 million homes and business locations managed with its software and is working with more than 45 service providers worldwide. It has had the most success in India with operators such as ACT Fibernet, Excitel, GTPL, Net+ and FusionNet. Aprecomm estimates it has a 20% share in India in terms of broadband subscribers. It has also secured some business in Latin America (with IP Net and Petcom) and with a yet-to-be-identified operator in the US.
Aprecomm, a company that has about 60 employees, was among the suppliers invited to last year's The Independent Show in Nashville. The company said it is working toward an agreement with the National Content & Technology Cooperative (NCTC), an organization that cuts content and tech deals for hundreds of independent cable operators.