Cable's New Focus: More Fiber & D3.1

With major telcos like AT&T, Verizon and BT all frantically building out FTTH networks to deliver gigabit broadband speeds, cable operators should focus even more on going all-fiber themselves, or at least pushing fiber deeper in their existing HFC networks.

This finding is the most significant from the latest reader poll about cable's next-gen tech priorities by our sister site, Broadband World News. In the poll, conducted during March and April, almost 28% of BBWN's readers said they view "constructing new FTTH networks" as the top priority for cable providers this year.

In addition, another 18% of poll respondents said cable's highest priority should be "extending fiber deeper into the access network." What this means is that nearly half of BBWN readers (or 46%) see adding more fiber as the most important move for cablecos in 2018.

To be sure, many readers still think that "rolling out DOCSIS 3.1 and gigabit speeds" should be the bigggest priority for cable operators, with slightly more than 24% of respondents choosing this option. But that figure represents a drop from the 27% who chose that option in a similar BBWN poll last spring, when DOCSIS 3.1 topped the scales along with Fiber Deep. For more on the poll results, please turn to BBWN. (See Cable's New Game Plan: More Fiber & DOCSIS 3.1 .)

— Alan Breznick, Cable/Video Practice Leader, Light Reading