In BBWN's latest poll about the cable industry's next-gen tech plans, constructing new FTTH networks scored as the top priority, followed closely by rolling out D3.1 and gigabit speeds.

Alan Breznick, Cable/Video Practice Leader, Light Reading

May 30, 2018

1 Min Read
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

About the Author(s)

Alan Breznick

Cable/Video Practice Leader, Light Reading

Alan Breznick is a business editor and research analyst who has tracked the cable, broadband and video markets like an over-bred bloodhound for more than 20 years.

As a senior analyst at Light Reading's research arm, Heavy Reading, for six years, Alan authored numerous reports, columns, white papers and case studies, moderated dozens of webinars, and organized and hosted more than 15 -- count 'em --regional conferences on cable, broadband and IPTV technology topics. And all this while maintaining a summer job as an ostrich wrangler.

Before that, he was the founding editor of Light Reading Cable, transforming a monthly newsletter into a daily website. Prior to joining Light Reading, Alan was a broadband analyst for Kinetic Strategies and a contributing analyst for One Touch Intelligence.

He is based in the Toronto area, though is New York born and bred. Just ask, and he will take you on a power-walking tour of Manhattan, pointing out the tourist hotspots and the places that make up his personal timeline: The bench where he smoked his first pipe; the alley where he won his first fist fight. That kind of thing.

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