• Categories:Industry News
• Time of issue:2022-07-01

(Summary description)      A recent report by analysis firm Omdia(a sister company of Light Reading) found that the number of global cable operators offering broadband service of 1Gig or higher has jumped from 45% in 2019 to 60% today in recent years. In North America, the figure rose from 78 percent in 2019 to 88 percent today. Omdia analysts surveyed more than 760 fixed broadband service providers in 178 regions to understand the growth of gigabit offerings, the reasons behind it and what it means.       Jaimie Lenderman, Principal analyst and research manager at Omdia, identified four main drivers behind 1Gig growth: consumer demand for high-quality bandwidth services, carrier technology upgrades, marketing strategies and user perceptions, and public and private sector investment in fiber networks.       Regarding consumer demand, Omdia forecasts that 67 million consumers will subscribe to services at 500Mbit/s or faster by 2026, up from 16 million in 2021. The growth comes from more people working permanently from home and an increase in online gaming and live streaming.       Gigabit product growth is also being driven by carrier technology upgrades, Lenderman said, with the adoption of PON technology expanding dramatically in North America. In 2019, 300,000 PON OLT ports were shipped in North America, rising to 831,000 by 2021, according to Omdia. And analysts see the trend continuing. "We expect three million OLT ports to be shipped in North America by 2027, when 98 percent of OLT ports will be 10Gig or higher," Lenderman said.       Omdia says the third driver supporting 1Gig as the new global standard is competition. As more service providers advertise for 1Gig, others are under pressure to do so for fear of losing customers -- despite the fact that 1Gig usage is still in its infancy. Lenderman noted, "The underlying perception is that if users think a competitor's network is better, they may choose this service, even if their plan is not to use a gigabit service. This is especially true for symmetric services."       Finally, Lenderman notes that the global (and North American) upgrade to gigabit services has been driven by heavy public and private investment in fiber optic broadband networks.       Various estimates predict record growth in fiber deployment over the next few years. In a 2021 report RVA wrote for the Fiber Broadband Association, the company predicted that more Fiber will be deployed over the next five years than has been built to date.       Another recent report from Research and Markets estimates that fiber home (FTTH) growth in North America alone will exceed $125 billion between 2022 and 2026. And in the US, a $65bn commitment to bridge the digital divide has set fibre as the "gold standard" for future networks.       Omdia says record investments in fiber construction will accelerate the growth of gigabit products.       Lenderman said that while narrowing the digital divide has not driven many gigabit products and services right now, it has brought down the cost of the last mile, which is good for gigabit services later on.