OMSP Huawei Key Points - Omdia Reports

Key points and Recommendations

There is no single use case that will drive demand for gigabit broadband access.

It will be driven by a combination of three core trends: a rapid increase in connected devices, the
development of advanced video-enabled AI applications, and the shift of computing power to
the cloud. This combination will drive the need for high-speed, low-latency, highly reliable, and
consistent networks.

Multigigabit broadband services are now the premium consumer service in many countries, pushing gigabit broadband down to the mass market.

However, access is not equal. In many countries the availability and affordability of high-speed broadband services is low, and the gap between highly developed broadband countries and emerging ones is widening.

When it comes to setting regulations to encourage greater broadband availability, much focus has been put on connectivity, but this is not enough.

Even when connected by fiber-optical infrastructure—the best and most future-proof of all broadband infrastructures—the broadband service can offer widely varying quality of experience. To move toward true gigabit societies, regulation and legislation should be set to not just encourage fiber coverage but then to encourage continuing investment in advanced technologies that ensure high-speed, high-quality services and applications.

Ensuring a continued high quality of broadband experience means evolving the end-to-end network,

including the in-building, access, and core parts of the network, as set out in ETSI’s
F5G (Fifth Generation Fixed Network) and the WBBA’s Broadband Generation Roadmap.
In-building networks must evolve to advanced Wi-Fi technologies (such as Wi-Fi generation 6 and above), access networks must migrate towards a full- fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) network utilizing advanced gigabit PON technologies, and there must be an 200G/400G optical transport network (OTN) in the core.

Focusing initial development in cities can offer the quickest return on investment

because they contain large portions of the population and other critical infrastructure such as business and innovation parks, large educational facilities, and so on. City development can and should be then used as a test bed for future more rural deployments.

Leading countries will start to extend the access network deep into the customer premises.

Enterprises increasingly rely on time-sensitive networks to optimize their performance. We will therefore see a push to implement fiber to the machine (FTTM) to connect machines and industry robots in order to utilize fiber’s high-bandwidth, high-reliability, low-latency, anti-interference, and high-confidentiality features. Starting with the high-end segment of the market, we will also see fiber-to-the-room (FTTR) technology increasingly used in residential settings.

In this first issue of the Gigacity Index, the three leading cities are Singapore, Shanghai, and Zurich with impressive scores across all metrics.

Shanghai and Singapore have both benefited from ambitious government policy with clear goals, initially around gigabit and then, more recently, 10 gigabit broadband networks and services. Zurich also has a high level of fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) coverage and an extensive 10G PON deployment, but FTTH penetration is still relatively low, and although media download broadband speeds are equivalent to those experienced in Shanghai, the lower proportion of FTTH customers limits take-up of the top
multigigabit services.

Hong Kong is also a highly developed fiber city and leads the silver-graded cities, ranking higher than the gold-graded city of Dubai.

However, Hong Kong is behind other cities in terms of its 10G PON deployment, even though HKT has been deploying 10G PON since 2020. With further investment in 10G PON technology expected, Hong Kong is likely to move up to gold status in the near future. Other silver-graded cities with advanced FTTP networks but lacking 10G PON deployments include Paris and Madrid.

There is a mix of cities within the bronze band, including quickly developing fiber cities such as Mexico City and emerging fiber cities such as Rabat and Cairo.

In some cases, bronze cities can have a good broadband experience (e.g., Cape Town, where the median download speed is 194Mbps), but the availability and penetration of such services remains low. Others, such as Mexico and Istanbul, have good FTTH coverage and even average penetration, but the service performance is low. Such cities must learn from analyzing other cities in their regions that are progressing more quickly and create development plans that will see them transition towards true gigacities.