What’s next for cable broadband networks?

The actions taken by broadband providers to ensure the performance and reliability of their networks over the last two months have largely succeeded. However, nothing changes the simple fact that the amount of data traffic these networks have delivered has far exceeded in two months what most operators expect to deliver in a calendar year. That type of consumption is changing how operators think about architecting their networks, the peak and sustained usage models, over provisioning, and the upgrade cycles they can expect when equipment runs hotter and more consistently than it ever has before. For cable operators, these new parameters have already resulted, or will result, in an accelerated investment cycle initially in order to accomplish two bandwidth-increasing goals: 1) Splitting existing optical nodes to reduce service group size and increase downstream capacity for all users and 2) Moving to mid-split or high-split architectures in order to increase upstream capacity.

In many cases, existing optical nodes were split once in conjunction with the rollout of DOCSIS 3.1 capacity in headends and hub sites. Now, because of the new capacity requirements as a result of the pandemic, operators are looking to segment a larger percentage of their node base, as well as further segmenting already-split nodes. We have already heard stories of operators accelerating their node split programs by anywhere from 6 to 12 months. Each node split typically results in a doubling of the DOCSIS channel licenses on existing Converged Cable Access Platforms which allow cable operators to lower operating costs by using a single platform for offering traditional video and IP-based broadband services to the consumer.

[Jeff Heynen is senior research director for broadband access and home networking at Dell'Oro Group]