Network management

US cable operators have been struggling to regain their footing in broadband as they try to grow subscribers again in the midst of an array of pressures including fiber and fixed wireless access competition, a slow housing move market and the impact of the end of the Affordable Connectivity Program. Several US cable operators are responding by leaning into convergence.

It’s been a strange year for internet performance in the United States. Data from the HighSpeedInternet.com speed test indicates the overall improvement of internet speed in the country has slowed by more than 50%, an unexpected development as both cable and fiber internet have seen substantial technological advances. Are internet service providers dragging their feet with the next wave of internet tech? Thankfully, the disappointing trend isn’t present in the data for all providers.

There is a new network tool that’s starting to be eased into networks that can significantly lower latency. The new standard L4S (Low Latency, Low Loss, Scalable Throughput) was released in January 2023. Comcast has started to work L4S into their networks in some of its major markets. They report that the technology can cut load latency at least in half, in some cases bringing the latency under load to close to the ping latency. The real key to making this work is to have the largest content providers build L4S into their networks.

OpenVault released the Broadband Insights Report for the fourth quarter of 2024. Highlights include:

As it looks at 2025 and beyond to 2030, the telecommunications industry is expected to work to keep cutting costs, keep capital expenditures under control, monetize their past investments, and use mergers and acquisitions to drive value. Growth-oriented companies will likely also find ways to grow revenues faster than core connectivity growth would suggest. However, the market for telecommunications is rapidly evolving.

The advancement of digital technologies has led to the evolution of media content delivery methods. In particular, Over-The-Top (OTT) services have experienced an explosive growth in the video content industry. The skyrocketing data traffic increases the burden on ISPs’ infrastructure, and the discourse on CPs’ payment of network usage fees has emerged. It is significant to review the case of Netflix-SK Broadband in South Korea, the world’s significant legal dispute over network usage fees.

Frontier Communications reported fourth-quarter and full-year 2024 results. Full year highlights include:

• Added 1.3 million new fiber passings to reach 7.8 million locations passed with fiber
• Added a record 385,000 fiber broadband customers, resulting in fiber broadband customer growth of 19.2% year-over-year

Fourth quarter highlights include:

Bad broadband beats just keep on coming for Comcast due to pressure from fiber and other wireline competitors. Something has to change to salvage the business, and the company thinks doubling down on convergence just might be the answer. Comcast in 2025 intends to lean more into the wireless segment “than ever before,” stated President Mike Cavanaugh on the Q4 earnings call.

Utopia Fiber has been building open access fiber networks before hardly anyone in the U.S. knew what that was. Now, open access is gaining prominence, thanks to big players like AT&T getting in on the action. But Roger Timmerman, executive director and CEO of Utopia Fiber, said he doesn’t consider AT&T’s Gigapower joint venture with BlackRock to be a true open access network—at least not yet. Timmerman argued that in his opinion AT&T isn’t really doing open access because it’s the only tenant on the Gigapower network.

Technical debt is akin to a very messy house—perhaps even a hoarder’s house—where someone other than the hoarder needs to take charge and clean things up.