Network management

Europe’s biggest telecommunications companies have called on the European Union to compel Big Tech to pay a “fair” contribution for using their networks, the latest stage in a battle for payments that has pitched the sector against companies such as Netflix and Google. Technology companies that “benefit most” from telecommunications infrastructure and drive traffic growth should contribute more to costs, according to the chief executives of 20 groups including BT, Deutsche Telekom and Telefónica.

Netflix and SK Broadband, one of South Korea’s largest internet service providers, are ending all their lawsuits and are instead creating a strategic partnership to provide better entertainment experiences to Korean customers. The legal dispute began in 2020 over whether content providers that generate large amounts of traffic should pay “network usage fees” in addition to the bills paid by the household end users, or whether that would go against the principle of net neutrality and lead to higher costs for consumers. Netflix said that it could offer a technological solution to traffic volu

Black Rock, AT&T, and Gigapower executives shared their vision for the joint venture and how they expect to change attitudes toward open access. Adam Waltz, Managing Director of Black Rock’s Global Infrastructure Fund was excited because the company sees the US as underpenetrated when it comes to fiber broadband. Gigapower CEO Bill Hogg said, “scale will be a differentiator” beacuse the network’s scale will appeal to service providers interested in offering service over the network because “you don’t want to make [them] invest over and over with a lot of small players.” Erin Scarborough

Midco is a midwestern service provider that offers broadband via hybrid fiber coax (HFC), fiber-to-the-home, and fixed wireless access (FWA). The company serves 490,000 homes and businesses in 400 communities in Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Midco is doing greenfield fiber-to-the-premise (FTTP) builds in new communities and to large multi-dwelling units. But in brownfields, it’s doing a mix, adding fiber deeper into neighborhoods, but also upgrading its cable plant.

Dell’Oro Group recently raised its forecast for the next generation of passive optical network (PON) technology, known as 25G PON, and expects its revenues to triple between year-end 2023 and year-end 2025. As Stefaan Vanhastel, head of marketing and innovation for fixed networks for Nokia, explained most service providers are looking at 25G PON as an opportunity to generate additional revenue from business customers. Some businesses will prefer 25G PON because they are used to 10 Gbps symmetrical service and, with 13% overhead, XGS-PON doesn’t support full 10 Gbps speeds. The cost of 25G P

Comcast is getting ready to activate Philadelphia (PA) as a trial market for cellular offload (i.e. using complementary network technologies for delivering data originally targeted for cellular networks).

Fairfax (OK) will be the first town to be connected to the internet by Cox Communications on a fiber network leased from a local power provider. Indian Electric Cooperative (IEC) CEO Todd Schroeder said service should be available by the end of 2023. In addition to multi-gigabit, symmetrical broadband, Cox will offer its Contour TV product, as well as mobile phone service through Cox Mobile.

Ubiquity has launched open access networks in Carlsbad (CA) and Mesa (AZ). The company said the Mesa deployment is the nation’s first scaled fiber deployment, in which service provider tenants will use both lit and dark fiber to service business and residential customers. At the same time, the company announced new fiber “footprints” in Omaha (NE) and Council Bluffs (IA).

123NET and Allegan County (MI) have been awarded a $65 million project to construct an open-access, carrier-neutral fiber network. This county-wide broadband project will begin construction in mid-August 2023. The Allegan County Board of Commissioners and 123NET established a public-private partnership earlier in 2023 and applied for the Realizing Opportunity with Broadband Infrastructure Networks (ROBIN) grant together.

Some experts anticipate that US mobile operators will spend more on their small cell deployments in the coming months and use the technology to fill in coverage gaps and boost capacity in their 5G networks. Joe Madden, founder and lead analyst at Mobile Experts predicts that now that operators have deployed much of their 5G macro network, they will turn their attention to small cells and use the technology to fill in coverage gaps, solve capacity issues and provide in-building coverage. Although small cell deployments didn’t get a lot of attention in 2022, industry trade group CTIA reported