CCI Systems Blog

To be a profitable service provider in 2022, the majority of engineers and experts on the topic agree that fiber is the key. Plus, fiber is the most economical solution. Within a greenfield network—where there is no existing infrastructure, the most economical decision is at the premise (i.e. office, home, apartment, condo, or 5G cell tower). However, what makes the decision economical in an existing cable operation may not be rebuilding fiber to the premise. Instead, the better investment could be in the existing infrastructure or performing technology updates. These updates could be the difference between extending the network's profitability into the next decade, or only extending its life a few years.

Vice President of Solution Architectures at CCI Systems, Todd Gingrass, discusses how providers and operators address upstream bandwidth. Upstream bandwidth has continued to be a big focus for more than a year now. Those networks who require more bandwidth continue to be a very relevant topic today. The good news is service providers and operators survived 2020 and 2021, but they may have not been ready to support the rapid increase in bandwidth on their networks. Demand was different for every operator, depending on what their architecture looked like and how their customer base behaved. Video calls, streaming, gaming, and the like are constantly happening and eating up bandwidth, and the trend toward remote-everything shows no sign of slowing down. After the smoke started to clear, 3 big misconceptions came to light.

Director of Outside Plant Services, Technology, and Consulting at CCI Systems, Chad Kay, discusses the highs and lows of return path upgrades, what operators will do moving forward. A topic continuing to come up within telecom is upstream bandwidth. The home has become a classroom, office space, and a literal hub of unlimited data needs, because of work from home and learn from home initiatives. For many service providers and operators, this sudden shift in the needs of their customers has influenced a push for increased speed. When do you flip the switch and jump from HFC plant to fiber-to-the-home, PON, or a hybrid solution? The answer isn’t so black and white. It is custom to the situation.

How can hybrid fiber-coaxial (HFC) operators keep up with the intense bandwidth demands that were put onto their networks over the last 18 months?

The COVID-19 Pandemic exposed different needs when it came to what subscribers looked for from their service provider. As the world comes to a hopeful end of the pandemic, one major demand that reared its head was the need for increased upstream bandwidth speeds to support the new activities that large portions of broadband subscriber bases are now taking part in. The push for more bandwidth, especially in the upstream, has caused a stair-step in an otherwise continuous upward trend over the last 20 years. As the world continues to push for higher connection speeds, increased data packages, and a more instantaneous experience with the digital world, a regression in this trend back to the previous trajectory is unlikely. For service providers, the weight of this situation is falling directly on their shoulders, so it's important to begin taking steps to increase bandwidth and better serve subscribers who are more connected than ever.