Ziply, Consolidated execs flag 50G as the likely future of fiber

Multi-gig fiber deployments are already on the horizon for many telcos and ISPs. Providers know the demand is there and they are weighing their options accordingly.

Next-gen fiber has really become today’s fiber, Dell’Oro Group VP Jeff Heynen pointed out in his keynote address at Fierce's Broadband Technology Summit on Monday. The availability of both public and private capital has accelerated global deployment. Within these deployments, Heynen noted, telcos are increasingly relying on 10-gig passive optical networking technology to compete with cable operators.

These initial upgrades to 10-gig technology have laid the foundation for future PON upgrades, Heynen said, whether that’s 25G technology, 50G or beyond.

Tom White, CTO of Consolidated Communications, argued "50[G] is absolutely the next step" rather than 25G. The capabilities are ready to go but there’s just no demand for it right now, he added, so prices for 50G PON remain high.

“The design is very, very easy, I should say, to put and add when we need to,” White said, though noted he doesn't believe it'll be necessary for quite some time.

From a technology standpoint, on the other hand, 25G would be the easiest to deploy, said John Van Oppen, VP of networks at Ziply Fiber, mainly because the necessary chipsets are readily available. That said, he added he believes the industry is likely to wait a few years and make the bigger leap to 50G.

Van Oppen noted that's in part because providers who have 10G technology have the option to incorporate Ethernet strands to support outlying high-bandwidth users without having to upgrade the entire network.

Ziply is one of a handful of players offering multi-gig services in the U.S – both a 2-gig and a 5-gig tier. Van Oppen pointed out Ziply’s fiber network has incorporated different types of passive optical networks – BPON, older and newer versions of GPON, with XGS-PON at the forefront.

“We’re almost 100% overlayed with XGS-PON at this point,” Van Oppen said. “That’s been kind of our go-forward strategy.”

Market factors

Having fiber already laid out in the network helps facilitate multi-gig upgrades, said Israel Madiedo, innovation and technology director at izzi, a Mexican telco owned by Grupo Televisa. But operators should eye the needs of their respective markets.

While North America is seeing more XGS-PON usage, Madiedo noted the Latin American broadband market is making more use of GPON, as prices for XGS-PON in the area have yet to stabilize.

“There are certain markets in which we’d love to deploy XGS,” he said. “Right now, we’re focusing on increasing our footprint in home passes for FTTH.”

For consumers, pricing is what it comes down to when choosing a service, panelists noted. Customers want internet that’s stable enough to support multiple people tethered to the same high-speed broadband connection, said Van Oppen – as long as the price is right.

“They want a connection that’s fast enough to just support all of that without congestion,” Van Oppen said, adding that customers are more concerned with peak broadband usage, rather than how much internet they actually use. “Not having to sit there is worth something to you. The question is how much.”

White seconded the idea of price as a definitive factor for customers choosing a broadband provider, especially when the market is ripe with competition and customers have varying needs for their internet.

“We’re capable of providing so much. It really comes down to what the customers want, what they feel they need so they don’t get frustrated,” White said. “But it all comes back to price.”

“It’s not only about what a customer’s willing to pay for, but what they’re capable of paying,” Madiedo said. He went on to say pricing is a particularly sensitive issue in the Latin American broadband market. During the pandemic, izzi rolled out a series of emergency broadband packages that supplied a basic internet connection for school and work needs.

For that reason, Madiedo thinks the Latin American market is not quite ready for multi-gig deployment. While izzi is offering one-gig packages, “the percentage of people getting those packages is really low.” Izzi’s key goal is to lay down the basic building blocks for its customers.

“We’re kind of motivating our customers to go beyond the 50-meg,” Madiedo said, noting there’s a different environment compared to that of the North American broadband market.

Madiedo explained izzi manages a network comprised of mixed assets and said part of the challenge of managing a setup comprised of both cable and fiber is ensuring it has the proper set of tools to manage different networks and keeping customers informed of network developments.

“Most of our customers, they just rely on us to provide the best access possible to the internet,” said Madiedo.

Within Consolidated’s markets, multi-gig readiness plays a significant role in broadband demand, said White, particularly for enterprises. Consolidated has been deploying fiber with XGS-PON capabilities since 2020 and is planning a 2-gig service launch sometime this year.

“We think about all three customers groups: commercial, carrier and consumer, with every network build we do,” White said. “This is the first time we really have one solution to handle the majority of those needs in one network.”

Climate considerations

With talks of next-gen fiber come the long-term implications of energy usage, notably climate change. White pointed out one advantage fiber has over copper is it's less susceptible to environmental factors like electrical fluctuations – and fiber cables can be submerged underwater.

He went on to say as Consolidated is working to convert units to fiber, it's pulling out the remaining copper to reduce the weight of cable lines on its poles. That especially helps it manage through inclement weather conditions like ice and wind storms where the line weight is a factor.

"By eliminating more of the nodes we have out there, we're taking that carbon footprint away," said White.

Customer premises equipment (CPE) probably takes up the most energy in a fiber network, Van Oppen noted, with legacy equipment a close second. That equipment takes up a lot of space and requires a considerable amount of power to supply service, which hinders energy efficiency.

"Climate change both makes the utilities less reliable and is also likely to drive a public policy response that increases power rates," he said of the importance of reducing energy costs.

"We need to be conscious about what we're doing in terms of the network," Madiedo said, noting that removing older, less efficient components is key. He added izzi has begun incorporating virtualized aspects to its network, such as broadband network gateways (BNGs) to help with this.

Catch a replay of the full discussion by registering here.