NCTC, Adtran strike FTTP deal for indie cable ops and telcos

Adtran will forge a stronger fiber connection to hundreds of US cable operators and telcos after striking a partnership with the National Cable Television Cooperative (NCTC).

Focused on fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) and the cable industry's broader access network-agnostic "10G" initiative, the partnership's aim is to help NCTC's 700-plus members deploy fiber faster and more affordably.

The partnership effectively gives Adtran a hunting license to pursue FTTP deals with NCTC memberS using purchasing terms set by the agreement (part of NCTC's focus is to create bulk deals &ndash' spanning tech to programming – on behalf of its members). That partnership includes access to Adtran's broadband access portfolio, including 10G PON and 10G EPON products, "Mosaic" suite of subscriber products and smart home products. The partnership also includes help for NCTC members with the design, testing and deployment of FTTP networks.

While NCTC and Adtran have yet to announce any initial operators that are taking advantage of the new deal, several NCTC members, including Comporium, Consolidated Communications, Lumos, Vast Broadband and Vexus Fiber, are currently deploying networks with Adtran.

The agreement should amplify Adtran's exposure to NCTC's membership as cable operators and telcos alike deploy FTTP into greenfields, upgrade existing hybrid fiber/coax (HFC) networks or pursue opportunities that emerge from the federal government's multi-billion-dollar Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF).

"This agreement with NCTC will benefit the hundreds of MSOs and telcos looking to upgrade or augment their current access platforms to support higher network capacities and more competitive gigabit and multigigabit service rates, including symmetric services," Kurt Raaflaub, head of product marketing, broadband access at Adtran, said in an emailed statement.

He noted that Adtran is positioned to support both centralized and remote DOCSIS-based 10G-EPON an XGS-PON variants in support of new distributed access architectures.

The NCTC said it currently does not have a similarly focused PON/FTTP agreement in place with another supplier. NCTC does offer some EPON products with other cable-focused original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and does purchase PON products through distribution channels, "but not under such a robust OEM agreement" as it now has with Adtran, the organization said.

Update: Given NCTC's mix of telco and cable members, it's most likely that Adtran will target the telcos first, Jeff Heynen, senior research director, broadband access and home networking at Dell'Oro Group, said in an email exchange in response to questions.

But he does see FTTP potential with smaller cable ops as well.

"There is a growing amount of FTTH activity among smaller MSOs, both in terms of fiber overbuilds, as well as edge out activity to grow their current HFC DOCSIS footprint," Heynen added. "I definitely think RDOF will push some of these smaller MSOs to do more overbuilding with fiber, but it will depend on who wins the RDOF grants in certain geographic areas and what their strategies might be."

He also expects smaller cable ops that do explore FTTP builds to lean toward XGS-PON. "That's not to say there won't be 10G EPON deployments among these MSOs. I just see a larger groundswell surrounding XGS-PON in the cable space then I do 10G EPON right now."

Related posts:

• 60% of Altice USA's new FTTP subs go for a Gig
• DZS gets amped for RDOF
• Verizon, SpaceX, CenturyLink, Charter among FCC's RDOF bidders
• Charter's RDOF plan could target 2.5M homes

— Jeff Baumgartner, Senior Editor, Light Reading, special to Broadband World News