Ultra-Broadband: The Gift That Keeps on Giving

During this season of giving, it's apt to review the many ways in which high-speed broadband pays back providers for investments in fiber, access technologies, software-defined networks and virtualization by delivering numerous opportunities for growth and internal efficiencies.

The return may not be as obvious as a child's squealing delight upon unwrapping this year's hot toy, but the benefits are much more long lasting. Block by block, across departments, internally and externally, the move to synchronous gigabit connectivity unlocks a treasure chest of immediate and future riches.

With increased standardization, virtualization and reliance on software instead of hardware, deployment costs and complexities are dropping, even as use cases and demand increase. The impending arrival of 5G only adds to the need for high-speed connectivity.

Here is a look at some of the opportunities service providers single out as most important. As operators amortize upfront costs of ultra-broadband investment across a spectrum of prospects and opex cuts -- and combine these stats with the competitive cost of not offering at least 100Mbps in a world defined by speed -- suddenly ultra-broadband does not seem quite as expensive.

Click on the image to begin the slideshow.

Commandeering Couch Potatoes

Sure, there's a lot of competition from over-the-top (OTT) players, but there also are many eyeballs for video, content and 4K. For example, the global 4K TV market is expected to reach USD 380.9 billion by 2025, according to a July 2017 report by Grand View Research. The worldwide OTT devices and streaming market will be valued at $165.13 billion that year, the research firm predicts.