BBWN Bites: Subsidized New Builds Need Broadband Cabling, Irish Agency Says
Also today, SES connects with Amdocs on satellite network management using ONAP, Mexico gets a broadband assist in unserved areas and CommScope adds product aimed at cable's remote PHY network migration.
If an area gets tax money toward broadband services, before getting planning approval, builders should be mandated to include high-speed broadband cabling in all new homes in that region, some Irish government officials recommend. Members of Ireland's Department of Communications told the Oireachtas committee on communications they want ducting for high-speed broadband included in homes built in these areas as part of a cost-cutting measure the European Union suggests in its broadband initiatives, reported the Irish Times.
Satellite operator SES Networks turned to Amdocs to deploy ONAP on Microsoft Azure cloud to allow its telco customers to manage data flows on SES satellite networks. SES plans to use ONAP plus other network functions virtualization capabilities to support clients via Microsoft Azure Marketplace. It's also partnered with Amazon Web Services and IBM to connect satellite-soaring customers with the cloud. (See SES Takes ONAP to the Final Frontier.)
Broadband for All
The Mexican government chose a utility's broadband division to connect remote villages and other regions unserved by private operators.
The broadband division of Utility Comision Federal de Electricidad (CFE) is now responsible for extending fixed broadband infrastructure across Mexico to areas unserved by the country's private operators. The Mexican government chose subsidiary CFE Telecomunicaciones to oversee its Internet para Todos -- Internet for All -- program.
Alta Devices is ramping up solar production to meet growing demand for small satellites which rely on the sun for power. Solar is the single most expensive hardware component in these low-earth orbit (LEO) satellites, increasingly used to deliver worldwide broadband. Alta Devices' proprietary equipment mass-produces a thin film gallium arsenide that scales up for higher volume, lower-cost manufacturing, the Logan, Utah-based vendor said. The design also features flexible solar cells for more compact design and flexible, glass-free photovoltaic assemblies (PVAs) that are ten to 100 times larger than traditional glass PVAs, do not break and are less costly, Alta Devices added. (See Alta Devices' Solar Techs Cut LEO Satellite Costs.)
CommScope's new, high-capacity remote PHY device easily fits into most of its existing fiber nodes, thereby simplifying operator migrations to distributed access architectures (DAA) that will eventually be used to deliver symmetric speeds of up to 10 Gbit/s, wrote Jeff Baumgartner in Light Reading. CommScope's new R-PHY device, the RD1322, fits handily within the base of Arris NC4- and OM4-series fiber nodes, CommScope said. In fact, CommScope -- which completed its acquisition of Arris about three months ago -- figures these new R-PHY moduels will fit into about three-fourths of Arris' deployed based of nodes.
Bashtel, a subsidiary of Russian operator Rostelecom, said it's signed an agreement to acquire 100% of the three companies making up the Alliance Telecom Group. ATG delivers broadband and pay-TV to homes and businesses across the Primorsky area, which includes cities like Vladivostok and Artyom. Residential accounts for about 80% of ATG revenue, which totaled RUB900 million ($13.8 million) in 2018.
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— Alison Diana, Editor, Broadband World News. Follow us on Twitter or @alisoncdiana.
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Here's where you can find episode links for 'The Divide,' Light Reading's podcast series featuring conversations with broadband providers and policymakers working to close the digital divide.
As we have for the past two years, Light Reading will present our Cable Next-Gen Europe conference as a free digital symposium on June 21.
Charter has sparked RDOF work in all 24 states where it won bids. The cable op booked about $19 million in RDOF revenues in Q1, and expects to have about $9 million per month come in over the next ten years.
As we have for the past two years, Light Reading will stage the Cable Next-Gen Technologies & Strategies conference as a free digital event over two half-days in mid-March.
Launch of 2-Gig and 5-Gig FTTP tiers in 70-plus markets puts more pressure on cable ops to enhance their existing DOCSIS 3.1 network or accelerate their upgrade activity centered on the new DOCSIS 4.0 specs.
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