Ovum: 5 Year WBA Plan to Support 350 Million Global Households

According to the Wireless Broadband Access Market Update, an analyst white paper published by Ovum (a global leading consultancy firm), wireless broadband access (WBA) has been widely adopted throughout the industry. WBA is critical for the provision of home broadband services in urban, rural, and mountainous areas, and is embraced by numerous global operators (including mobile, integrated, pay TV, and broadband operators and national broadband wholesalers). Ovum envisages that WBA will provide broadband services for approximately 350 million global households by 2020. WBA incorporates wireless network resources to quickly provide home broadband services and unlock the latent tremendous underlying market potential, particularly in emerging markets with low broadband penetration rates. 

 

According to Ovum analysts, radio access technologies (RATs) have become an optimal choice for a number of operators for the provision of home broadband services, as they are confronted by huge demands and daunting challenges brought by fixed broadband (FBB). Integrated operators replace a digital subscriber line (DSL) with fixed wireless access (FWA) to upgrade broadband networks, while mobile operators reallocate radio spectrum and site resources to seize home broadband market opportunities and attract additional users. Some operators are optimistic about WBA due to the large unconnected population and number of households in target countries, while other operators supplement WBA for fiber to the x (FTTx). According to Ovum, operators can recoup investment within a relatively short period of one to two years if wireless networks are used to provide broadband services. Co-deployment of wireless and fixed networks for broadband development can reduce the ROI cycle to approximately three years, which can be extended to six to eight years if wired broadband is used. WBA boasts cost advantages over expensive wired broadband legacy solutions such as DSL and fiber optics, especially when users are generously distributed.

 

According to Ovum, WBA is an ideal solution opposed to fiber to the premises (FTTP) for the provision of high-speed FBB services, allowing operators to reuse sites, spectrum, and network resources for fast and low cost network deployment and rapid ROI. WBA features LTE technologies at their core, providing higher access rates and larger network capacity. LTE-A, an evolved network that supports CA, 256QAM, and high-order MIMO, provides a peak rate of up to 1 Gbit/s. This type of network rivals fiber optic networks and fulfills the requirements of broadband access as well as high-speed broadband services such as video.

 

Rapid WBA development is impossible without a sufficiently mature E2E industry environment, which is primarily evaluated from three aspects: chipset, terminal, and network. Ovum’s white paper shows that GCT Semiconductor, Huawei HiSilicon, Qualcomm, and Sequans Communications are currently engaged in development and manufacture of FWA-capable chipsets. Users’ access equipment also plays an important role in ecosystem maturity. The price, functionality, and installation complexity of such equipment will affect the user experience. Green Packet, NetComm, and Huawei are currently dedicated to the maturation of WBA equipment. Regarding network deployment, mainstream vendors including Huawei, Ericsson, and Nokia provide WBA solutions, using RATs to achieve last-mile broadband access and help operators develop home broadband services.

 

A large number of operators around the world are currently using wireless networks to provide and quickly develop broadband services. Ovum’s white paper offers further details about WBA business cases of Orange Spain, AT&T U.S., NBN Australia, and Globe Telecom in the Philippines. Orange Spain uses the existing 1.8 GHz (2 x 20 MHz) and 800 MHz (2 x 10 MHz) LTE networks to provide 4G home broadband services. These tailored high-speed broadband services support rates from 20 Mbit/s to 50 Mbit/s for mobile young families and small-sized enterprises. Globe Telecom in the Philippines, confronted by the huge demand for home broadband services and enormous challenges brought by wired broadband deployment, opts for LTE networks. These networks are idyllically suited to enhance the development of home broadband services, while attracting an additional 250 thousand users within a single year, representing a six-fold annual increase.

 

 

Knowledge Network Advertorials enable our partners to create high value content to express a particular view or highlight an opinion in an editorial style environment on Total Telecom, they do not reflect the views of Total Telecom. To find out about content creation opportunities for your organisation visit the information page or email info@totaltele.com