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Microwave transport specialist says it is within U.K. telcos’ power to reduce dependency on BT’s backhaul network.
Certain U.K. operators may well be disappointed by Ofcom’s decision to let BT hold onto Openreach, but they got short shrift from microwave backhaul specialist Cambridge Broadband Networks (CBNL) this week.
"If you don’t like it, don’t sit around moaning about it, get on and build your own network," said John Naylon, co-founder and CTO of CBNL.
The likes of Vodafone and TalkTalk pressured Ofcom to force a full separation of BT and Openreach on the grounds that the U.K. incumbent has a commanding position in the fixed access and backhaul markets, particularly in the wake of its EE acquisition.
Speaking to Total Telecom at Mobile World Congress this week, Naylon said the situation used to be similar in South Africa, where MTN relied heavily on incumbent Telkom’s fixed network for backhaul connectivity.
"So they (MTN) built their own microwave backhaul network to reduce that dependency and it saved them tens and tens of millions of dollars," he said.
Naylon says microwave backhaul networks are usually cheaper to deploy, and in some cases cheaper to operate, because their smaller form factor incurs lower site-rental fees when compared to macro mobile access equipment.
"Site rental is the biggest single operating expense," he said.
He said CBNL is seeing solid demand from traditional tier one operators, especially in the U.S., which now accounts for a quarter of the company’s revenue.
CBNL has five customers in Manhattan alone, where the combination of high-density, congested networks, and a dearth of existing fibre backhaul infrastructure has led to high demand.
"Microwave backhaul is expected to remain the most prevalent global backhaul technology to 2020," Naylon said.
