A growing group of multi-dwelling units (MDUs) segments, such as housing associations and campus areas, are adopting the cable industry's distributed access architecture (DAA)-based broadband.
Why are many cable operators eager to offer DAA-based broadband, especially Remote PHY-based broadband, to their MDU customers, and why many MDU customers are keen to have it? Speed would be the short answer, but when we looked at what speed really means, it proved to be a much more multi-faceted concept than we initially thought.
Looking beyond broadband speed
Promotional activities of broadband operators are often based on the “high broadband speed” approach, and cable MSOs are no exception. When visiting the website of almost any broadband operator, you will often see a field for your street address, and the website can tell you the maximum speed in that address. However, when broadband solutions are offered to MDUs, other facets of speed besides pure broadband speed are often forgotten.
Broadband speed is only one member of the speed quartet. The other members include fast installation speed, rapid onboarding processes, and fast support:
· Broadband speed: Subscribers may associate the high broadband speed with faster download and upload speeds, improved streaming quality, a better online gaming experience, higher quality video conferencing capabilities, and the ability to connect multiple devices to the internet simultaneously. The ultra-high-speed broadband promise is undoubtedly one that DAA can fulfill. Operators who deploy DAA can easily exceed the speeds of DSL-based broadband and meet fiber-based broadband capacity. The higher broadband capacity is nowadays an amenity that is used not only for entertainment but also more and more for services such as remote healthcare and education. The digital divide is on the agenda of many governments.
· Installation speed: When decision makers of an MDU community commit to a specific technology, the commitment triggers the installation. Pulling new fibers or Cat 5 cables inside the MDU is laborious, takes time, and requires the MDU owner's investments and the residents' stamina. MDU decision-makers and property owners are often required to discuss and secure funding if new cables need to be pulled. When new fibers or Cat 5 cables are available, they might be divided between several operators who bring their own Ethernet switches in the basement. In contrast, coaxial cables exist and the installation of DAA means the replacement of the existing fiber node with a remote PHY device (RPD). Cable operators have skilled field technicians, either their own or hired, who can complete the installation in 15 minutes. When interoperable with Converged Cable Access Platform (CCAP) Cores, the installed RPD gets its configuration from the CCAP core and other servers. Therefore, the MDU becomes instantly connected, and subscriber onboarding can start immediately.
· Rapid customer onboarding: Residents of the connected MDU expect broadband connections to be available immediately. Customer premise equipment (CPE) should arrive at the latest the next day, either with or without someone who does the installation. Cable operators have all the prerequisites to meet these expectations. They have webpages for subscribers who want to self-study their options, stores and retailers that can be visited, logistic operations to handle cable modem variants, service bundles to answer various demands, and back-office capabilities to support subscribers on their customer journey. While exceeding customer expectations might be difficult, keeping subscribers in their Zone of Tolerance (ZoT) separates cable MSOs from many rivals.
· Fast support: The existing helpdesk and support organization is familiar with DOCSIS customers. When MDU residents use the same technology as other broadband subscribers, this familiarity pays dividends. No matter what the street address is when helping DAA-based broadband customers, operators can lean on the existing best practices and processes. Cable operators can use the current customer service to serve and differentiate cable operators from rivals. Satisfied subscribers become brand ambassadors whose peer reviews beat traditional marketing efforts in ten cases out of ten.
The fifth element
As described above, speed has been the main reason Remote PHY-based broadband is so successful in the MDU segment.
However, there is still the fifth element: how fast an operator can enter a market. The first operator who grasps MDUs with the technology today has attractive avenues to increase revenues per MDU in the future. These opportunities include, but are not limited to, the following:
· Managed Wi-Fi: Many modern MDUs require Wi-Fi throughout an entire building, not only because of residents who need Wi-Fi at the fitness center of an MDU but also because of new IoT devices.
· Managed MDU: Property owners are digitizing MDUs as it enables automation capabilities that drive down the expenses of owners and residents. Some operators are looking at how digital twins can give property owners insights into the MDU, such as energy consumption. The safety of residents and voice controls are also exciting opportunities for operators interested in seeing the speed as more than broadband speed.
Arttu Purmonen is the VP of system and content marketing for Teleste.
Fiber broadband or fiber to the home
Competition among operators offering FTTX and DOCSIS to MDUs is fierce. When it comes to FTTX in the MDU context, it usually means fiber to the building (FTTB) where the last 100 meters is implemented with a baseband Ethernet over Cat 5 cables (copper). In this case, the basement of the MDU hosts an Ethernet switch(es). Similarly, when it comes to DOCSIS, the fiber enters the MDU, but now the last 100 meters are implemented with DOCSIS running over coaxial cables (copper). Therefore, the basement of the MDU is hosting a Remote PHY device (RPD). But after the last 100 meters, there are still the final 10 meters. Usually, whether the last 100 meters are implemented with baseband Ethernet or DOCSIS running over copper, the final 10 meters inside the apartments are wireless. To subscribers, all alternatives might be marketed as fiber broadband but not as “fiber to the home” for obvious reasons.
Remote MACPHY or PHY
Remote PHY technology has garnered interest, although providers also leverage MACPHY. Our reasoning is based on three main arguments. Firstly, Remote PHY is easier to integrate with the existing back-office tools and CCAP cores. Secondly, the number of Remote PHY vendors exceeds that of MACPHY vendors, so there is more competition, keeping pricing attractive. Thirdly, the global future of MACPHY is less predictable than Remote PHY as the Remote PHY track has industry momentum behind it.