PODCAST: Broadcom’s Szymanski on creating a quality 50G, FWA broadband experience
Broadcom is addressing the emergence of 50G PON and fixed wireless access (FWA) with a series of new products and partnerships aimed at helping service providers ensure users experience sound quality of service (quality of service) on their broadband and wireless connections.
While still emerging, the transition to 50G PON delivers the massive network headroom and deterministic latency required for the next era of broadband. According to Market Intelo, the 50G PON market was valued at $3.2 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach $18.6 billion by 2034, growing at a robust compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.6% from 2026 to 2034. However, Dell’Oro notes that as services transition from GPON to XGS-PON, the focus has shifted from 10G speeds to reducing latency. The research firm notes that this “approach is fundamentally reshaping PON roadmaps, pushing large-scale 50G PON adoption out by 3-5 years as operators instead invest in XGS-PON enhancements that deliver immediate quality improvements.”
Nevertheless, Broadcom is moving forward with its 50G plans. The silicon vendor recently debuted its 50G ITU-PON home gateway system-on-chip (SoC), featuring an integrated neural processing unit (NPU) and native Wi-Fi 8 compatibility. It also enhanced its Wi-Fi 8 portfolio with a new trio of highly integrated SoC devices. On the fixed wireless access (FWA) front, Broadcom has partnered with Samsung Electronics to develop a new, cost-optimized reference platform featuring the Samsung B1320 5G Modem and Broadcom BCM6776 Wi-Fi 8 SoC. This platform unifies 3GPP Release 17 connectivity with the emerging Wi-Fi 8 (IEEE 802.11bn) standard.
In this latest podcast, we talked with Chris Szymanski, director of product marketing for Broadcom's Wireless Broadband Communications, about its latest 50G and FWA developments.
Here’s a timeline for the interview:
Opening/Introduction | 0:03
50G PON market | 0:30
Broadcom’s Szymanski addresses how 50G will enable service providers to deliver a much higher level of service.
50G deployment strategies | 2:41
Broadcom expects initial rollouts to begin in the central office, then move to ONUs, and finally to the 50-gig PON Wi-Fi gateways it recently announced.
Broadcom’s new BCM 68850 50G platform | 3:21
When broadband providers upgrade to a 50G PON gateway, they can reduce latency and improve the user experience at home.
The CO OLT to the network edge path | 4:48
How Broadcom’s 68850, a 50G gateway device with Edge AI compute and native Wi-Fi support, enables operators to build an intelligent 50G pipe.
Pairing 50G PON with Wi-Fi 8 | 5:48
How Broadcom is eliminating the Wi-Fi and WAN bottleneck.
Wi-Fi 8’s streamlined approach requirements | 8:41
By integrating chipsets, Broadcom can reduce form factor size and overall bill-of-materials costs for its partners.
Consolidating silicon elements | 10:26
Broadcom’s SoCs consolidate the application processor, network processor, radios, and Ethernet PHY onto a single die.
Broadcom and Samsung’s FWA partnership | 11:40
The design is ideal for gateways that use the 5G modem as a wireless backup for fixed broadband.
Unifying 3GPP’s Release 17 and the Wi-Fi 8 standard | 12:43
Ensuring 5G speeds and reliability are handed off to smart home devices.
Final thoughts/closing | 13:37
About our guest
Christopher Szymanski is the Director of Product Marketing for Broadcom Inc.’s Mobile Connectivity Division, with a focus on technology strategy, spectrum policy, regulatory affairs, and standards development. Mr. Szymanski serves as Director on the Wi-Fi Alliance Board and the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance Board. Before taking on this role, Mr. Szymanski served as Global Trade Compliance Officer, Director of Global Regulatory Affairs, and Secretary of the Political Activity Committee (PAC) for Broadcom Corporation. Before joining Broadcom, Szymanski lived in China for over four years, serving in a compliance and government relations role for a semiconductor foundry. For the last three of those years in China, he also served as co-chair of the Export Compliance Working Group (ECWG) of the American Chamber of Commerce to improve the U.S.-China high-tech trade relationship. Before working in China, Szymanski served on Capitol Hill for Congressman Don Manzullo, the House Committee on Small Business, and the U.S.-China Interparliamentary Exchange, advising on manufacturing, trade, and defense policies and accompanying and hosting official delegations to and from China. Szymanski received his master’s in business administration (MBA) from the Washington University Olin School of Business, with a focus on leadership in China.
About the Podcast
In the Lightwave Broadband Pulse podcast, we address key issues affecting the optical and broadband industries. Join us every week for insights from industry leaders on these topics. Visit our website at www.lightwave.com and click on our podcast site at www.broadbandpulse.podbean.com/.
About the Author
Sean Buckley
Sean is responsible for establishing and executing the editorial strategy of Lightwave across its website, email newsletters, events, and other information products.