FEATURE GIGABIT EUROPE
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www.fibre-systems.com
Google Fiber ‘has done more to plant 1Gb/s broadband into the consciousness of the consumer than any other operator in any market’, said Teresa Mastrangelo. Here a construction worker is setting up the steerable bore head to run fibre underground in Austin, Texas
Gigabit networks can become an economic engine
Google Fiber has done more to plant 1Gb/s into the consciousness of both consumers and competitors’ minds than any other operator in any market. Te simple act of announcing plans to
expand in additional markets has forced many cities to re-evaluate their own broadband position, while incumbent operators – whether cable or telco – stepped up to the plate and announced their own plans to offer gigabit broadband services (AT&T, Cox, CenturyLink, Frontier, Suddenlink, TDS, to name only a few). To further the efforts, the FCC issued its
own Gigabit Challenge in 2013, when FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski challenged broadband Internet providers and local and state governments in the United States to bring
16 FIBRE SYSTEMS Issue 6 • Winter 2015
at least one gigabit-speed Internet community to all 50 states by 2015. At the time of the original announcement, Gigabit broadband networks were present in only 13 states. By the end of 2014, all 50 states were able to claim at least one gigabit broadband network.
The halo effect
Our study found that gigabit broadband is being deployed by a variety of operator types. Tese include incumbent carriers, competitive (alternative) operators, over builders (alternative operators such as Google Fiber that are “over-building” on top of existing infrastructure), municipalities and communities, power utilities, cable multi- service operators (MSOs), and even wireless operators. Interestingly, we did not find many regional
variations in market drivers – differences were more pronounced among operator types versus regions. We found that the relative importance of the drivers seem to determine who deploys gigabit broadband and why. For incumbent operators, being perceived as
a technology leader, retaining customers and increasing revenues are key drivers for
deployments. For competitive carriers, new customer acquisition was the overwhelming driver. However, in both cases, operators experience what is termed the ‘halo’ effect, in which a customer’s overall impression of a company has been positively influence by the simple fact that they are offering a leading- edge technology. Economic development was more oſten
cited as an important driver for cities and municipalities, where leaders are beginning to truly understand that bandwidth has significant external benefits for their communities. Tey also want to support emerging applications in areas such as health care, education and public safety, where high-speed networks act as an essential foundation. Evidence is already emerging that gigabit
networks can become an economic engine. Results from a study by the Analysis Group, conducted on behalf of the FTTH Council North America, claimed that communities with widely available gigabit broadband enjoy per capita GDP that is 1.1 per cent higher than similar communities with little to no availability of such services.
Google
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