FROM THE INDUSTRY
What about in cable?
can support in its own way, connecting some of the places that have been unconnected in the past. fast forward five years and we’re in 2029. What’s happened to the broadband sector? They’ll be talking about getting 50 gigabits symmetrical at home. Most of the twisted pair telephones will be gone – replaced with a mobile of fibre enabled fixed phone. I would say, what do we need it for? THEN AGAIN, we didn’t think we needed what we’ve got now. It’ll be telemedicine, home security, smart grid, telepresence. You’re right. What do we need it for? That’s not the point. The point is it will be available. It’s a time of great uncertainty, but what’s clear is that there will be some winners emerging from the chaos.
time, providing more bandwidth. It sounds impossible, but it’s not. New tech is making this possible. What’s the fibre penetration rate in the US? Only in the 45% region, about the same as Germany. So in that respect, it hasn’t peaked. It still has a way to go yet, and that’s why I’m optimistic about the fibre business. If you still look at the UK, it’s only about 70% covered here. That’s still 30% of the country yet to connect with fibre. I can’t believe that. Even in this country where there’s been a lot of investment. Are there any other areas or elements that might have played a part in the current landscape that we haven’t covered? Yes. Vendor consolidation. We’ve already seen some companies going out of business, but there’ll be further consolidation, probably companies combining or selling off chunks. In Europe, you’ve got more vendors than the market can really support anymore with the amount of product that they buy. So a lot of the vendors are looking to resize their teams and they’re doing lots of balance sheet adjustments. The size of the market is shrinking; it makes more sense for the vendors to consolidate rather than fight each other. What one thing would you change about this industry? What messed up the fibre roll out was the regulatory environment. It meant that there was incentive for the altnets to overbuild each other and try and get there first. Getting there first usually meant getting the customers, even if it wasn’t close to where your other network was. So a lot of them have network all over the place that’s not that well connected to itself. A lot of them rushed to just get there first. It’s caused a lot of knock-on effects, and that’s why the consolidation is needed to kind of collapse some of those areas.
When cable started, it was different because they gave concessions. And if you got the concession for Doncaster or whatever, you could build the cable network in the area with the certainty that there wouldn’t be building behind you. So you could get the customers. And then that actually created an environment in the UK. You know, when I first moved here, there were probably 20 or 30 cable operators. They were all buying equipment. There were 20 or 30 decision makers. Anyway. So eventually in the UK, it all got consolidated to two. And then a few years later, it all got consolidated to one. Virgin Media. Which was Telewest and NTL before that and before that, dozens of companies, plus Cable & Wireless. It would be fun to see a sort of cable family tree on this, considering most of us have lived through it, and all that stuff is like scar tissue. That scar tissue is still stuck outside people’s houses. I have a Nynex box outside mINE.
You’re not alone there. It’s progress, after a fashion.
There’s a great deal of attention being given to diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as
sustainability. And it’s right that we should all be doing our bit. Do you think that’s happening in any meaningful way in our industry? The industry is pretty much still the same way it was because it’s tough to change overnight. There are great initiatives out there but these things take time. Where I think we can add value is by pushing connectivity to the unserved and underserved areas of our countries. I would cite examples of the funds being invested to connect tribal areas and the States or the money going into connect Indigenous communities in Australia, the money going into connecting Indigenous communities in Canada. Here our industry
DECEMBER 2024 Volume 46 No.4
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