Service providers are pressing on the accelerator when it comes to launching gigabit offerings, and it can be challenging to stay up with what’s happening.
Looking to tackle that is “The Gigabit Monitor,” a new visual database referencing current and planned gigabit deployments around the world from Viavi Solutions. The monitor offers an overview of cable, telecom and mobile service providers rollouts and plans, developed from public information.
“The gigabit revolution is in full swing and faster speeds can’t come soon enough to feed an insatiable appetite for bandwidth,” Sameh Yamany, CTO at Viavi Solutions, comments. “There are more than 20 billion connected devices and that number is continually increasing … And with a 100-fold increase in speed, service providers will need to ensure that their ecosystems are ready for the massive network evolution required to deliver the customer experience they envision.”
The monitor shows at least 350 live gigabit deployments globally, with a further 164 announced or under construction, across wireline and wireless technologies including GPON, DOCSIS 3.1, G.fast, LTE-A, 5G and 802.11ac.
Leading on announced gigabit deploys is North America with 61 percent. Europe is second with 24 percent. Asia, Australasia, Middle East, Africa and South America share the remaining 15 percent of deployments, according to the research.
If you feel like gigabit deployment rollout news has picked up sharply recently, the monitor confirms that: More than 70 percent of the live gigabit deployments tracked have been launched since the start of 2015.
Fiber is leading the way with 85 percent of currently known gigabit deployments in the monitor based on optical fiber connectivity. Around 11 percent are based on hybrid fiber coax (HFC). Scuttlebutt around wireless broadband options continues to appear, but the monitor points out that nearly 3 percent of known gigabit deployments are based on LTE-A, a modified version of LTE, which is gigabit-capable.
On the 5G front, 37 wireless carriers have announced plans for 5G networks, according to the research. Five of them plan to have 5G networks built as early as 2017.
“The Gigabit Monitor” allows data to be split by geography or technology. The database also shows whether a service is “announced” (service provider has publicly announced deployment plans in a given market), “under construction” (network build is underway), “trial” (a limited live network is in operation) or “commercial” (service is currently available to consumers).
The database is slated to be updated regularly, and users can submit new or corrected information here.
