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価格・ご注文について この調査レポートは、米国の主要ケーブル事業者のモバイルバックホール戦略について調査・分析しています。
At first blush, it seemed like an odd idea – even a mix of strange bedfellows. But U.S. cable operators are increasingly playing a vital role for mobile service providers by providing fiber connections to cell towers to handle cellular backhaul traffic. This year, several cable MSOs will double the number of cell towers that they connect with transport links, reaping a total of about $150 million in revenue for 2010. Cable operators currently serve about 6,000 cell towers, and that number will increase to more than 10,000 by the end of the year, according to the MSOs.
The cable industry is increasing its rollout of Ethernet services for business customers, so cellular backhaul fits within its business services aspirations. If played out correctly, cellular backhaul revenue can essentially help to subsidize the deployment of Ethernet services for enterprises. While a cable operator is in the process of signing companies in an office park, the nearby cell tower can be putting money into the operator's pocket.
While cable is stepping up to the plate as a backhaul provider, the biggest market driver lies with mobile carriers and their customers. Demand for cellular backhaul bandwidth has skyrocketed amid the dramatic increase in mobile traffic, primarily attributed to the increased data traffic from iPhones and other smartphones and the explosion of mobile Web activities around text messaging, Web browsing, gaming, video, audio, and hundreds of new applications. That traffic will continue to increase as more iPhone competitors enter the market and as service providers ramp up 3G, 4G, and LTE services.
To succeed, cable must meet mobile carriers' demands for pricing and stringent service-level agreements (SLAs). So far, most major MSOs seem up to the task, because they are clearly winning cell-site business in quick order. Cellular backhaul is also a proving ground for MSOs to meet the SLA requirements of enterprise business customers. Most of the major MSOs are seeking to migrate from serving SMBs to serving larger businesses. Smaller and midsize MSOs also are seeing growth in business services and – while they are expected to be slower to deploy more fiber and Ethernet – they too are likely to find good cell-tower opportunities in their regions.
But it remains to be seen how the competitive landscape will shake out. Who would have thought that mobile carriers would give their cell-tower business to cable in the first place? The telecom world remains an odd mix of competition and cooperation between players.
Mobile Backhaul: MSOs Gear Up for a Tower Play analyzes the mobile backhaul strategies of leading U.S. cable operators, in the context of both the overall mobile backhaul market and wider cable MSO efforts to build out their business services to compete more effectively with telcos. The report also profiles 15 suppliers of mobile backhaul technologies that are geared specifically to the cable MSO market.
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