According to research from Point Topic, global fixed broadband lines hit 1.34 billion connections at the end of Q3 2022. East Asia remains the largest regional broadband market at 65.5% in Q3 2022. Cable (currently 17% of the total) and copper (9.4%) broadband connections are continuing to lose market share to full fibre. FTTH grew to 61.4% and FTTB accounted for 4% of global connections.
Full-fibre platform CityFibre has successfully completed a trial of 2Gbps residential services in York with Vodafone. The new services were delivered using the Vodafone Pro II Broadband service and the new Vodafone Ultra Hub and Super WiFi6E Booster bundle.
The trial has been made possible by CityFibre’s recent upgrade of its York network to XGS-PON. This is scheduled to be rolled out across CityFibre’s network from April 2023, as a step towards 10Gbps symmetrical residential and business services.
The EU Commission has greenlighted a joint venture between Vodafone and Altice to deploy FTTH across Germany. The new joint venture, named FibreCo, is to invest up to €7 billion over a six-year period and provide up to seven million households with fibre. Some 80% of the rollout will be geared towards housing associations in Vodafone’s existing cable network footprint, the remainder will be outside this current footprint. The Commission concluded that the joint venture would not raise competition concerns given the limited overlap between the companies in the relevant markets.
Following the launch of 1-Gig and 10-Gig broadband in recent years, US municipal fibre service provider EPB has introduced 25 Gbit/s connectivity in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Broadband internet that reaches this speed is now available to all residents and businesses. The first use for the enhanced broadband network is the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Convention Center in the city. Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly said the upgraded network will “increase quality of life for the tens of thousands of Chattanoogans who rely on high quality, top-speed internet for remote work.” The residential version is not cheap, however, at $1,500 per month.
Through its subsidiary in the UK Prysmian Group has been awarded an MV cable framework agreement with National Grid Electricity Distribution for a minimum of 3 years. Prysmian were considered the strongest supplier for the manufacture and logistics management of medium voltage cables for the new framework. With this agreement Prysmian will support the UK’s electricity grid in becoming capable of distributing more electricity in the future, as a key enabler for the energy transition. Medium voltage cables will be supplied primarily from the Group’s manufacturing plant in Wrexham, North Wales.
“Development of more reliable and smarter grid infrastructures for power transmission and distribution is key for the integration of renewables”
states Juan Mogollon, Energy Division EVP, Prysmian Group.
“The ambition of Prysmian is to act as an enabler for accelerating the energy transition by supporting the development of greener and smarter power grids with innovative cable technologies, ensuring higher performances, reliability and sustainability.”
