Cable industry needs wireless, if not mobile

On the back of their success with broadband to the home, cable operators are turning their attention to mobility to see whether they can take a bigger share of the value chain that delivers not just video content but other data to portable devices. The strategies encompass fixed line backhaul for existing 3G and 4G mobile operators, WiFi hotspots and the creation of thousands of miniature hotspots using spare capacity on broadband gateways that are either deployed or being deployed in customer homes.

Speaking on a panel of leading Chief Technology Officers at Cable Congress this week, Tony Werner, CTO at Comcast, started by giving an interesting perspective on what Apple and Android mobile/portable devices have meant for the cable industry. “Thanks to iOS and Android platforms we, as outsiders, are no longer locked out of the [mobile] platforms. Before the smartphone and open apps we could not get onto those [mobile] platforms or devices and would have to do a deal. Today, anyone can do their version of an app and put that on there.”

Werner believes there are opportunities to marry wired and wireless networks, possibly in partnerships and this was a theme picked up by Dan Hennessy, CTO at Virgin Media, who thinks there is an opportunity to agree deals to use street furniture like lamp posts and work with mobile operators who want to create small 4G cells or partner with local councils interested in WiFi.

Virgin Media, which is a leading MVNO and provides backhaul services for mobile operators, now provides WiFi on the London Underground tube network. This prestigious service was launched for the 2012 Olympics. Hennessy said you can see a change in consumer behaviour on the trains. “As a tube train pulls into a station people flip out their mobile handsets. They are data stacking on platforms and in ticket halls. That has been a very successful franchise.”

A question for his company is now whether they should expand WiFi to other cities. Hennessy views the addition of free WiFi to a broadband proposition as a nice-to-have extra that could help loyalty and customer retention. “It does not form a big part of the buying decision when choosing broadband though, so that [expansion to other cities] is not a massive focus today.”

Time Warner Cable is building out its own WiFi service and partnering with wireless carriers to provide wireless backhaul, which CTO Michael LaJoie describes as a robust business. “For every call made, some of the coverage is wireless but the rest is wireline and you cannot do super fast speeds without a good, solid wireline network to connect to,” he noted. “The combination of backhaul for wireless carriers and our investment in WiFi puts us in a great position.”

Lorenz Glatz, CTO at Kabel Deutschland pointed out that his company has 120,000 street cabinets in its franchise areas, almost all of which have a DOCSIS and power connection. The company is using these to create WiFi hotspots and Glatz noted that with 500,000 wireless gateways shipping to customer homes each year there is a chance to use these to create mini hotspots, something it is trialling in Berlin. “We are seeing a lot of good data and information from customers; the trial is going well,” he reported.

Asked how important mobility is for the cable industry, Glatz said: “It is part of the modern communications offering – you have to provide some aspect of it. As we have the best fixed line network infrastructure around, the most natural thing to do is build wireless on top of it.”

Werner at Comcast emphasized how fast and efficient WiFi is, and pointed to its reliability too, which was proved in the recent hurricanes in the U.S. “In our industry, with our architecture, we have the most effective way to create WiFi services,” he argued.

Balan Nair, CTO at Liberty Global, said the most efficient way to deliver mobile services is 3G or 4G if you have the spectrum but WiFi is the obvious choice if you don’t. His company is increasingly interested in mobile and one of the cited benefits from the expected Virgin Media acquisition will be access to the UK operator’s experience as an MVNO and using that to drive loyalty and upsells through a quad-play.