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Germany : FTTH , hybrid solutions dominant trends
Broadband access specialist KEYMILE has identified five prevailing trends on Germany ’ s telecommunications market : rising bandwidth demand due to new online services , fibre to the home , hybrid solution scenarios , vectoring and partnerships between competitors .
In Germany , broadband expansion is progressing slowly but surely . According to information from the industry association VATM , approximately 3.1 million homes were connected to optical fibre networks at the end of 2017 . That ’ s an increase of over 20 % compared with the previous year and a clear step forward . KEYMILE has pinpointed five trends that will have an impact on the telecommunications market in Germany in 2018 and encourage the growth of broadband connections .
1 . Cloud services , streaming and gaming will continue to boost bandwidth demand Over the past few years , the demand for bandwidth has consistently grown with this trend set to continue in 2018 . The rising use of cloud services , in particular by companies , increases the amount of data transmitted . Cloud services require fast upload speeds , therefore stimulating the trend towards symmetrical data rates . Public clouds will become the core components of complex IoT ( Internet of Things ) networks and architectures . Homes where streaming of high-resolution TV content , YouTube videos and gaming take place also play their part in the growth . The increasingly complex and regular security patches and operating system updates for digital devices in homes or companies are other factors .
2 . Optical fibre expansion focuses on FTTH Bandwidths in the gigabit range are possible when homes and companies have direct optical fibre connections . As Fibre-to-the- Home ( FTTH ) and Fibre-to-the-Building ( FTTB ) are highly future proof , network operators will concentrate their investments on these areas wherever possible – regardless of whether active ( Ethernet Point-to-Point , P2P ) or passive ( Passive Optical Network , PON ) access technology is used . Today ’ s PON systems should take into account the requirement for symmetrical data transmission and be retrofittable with the next XGS PON and NG PON2 PON generations . Nationwide network operators primarily choose PON architectures whereas regional and local ones tend to pick P2P architectures . FTTH is the first and FTTB the second choice wherever FTTH isn ’ t possible .
3 . Hybrid solutions build bridges VDSL2 and vectoring with 17a profiles and G . fast as VDSL2 ’ s successor , as well as investments in optical fibre networks in residential and commercial areas , are part of a technology mix for the majority of German network operators to supply broadband in the medium term and head towards purely optical fibre networks . In order to make maximum use of existing investments , existing copper wire networks will still be in operation for five to ten years at least in most cases . Wherever required from a technical standpoint and possible financially , network operators will be pressing ahead with optical fibre expansion from Fibre-to-the-Curb ( FTTC ) towards FTTB and FTTH this year and using hybrid infrastructure to build bridges to the optical fibre future .
4 . 35b profile vectoring offers data rates of up to 300 Mbps As a pioneer among telecommunications companies , Deutsche Telekom has started to upgrade its network with faster profile 35b vectoring . The current VDSL2 / vectoring connections allow data rates of between 50 and 100 Mbps . Faster vectoring is based on the VDSL 35b profile and uses a bigger frequency range , i . e . 35 instead of 17 MHz ( 17a profile vectoring ). As a result , data rates of up to 300 Mbps are possible . A volume roll-out of profile 35b vectoring is expected in 2019 . Until then , further network operator will follow with their offerings .
5 . Deutsche Telekom and EWE joint venture plans FTTH / FTTB expansion Deutsche Telekom and its regional competitors have gone their separate ways until now . This seems to be changing because in November 2017 Deutsche Telekom and north German energy utility EWE announced a joint venture . The joint venture wants to invest up to two billion euros and connect around a million homes in the north west of Germany directly to the optical fibre network . The desire to make optical fibre expansion more cost efficient is one of the motivations for the partnership . During the course of the year it will be interesting to see if this collaboration also motivates other market players to do the same .
“ Supplying homes and companies with broadband connections in the gigabit range is one of the core objectives that both politicians and network operators agree on . If providers of telecommunications systems , network operators and politicians adopt a coordinated approach , it should be possible to forge ahead with expanding broadband in Germany in a targeted and cost-efficient manner ,” notes Lothar Schwemm , KEYMILE ’ s CEO . “ The fundamental technologies are already in place today and will be consistently developed over the next few years .”
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