Fifth-generation cellular technology - 5G - is widely expected to have a transformative impact not just on the mobile market, but on the entire future of network access, telecommunications and information technology.
With the promise of massive increases in network capacity, unprecedented speeds, ultra-low latency and huge leaps forward in connection reliability, 5G could be the key to the door for everything, everywhere connectivity - driving a huge spike in the number and types of devices we can integrate as part of networks, and the types of technologies we can run efficiently and effectively over networked systems.
But it is a mistake to view 5G as purely an evolution in wireless technology. The truth is, while the end user’s device might connect to the radio access network (RAN) wirelessly, behind the scenes there is a huge amount of fixed wire infrastructure involved. Radio access nodes and cell sites connect to each other over wirelines, communicating the data traffic back and forth from our mobile devices to data centres over fixed networks.
As demands on 5G mobile networks increase, with higher-intensity applications and more and more device connections in our homes, cities, and places of work demanding ever more bandwidth, wireless will need better, faster, more efficient fixed backhaul to cope. And that is where cable comes in.
The European cable industry has already undergone a significant degree of convergence with the mobile sector, with mergers and acquisitions between major players in both camps occurring since the start of the current decade. That puts European cable in a better position than anywhere else in the world to play a central role in supporting the rollout of 5G.
In this report, we will take a snapshot of the current state of the European cable industry, looking in particular at how broadband services over cable have become a key area for growth. We will then look at the latest technological innovations taking effect in the sector, before taking a deep dive into how those developments will enable cable to play a central role in 5G architecture.
