Cable Could Haul Wireless Calls
Ops Look at Gear To Carry Traffic On Fiber Networks
By Matt Stump -- Multichannel News, 5/14/2006 8:00:00 PM
The cable-Sprint Nextel Corp. joint venture that plans to merge video and broadband capabilities onto a mobile communications network may not be the only business deal the industry strikes with a wireless company.
Cable providers are sharing interest in using the fiber-optic technology they’ve deployed to transport cellular phone traffic from cell towers to regional aggregation points on a carrier’s wireless network, according to one cable-technology vendor.
| Tech Spec |
|---|
| Outdoor Ethernet Switch |
| Source: Narad Networks |
| Company: Narad Networks |
| Based: Westford, Mass. |
| Usage: Provides switching capability for operators to haul cellular communications on their fiber lines back to aggregation points of wireless carriers. |
| Data speed per coaxial port: 100 Megabits per second |
| Fiber transport speed: 1 Gigabit per second |
| Cost: Less than $4,000 |
“The MSOs are talking about doing this,” said Michael Collette, president of Narad Networks, the Westford, Mass.-based company which hosted numerous demonstrations of its cellular backhaul technology to U.S. and Canadian operators last month in Atlanta at the National Show. “In the last month, we’ve had multiple material discussions. There is heightened awareness in the category.”
Cable operators, including Comcast Corp., are taking a look at the technology, which could solve a problem for cellular carriers. Those providers are running out of bandwidth on the copper lines that transport voice traffic from cellular towers to their central aggregation points in any major city, Collette said.
“There is a fundamental change in the data services being offered by mobile carriers” as wireless companies deploy new technology allowing for greater speeds and more content, like video, to move through their networks, said Ken Rehden, an analyst with Current Analysis, a Washington, D.C.-based consulting company.
“Backhaul needs will increase dramatically,” he said, and that represents an opportunity for cable operators.
In most cases, cable companies have fiber and coaxial cable plant running near those cell towers, Collette said. MSOs can extend their coaxial cable to those cell towers, hook them to their network and provide backhaul bandwidth to cell phone companies.
Narad’s pitch to cable is to use its switches and Ethernet-over-coaxial cable technology to provide such transport services.
In any given major market, there might be thousands of towers to handle all the cellular traffic, Collette said. Those towers are typically connected via T-1 lines to a carrier’s central aggregation point in that market, Collette said. But as cell phone traffic builds — and more bandwidth-heavy applications like data and video flow over cell phone networks — those lines are being taxed, he said.
“They are running out of capacity, which makes it tough to do new video services,” Collette said.
“The existing coaxial plant passes a large number of cell towers,” Collette said. A typical tower covers three square miles, Collette said — approximately the area served by one cable node.
“With our new switch, MSOs can run fiber from the trunk to the cell tower,” he said.
Narad’s Metro 10 Gigabit Ethernet switch technology allows cable operators to offer speeds of 100 Megabits per second from cell towers to a Cisco Systems Inc. or Nortel Networks switch in a cable network, Collette said. That switch would then transfer the traffic to a wireless carrier’s aggregation point in that market.
From there, the wireless carrier would switch cell phone traffic to its national backbone.
Collette said that 25% of a wireless company’s expense is in backhaul costs, and with more bandwidth-heavy services on the horizon, cellular operators will be looking for alternative transport methods to handle backhaul traffic.
Verizon Communications Inc., of course, is building fiber optics deeper into its network, but Collette said cable companies have far more fiber and coaxial cable near cell towers than the telephone companies currently have — even Verizon. “The MSOs can sew up the race before the telcos get in,” he said.
Collette said the cost to run fiber directly to a cell tower could run between $25,000 to $150,000 per site, and take four months of planning and construction. The Narad solution costs 80% less, he said, and could be done in a matter of days.
The cell tower backhaul service represents another sales strategy for Narad. Cablevision Systems Corp. is using Narad technology to offer 50 megabit speeds to commercial customers in the New York area. Collette said operators could deploy Narad Ethernet switches for cellular backhaul services, then use the same devices to offer 50 megabit high-speed data service to businesses, just like Cablevision. “The marginal costs to do additional things like that is much lower,” Collette said.
Rehden said cities looking at providing Wi-Fi and even WiMax networks will have backhaul needs, which cable operators could also provide. But there is a catch, since some wireless services could conflict with cable’s strategy. “Why would I make my competition better?” Rehden asked.
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