The discussion of HFC v. ADSL is an important one.
The issue the cables face is along its co-axial routes which are not scaleable, unlike the fiber portion. To accommodate greater traffic going forward, the cablecos are either going to have to deploy more nodes to reduce traffic along the co-axial branches, or as previously stated, extend the fiber-optic plant. Another option is to go wireless from the node.
In contrast, the telecos, now making a full effort deploying ADSL to as many qualifying customers as possible, will be investing in DSL plant equipment to reach customers on presently non-quaifying loops. Over the longer term, the telecos will also have to extend their fiber plant in order to accommodate the future demand for increased bandwidth that is limited by DSL technology once transferred over to copper loops. Shorter copper loops will be the teleco strategy to address increasing bandwidth needs. Unlike the cablecos, scaleability will not be an issue. |
