The FTTH Conference Amsterdam took place in my home country, drawing thousands of customers, vendors, and industry peers for three engaging days of networking, panels, and workshops while sharing insights about our industry. To say the least, the event was buzzing with energy. In conversations with Business Unit Heads, Reinier Kramer, Fiber-to-the-Home, and Conny Franzén, Connected Home, they provide some main reflections, including expanding network coverage (homes passed), increasing active subscriptions (homes activated), monetizing networks, and new trends. Many of these topics are recurring themes that will continue to shape the fiber broadband industry for years to come.
- What it takes to move beyond 1 Gbps
One hot topic garnered considerable attention: enabling data speeds beyond 1 Gbps and preparing networks for this evolution. This raises important questions for Network Operators and Internet Service Providers (ISPs): Is the next step 2.5 Gbps or a bigger leap to 10 Gbps? What are the technical and financial challenges of multi-gigabit, and are consumers ready to pay for higher speeds?
From the workshop with multi-gigabit frontrunners, including technology vendors, operators, and ISPs, it was clear that they all recognized a need to foster adoption beyond 1 Gbps. But it will be in incremental steps and in a controlled way,” describes Reinier Kramer. We will dive deeper into this topic in our next blog.
- Overcoming the final hurdle for FTTH – multiple dwelling units (MDUs)
“For fiber rollout, apartment buildings or MDUs are often seen as the last big hurdle. Taking that hurdle requires a lot of time and investment,” explains Reinier. Traditional fiber installations require splicing in each apartment, a complex and expensive process. At the conference, Genexis launched the Genexis Fiber Extension Kit, a new product that significantly reduces installation time, labor, and costs with minimal disruption for residents. “It’s like a pizza box with pre-spliced, connectorized fiber to enable an efficient roll out to the fiber distribution point. It’s a way to accelerate active subscriptions,” describes Reinier.
- Co-existence of networks and interoperability at the core
Managing legacy networks was another major focus. Most deployments are not greenfield, but brownfield. They involve moving from legacy networks, such as switching off copper and transitioning to fiber, or upgrading existing fiber networks. “Many operators deal with not just one platform but several, making it very complex. That’s why we try simplifying it by ensuring interoperability,” says Reinier.
Additionally, the recent market turbulence with the exit of a major OLT and ONT vendor highlighted the risks of relying on an end-to-end vendor. Supply issues have triggered a lot of worry in the market. These events reinforce the importance of interoperability in maintaining sustainable network services. “Our agnostic ONTs are compatible with any OLT platform and resolve many operators’ needs. We validate OLT-ONT interoperability at our state-of-the-art Passive Optical Network (PON) interoperability Lab,” emphasizes Reinier.
- Broadening the Wi-Fi portfolio and paving the way for Wi-Fi 7
Conny Franzén, Business Unit Head of Connected Home, reflects on another recurring theme, home network coverage. Based on customer feedback and market trends, operators are increasingly looking for a diverse range of Wi-Fi 6 and 7 solutions, ranging from lower to higher end price points and different form factors.
With our acquisition of Heimgard Technologies, we can offer our customers an even broader selection, including Heimgard’s ELITE series of Wi-Fi gateways and routers and the HOME series of EasyMesh extenders. This was well received at the event,” says Conny.
- Unlocking new revenue streams with applications on residential gateways
Operators are exploring ways to deliver new services and increase average revenue per user (ARPU) by running applications directly on residential gateways. One example is offering value-added services such as cybersecurity directly on the gateway. “Our strategic partnership with F-Secure, a leader in cybersecurity, offers an additional layer of security and network-level security for connected homes,” explains Conny.
- Up next: Fiber-to-the-room
An up-and-coming trend that captured interest is fiber-to-the-room (FTTR). As the name suggests, FTTR extends fiber connectivity to each room, ensuring ultra-fast speeds and low latency throughout the entire home, not just near the main router. FTTR requires a more complex installation with fiber routing throughout the whole building and multiple ONTs. “This marks a new era for fiber rollout,” concludes Reinier.
The FTTH Conference Amsterdam highlighted the major trends shaping the future of fiber: moving beyond 1 Gbps, solving MDU challenges, broadening Wi-Fi offerings, and driving new revenue streams through smart gateways. With trends like FTTR on the horizon, the industry is shifting toward faster, more reliable, and more service-rich networks, bringing high-performance connectivity to every corner of the home.
