Are MSOs Ready for Wi-Fi’s Challenges? — Open Mic

The cable industry is excited about Wi-Fi as a new revenue frontier, and justifiably so. The Wireless Broadband Alliance has predicted that next Generation Hotspot (NGH) technology will account for $150 billion in operator revenue by 2018.

MSOs are starting to move quickly. In the U.S., members of the cable industry’s Wi-Fi consortium were able to offer their customers roaming Wi-Fi access to more than 200,000 hotspots by the end of 2013: doubling the output of 2012, according to research by SNL Kagan.

In addition to expanding their Wi-Fi footprint, which MSOs hope will increase the appeal and value of their highspeed data (HSD) subscriptions, cable operators are upgrading Wi-Fi technologies.

One example is Comcast’s dual-use Wi-Fi home gateway, which enables indoor residential hotspots to support outdoor access via authentication.

And with the next generation of Wi-Fi (802.11ac), which will significantly increase broadband up to one gigabit per second, multiple users will be allowed to stream HD videos at the same time.

Cable operators believe that their expanded footprint, combined with these technological advances, will help them better control the data experience of their customers and maximize their return on investment (ROI), while providing the best quality of service (QoS).

This means a more mobile and seamless experience, which cannot be achieved without optimized and intelligent networks that offer seamless handovers, session continuity, intelligent offload and full control of the customer data experience.

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