Open Access Networks Seen Growing Beyond Wireless and ORAN

Open network architecture is a flourishing trend beyond 5G and open radio access networks, speakers said Wednesday during a Broadband Breakfast webinar. The wholesale model has worked for the middle mile and in wireless, Incompas President Angie Kronenberg said: “It’s exciting to see the discussion now happening about last-mile connectivity and fiber.”

In the U.S., people want choice and “especially in the home and small-business marketplace there’s not a lot of choice," Kronenberg said. Most consumers have “at most” the option of two providers, she said. As more fiber is deployed, it has driven the availability of additional high-speed access to the internet, but the number of choices consumers have for their ISP “is just terrible.”

Open networks will mean more investment and innovation and better customer service, Kronenberg predicted. The support of major players like AT&T and T-Mobile for a fixed broadband open access model is “significant” and “has changed the industry."

Incompas is focused on pole attachment “modernization” at the FCC and in the states, Kronenberg said. Simplifying rules is important to speed attachment of fiber, small cells and other infrastructure to utility poles, she said. Regulatory issues are important to open networks' growth, she added.

A few years ago, no one in the U.S. wanted to talk about open-access models, said Isak Finer, chief revenue officer at Swedish software company COS Systems. Companies are starting to see they can put their fiber assets on an open platform, maintain some control, but not have to become an ISP, he said. Large scale investors are looking at fiber as “a good, long-term investment,” and they also don’t want to become ISPs.

Putting fiber in a community doesn’t guarantee that it will flourish, said Jeff Bankston, vice president-business development, at infrastructure company Underline. “We really need to look at fiber as infrastructure or an operating system that advanced applications can be built on top of,” he said.

Many small communities are focused on keeping young people from leaving; these localities need a platform for AI, autonomous driving and other developing technologies, Bankston argued. Just closing the “digital divide” isn’t enough. “You need to be smart in how you build these infrastructure networks today to enable you to do things for the next 50 years, because that fiber is going to be useful for a long, long time.”

Bankston said companies like AT&T and T-Mobile have increased “visibility and the credibility of the open access concept.” But he advised caution on the kinds of arrangements that numerous ISPs are crafting, as well as “exclusive arrangements that lock down networks for years.”

What works in Europe won’t necessarily succeed in the U.S., said Brian Hollister, CEO of Bonfire Infrastructure Group, an engineering and construction company. Bonfire started working with local governments and tribal entities and found they needed “a different level of help … to figure out what’s possible,” he said: “They do want to be in control of their digital future, have a say in it.” Cable is aging and fiber is the “obvious” answer for every major market.

Open access will let communities maintain “some control of their future” and increase competition, Hollister said. “They can do what they understand well, which is infrastructure” and partner with the private sector to offer applications and services “because the private sector is always going to be more advanced,” he said. Open networks aren’t the only option, “but we think it’s a really great solution.”