Smart Home
is no longer a far-fetched concept. CommScope is offering innovative, connected
home solutions for broadband and pay-TV service providers – to meet customers’ demands
for always-available high-speed broadband, whole-home Wi-Fi, and video content.
As mobile
standards and technologies – DOCSIS 4.0, 6GHz spectrum and Wi-Fi 6 – converge,
the trio has ushered in a new era of home networks and entertainment.
CommScope stands
poised to equip service providers with next-generation technologies to improve
user experience and increase service capability. The advancement in Wi-Fi 6 and
the introduction of new spectrum 6GHz, broadband speed can boost performance up
to 4x … and they are accelerating the huge performance gains of in-house
entertainment such as VR/AR applications. Moreover, very importantly, the
increased spectrum minimises dead spots at home while providing a superior
wireless user experience.
Furthermore,
wireless connectivity requires lower latency to support time-sensitive
applications such as ultimate gaming and VR/AR immersion. It also needs secure
deterministic connectivity to provide the platform for new home services that
drive new business opportunities and new levels of engagement with subscribers.
A Smart
Home would not be complete without Smart Media Devices (SMD) that can combine
the functionality of the most important gadgets in the connected home to create
a single touch-point for consumers’ digital lives – for instance, the set-up of
an all-in-one control from smart speaker, visual smart assistant,
Internet-of-Things (IoT) hub, voice and video conference, and remote control.
This combination allows the device to offer a more personalised, connected and
convenient way to enjoy all the media, services and applications in the digital
home.
Describing
the benefits of SMD, Charles Cheevers, Chief Technology Officer of CommScope,
said that by becoming a ‘super aggregator’, service providers (SPs) can
increase ARPU by offering differentiated services that consumers are willing to
pay for such as e-health, education, home security, utilities management,
entertainment management and productivity tools.
Just as the
smartphone is becoming a device that people cannot live without, Cheevers said
that SMD products – with their high-quality audio experience, together with the
additional services they empower SPs to create – “are set to transform the
traditional set-top into a much-loved device”.
5G to home
and within the home will grow in adoption and lead to the emergence of
new-generation internal 5G repeaters or 5G femtocells which can overcome and
eliminate concerns over congested broadband networks when a full set of smart
controls are being used. In addition, FWA (Fixed Wireless Access) solutions for
5G NR (New Radio) across the sub-6GHz and millimetre wavebands will also
increase in popularity. There will be more innovation around the ability to
self-install FWA equipment on windows to allow rapid overlay of FWA services in
MDU (multi-dwelling unit) and dense population areas.
“The
confluence of technologies such as DOCSIS 4.0, 6GHz spectrum and Wi-Fi 6 are
pushing a range of new services in the realm of reality to be realised. Whether
it’s 10Gbps access speeds, more pervasive and powerful home networks, or visual
assistants, a range of exciting trends are emerging to improve the customer
experience and drive new levels of service capability for Internet service providers,”
said Cheevers.