LONDON, UK - FTTx PON has been supporting mobile traffic backhaul for many years but this application is rapidly garnering attention with the onslaught of 3G, 4G LTE and small cells. And while small cells will help relieve capacity constraints on macrocells, similar to macrocells, data traffic will need to be backhauled.
PON is an excellent fit for mobile backhaul traffic, especially for macrocells and small cells located in or near urban areas. Significant amounts of mobile traffic are created in urban areas, such as train stations, shopping centers and cultural and sporting events. Typically FTTx networks are deployed first in urban areas.
Several communications service providers began their FTTx PON deployments with a focus on business services, rather than residential services, given the opportunity for higher ARPU from commercial customers, including mobile operators seeking data backhaul services.
Today, given the costs of building the fiber network, more and more CSPs are planning their FTTx around mixed services, including FTTH, fiber to the enterprises and mobile data backhaul.
From a technical perspective, PON is a superb fit for mobile backhaul. PON component and equipment vendors have added essential timing synchronization functions to meet the stringent timing requirements of wireless networks.
From a total addressable market perspective, the growth in public carrier small cells could represent a $1 billion market for PON component and equipment vendors.
Governments should welcome this market application for PON as it will accelerate network monetization, encouraging CSPs to accelerate FTTx network deployments.
