“We are looking at different trends that are in parallel that are coming to fruition at the same time,” states Ken Ko, Managing Director of the Broadband Forum. This is leading to a convergence between 5G and fiber networks.

As Ko explains in the above interview, filmed at the Broadband Forum’s The Future of Fiber Technologies event, this convergence is being driven by operators wishing to create zero-downtime networks that are able to rapidly adapt and respond to the ever-increasing demand for upstream and downstream speeds and new services.  This session was a great way to kick off Fiber Connect 2021.

Interview highlights:

• 00:23 Ko provides an overview of the panel and their insight
• 02:03 Demand for bandwidth is driving the evolution of fiber technologies
• 02:48 The importance of automating operations and new services is more important than ever.
• 04:13 Ko discusses the work the Broadband Forum and 3GPP are doing to converge the fiber access and 5G networks.
• 06:01 – Regional providers – the independent telcos, rural cable operators, and electric cooperatives – are a focus of the Broadband Forum’s outreach.
• 07:15 – The convergence of 5G and fiber networks will benefit the regional operators as well.

This video was made possible by Calix.