Blogs
Our team comprises some of the most specialised expert analysts in the industry, producing research that serves to tell the stories behind the numbers. Our analysts are often cited in the media and publications, and are available for commentary by contacting our Media Team.
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Fibre to the Room (FTTR): Revolutionising Home and Business Connectivity
Author: Sahil Itkan, Research Manager, Strategy In the ever-evolving landscape of digital connectivity, the advent of FTTR (Fibre to the Room) marks a significant milestone. Imagine having fibre connectivity in each of your rooms, ensuring seamless and high-speed internet access wherever you are within your premises. This technological advancement is set to redefine the way we experience internet connectivity, both at home and in business environments.The Limitations of Traditional FTTHTraditional FTTH (Fibre to the Home) setup typically involves optical fibre coming into an ONT (Optical Network Terminal), with a router physically connected to it via a network cable in order to provide coverage to your entire house via Wi-Fi. However, walls and interference can attenuate the signals from routers, resulting in lower speed and data throughput for connected devices in rooms further away from the router. Service providers often install Wi-Fi mesh networks and extenders to enhance coverage, but these fixes can downgrade the overall network experience due to reduced performance and inconsistent connectivity.FTTR: A Game-Changer in Home ConnectivityTo address these challenges, FTTR emerges as a transformative solution. In today's digital world, the surge in data consumption drives the need for reliable, high-speed networks that can support multiple concurrent applications, notably within large households. FTTR caters to these modern demands by providing high-speed connectivity to every nook of your house. It eliminates patchy network experiences and potential dead spots, offering gigabit connectivity and ensuring seamless performance for your connected devices across rooms.Applications and Benefits of FTTRFTTR is best suited to support usage of a wide array of increasingly mainstream applications simultaneously, such as online education, video conferencing, gaming, immersive extended reality (XR), and smart home devices such as security cameras. The growing number of smart and connected devices in modern homes and the flux in data-intensive applications across industries are anticipated to drive the rollout and adoption of FTTR solutions worldwide.Global Adoption and Market TrendsService and solution providers globally are recognising the potential and capability of FTTR technology. By the end of Q1 2025, around 39 service providers in 27 markets had either already launched or are planning to launch their FTTR offerings. The commercialisation of FTTR technology is generally driven by countries with relatively high fibre penetration. Extensive fibre infrastructure facilitates the adoption of FTTR technology by providing the necessary infrastructure to support its deployment, thereby enabling seamless, high-speed connectivity and driving the growth of advanced digital applications and services. FTTR technology is not only revolutionising home connectivity but also transforming business environments by providing reliable, high-speed internet access.FTTR-B: Extending FTTR connectivity beyond homes to businessOperators are expanding their FTTR offerings to cater to the connectivity needs of their business customers by launching FTTR-B (Fibre to the Room for Business). By the end of Q1 2025, service providers in Brazil, China, Indonesia, Mexico, Philippines, and Thailand, have either deployed or planning to deploy their FTTR solutions for business customers. This technology is ideal for industries like hotels, providing guests with a seamless experience and ensuring consistent, reliable connectivity in each room. FTTR-B in hotels can also attract corporate clients for conferences and events, supporting a larger number of simultaneous users and applications like live streaming and virtual meetings. FTTR-B can also address the connectivity needs of educational institutions. Schools, colleges, and learning centers are stepping up from conventional ways of learning to new digital learning experiences which results in multiple smart devices operating simultaneously across the campus. FTTR-B could empower the students and staff with high-speed connectivity and a seamless learning experience.Future Outlook and OpportunitiesThe growing momentum around FTTR technology is likely to continue with more operators rolling out and testing their fibre-to-the-room offerings for both commercial and residential users. This presents an opportunity for OEMs, as the architecture involves more CPE to be installed at the premises. FTTR technology will also fuel growth in the IoT ecosystem, smart connected home devices, ultra-high-definition (8K) streaming, gaming, and more. The popularity of FTTR-B among business owners and administrators worldwide provides opportunities for service providers and operators to further monetise their existing fibre network infrastructure.For an in-depth analysis and insights on the future of FTTR and the broader fixed broadband and FWA markets, don't miss our latest quarterly report, “Fixed broadband and FWA, Q4 2024: developments and outlook". This comprehensive report delves into the latest trends, market dynamics, and future projections, offering valuable information for industry stakeholders. Additionally, our spotlight on FTTR, "FTTR: Taking Fixed Broadband Connectivity to the Next Level," provides a detailed look at this groundbreaking technology and its potential implications on the broader ecosystem.
Strengthen your B2C strategy in the digital era | On-demand webinar slides
GSMA Intelligence Digital Consumer Research provides exclusive insights and recommendations on the transformation of consumer technologies and evolution of consumer behaviour in the digital era, drawing on a global consumer survey. Planning for the 2025 consumer survey has just begun, ensuring continued research into emerging trends and market shifts that are shaping the future of digital consumer.This exclusive webinar explored key insights and implications from the Global Consumer Survey. Our experts discussed the latest consumer trends in the digital era, and how to leverage them to capture new B2C opportunities. Whether you are a telco operator, an OEM, or a provider of digital services/content, these slides will offer data-driven recommendations to help you enhance:B2C strategies and messagingCompetition and partnership strategiesTargeting new services and marketsCustomer segmentation strategiesBenchmarking activities
Peter & Christina Go To Cambridge: Insights from a 6G Symposium
Author: Peter Jarich, Head of GSMA Intelligence and Christina Patsioura, Lead Analyst, IoT & Enterprise The Cambridge 6G Symposium came hot on the heels of the 3GPP’s 6G workshop held in Incheon South Korea. Where the latter included a series of breakneck series of 6G vision presentations and submissions from companies across the mobile ecosystem, the former was a more intimate affair. But bringing together a select set of academics and operators, along with infrastructure and silicon suppliers provided a unique set of insights into the question we’re all trying to answer – what do we want from 6G? From GSMA Intelligence, I attended with Christina Patsioura (Lead Analyst, Enterprise and IoT). We both came away with the same overarching impression; there is incredible anticipation for what we can accomplish with 6G, along with a recognition that we need to learn from the sins of the past. We also went in with different perspectives and technical focuses, resulting in different takeaways. Christina’s Lens Learn from 5G rollouts – It’s well understood that monetizing 5G investments has proven challenging, with promises of tapping into B2B sales being dramatically over-hyped. RoI, then, needs to be front-and-centre in 6G planning alongside loftier goals of 6G serving societal demands in terms of near-ubiquitous connectivity, that will transform the lives of the many, as well as security and energy efficiency. Focus on customer needs – At a 6G event with an audience of academics and researchers, there was an expectation that technical innovation would dominate the presentations and panels. To be sure, topics like THz spectrum, integrated sensing and communications (ISAC), and AI-native RAN were on the agenda. Tech talk, however, was balanced by frequent reminders that we need to align 6G capabilities with actual user demands while acknowledging that future network infrastructure should also allow for dynamic reaction to ever evolving market demands (EG, reduced mobility for servicing a factory with static assets). Avoid “Race to 6G” – As with 5G, it’s expected that many operators will rush to deploy 6G technologies and gain a marketing leg-up on competitors. This belies the fact that research, technology and standards development is a continuum and detracts from the improvements that these standards (or even pre-6G evolutions) deliver. Peter’s Lens A 6G Event without much 6G. The focus on 6G use cases and aspirations vs. a tech-heavy 6G innovation focus was certainly welcome. But, combined with a prevalence of 5G Era technologies getting called out – EG, NTN, AI integration, open networks and API exposure –you might be forgiven if you showed up and didn’t know it was a 6G event. 6G vs. NTN. Integration of mobile technologies and satellite or high-altitude delivery platforms got plenty of airtime at the Symposium. Much more than expected. To be sure, the wave of satellite constellation launches and telco partnerships, combined with the potential to revolutionize mobile coverage, has captured the market’s attention. Of course, that’s happening in today’s 5G Era. 6G and the 5G Continuum. From AI and open networking, to new spectrum allocations, energy efficiency, security, NTN integration, ISAC and new business opportunities, the resemblance of 6G aspirations and innovation to 5G aspirations and technologies is overwhelming. It’s a reminder that 6G will build upon 5G standards and accomplishments. A reasoned, evolutionary view of 6G was refreshing if not what we expected when showing up in Cambridge. It also served as a reminder that the future direction of wireless offers a chance to help the mobile industry to execute against common (well-worn?) goals if we learn from the past and focus on understanding the needs of society, consumers, industry verticals and telcos themselves.
