The Next Great Leap For Broadband: 10g Will Boost America’s Economy

New study shows hundreds of billions in new investment, millions of potential new jobs and paradigm shift in smart homes, cities and industries

The cable industry’s new 10G broadband platform will enable residential broadband speeds of up to 10 gigabits per second, generate at least $330 billion in total economic output and create more than 676,000 new jobs over 7 years, according to a new study by Dr. Raul Katz of Telecom Advisory Services. First introduced in 2019, 10G is the cable’s industry technology roadmap to build upon its existing network which today already offers 1 gigabit speeds to 80% of U.S. homes.

Cable’s 10G evolution will be built on projected industry investments over the next seven years that are expected to total over $80 billion in direct network investment and over $45 billion invested in intermediate goods and services. These investments will create hundreds of thousands of jobs in the construction, manufacturing and electronic equipment sectors plus lead to the development of new applications and services that create even more jobs in the gig economy.

The analysis finds that 10G will hasten the “fourth industrial revolution,” facilitate over 1,500,000 “spillover” next-generation service sector jobs, and accelerate the emergence of “smart homes,” “smart cities” and “smart industries” including in agriculture and manufacturing.

This new economic analysis of the platform’s anticipated impact follows significant milestones in the industry’s progress on 10G including:

• First 10G Field Test: On September 24, Mediacom unveiled the country’s first 10G field test demonstration project in a residential setting – a 10G-powered “smart home” in Ames, IA. The Ames smart home supports more than 70 internet-connected devices and appliances, giving us a glimpse of a seamless connected future. Instead of a traditional TV, viewers can watch 3D holographic images from a 10-G connected projector. Instead of driving long distances to a health care specialist, residents can connect with doctors from home with 10G powered telemedicine apps – and use technology like connected pill boxes and wellness apps to promote wellness.
   
• DOCSIS 4.0 Standard Released: In March, CableLabs released specifications for DOCSIS 4.0, a new technical standard that enables chipmakers and equipment manufacturers to develop technologies needed to support the 10G revolution.

10G networks will be the backbone of a connected and more productive American future, enabling a range of revolutionary applications across a range of industries and at home:

• VR/AR: With a 10G-connected VR set, a football fan may be able to“watch” a game from an immersive, players-eye view. Dozens or hundreds of students will be able to simultaneously join a virtual lecture hall, with a professor teaching from a 10G-enabled home able to see and interact with each in an immersive setting.
   
• Precision Agriculture: A corn grower in Iowa, using hundreds of wireless sensors across a farm all interacting in real-time via 10G backhaul connections with dozens of apps and services (from weather modeling tools to market pricing models) on servers all across the globe, will get precise instructions on exactly which rows and individual plants need water, nutrients, or pesticides in a given moment – allowing them to increase yields and revenue while saving precious time and resources.
   
• Supply Chain Logistics: 10G networks will securely link inventory databases, warehouse robots, customs systems, trucking route optimization tools, and fuel price data, letting a manufacturer in Ohio, for example, instantly and effortlessly find the fastest, least-expensive, and least-emitting shipping option to deliver its products to a customer in Europe or Asia.
   
• Telehealth: 10G broadband has the bandwidth and low latency to make remote surgery a viable option for rural health clinics, giving a critically ill patient in a remote community access to world-class specialists from across the country or the globe. Cameras in a remote operating room can transmit ultra-HD video and medical imagery in real-time to skilled surgeons half a world away, who remotely manipulate robotic surgical tools without the risks of latency delays or data loss.
   
• SmartCities: 10G networks will enable “smartcities” interconnecting and backhauling the huge volumes of data generated by the wireless sensors and smart systems. For example, traffic camera imagery can communicate directly with intelligent traffic lights to optimize timing, getting commuters home faster and reducing the economic and environmental costs of traffic. Sensors will vigilantly monitor the integrity of roads, bridges, and transit infrastructure – communicating troves of data in real-time to intelligent systems that can spot failures and safety issues before they even happen.
   
• Smart Manufacturing: Sensors embedded in manufacturing equipment, providing real-time data from production lines with cloud-based machine learning programs over 10G technology, can predict manufacturing problems in real-time thereby increasing production and reducing waste. This translates to larger margins for manufacturers, and a safer workplace for employees.
   
• ImmersiveVideo/8K: Next-generation 8K video streams carry 16 times more data than 1080p streams, requiring exponentially more bandwidth – which 10G will deliver. In an 8K, immersive future, 10G networks will by the standard platform on which we binge-watch our favorite TV shows and movies.

Click here to read the full report.