Historically, the fixed broadband industry has focused on delivering faster speeds, but today, success hinges on balance: between speed and service, innovation and standardization, monetization and user experience. I sat down with Craig Thomas ,CEO of the Broadband Forum Forum (BBF to discuss how they are realigning their mission around a services-led vision—one that doesn’t just deliver fast internet, but creates new (much needed) paths to profitability from smart homes to MDUs to enterprise campuses.
Much like the ancient philosophy of Yin and Yang, the broadband ecosystem must harmonize opposing yet complementary forces to succeed, between new technologies and new revenue streams for the service providers. The BBF is now organized into five major technical work areas—Access, Connected User, Network Architecture, Provider Cloud, Service Requirements—and supported by the “YANG Ninjas,”. The YANG Ninjas are a specialized advisory and technical group within the Broadband Forum responsible for creating, reviewing, and ensuring the quality and consistency of YANG data models used across broadband networks.
Let’s explore the Forum’s latest structure—and more importantly—how each area helps operators build sustainable, profitable business models in an increasingly competitive landscape.
1. Access: The Foundation of Flexible, Scalable Connectivity
The Access work area continues the Forum’s legacy of defining interoperable architectures for broadband delivery over fiber, copper, and fixed wireless access (FWA). This work is important in the age of multi-gigabit broadband and BEAD-funded rollouts.
Monetization Opportunities:
- Hybrid Access Networks allow providers to combine different last-mile technologies (fiber + 5G FWA, for instance) to serve hard-to-reach areas cost-effectively. By expanding addressable markets, providers can accelerate subscriber acquisition and reduce per-premise CAPEX.
- Premium Access Tiers: With XGS-PON and future 25/50G PON standards, operators can tier broadband plans by performance—e.g., symmetrical gigabit for teleworkers or high-reliability lines for SMEs—commanding higher ARPU.
- MDU Upgrades: Innovations like fiber-to-the-extension-point and FWA-to-the-MDU allow providers to reuse in-building copper while delivering multi-gigabit services. This opens up lucrative contracts with property managers without incurring expensive rewiring.
2. Connected User: Elevating the Subscriber Experience
As a reminder, TR-069 (CWMP), TR-181, and USP (TR-369) form the core of broadband service management, evolving to meet the demands of increasingly complex connected environments. Introduced in 2004, TR-069 was the foundational protocol that allowed service providers to remotely manage customer-premises equipment (CPE), reducing operational costs through centralized provisioning, firmware updates, and diagnostics.
As home networks became more sophisticated, the need for a standardized way to describe device capabilities led to TR-181. This data model defines the parameters and structure for managing gateways, Wi-Fi, voice services, etc. TR-181 is the common language that TR-069 and its successor, USP, use to interact with devices. USP (TR-369) represents the next-generation framework, designed for real-time, secure, and decentralized control of devices across homes, enterprises, and IoT environments.
Unlike TR-069's client-server architecture, USP uses a message bus model that enables multiple controllers, such as service providers, consumer apps, and third-party platforms, to interact with devices concurrently. It supports modern use cases like managed Wi-Fi, smart home management, containerized service delivery, and dynamic QoE optimization. Together, these standards enable a scalable and monetizable broadband experience that shifts the focus from raw connectivity to value-added services and subscriber satisfaction.
The Evolution from TR-069 to USP
Source: MaravedisMonetization Opportunities:
- Managed Wi-Fi Services: Operators can go beyond offering a connection and deliver managed, whole-home Wi-Fi solutions. These are often bundled with proactive diagnostics, parental controls, and security, transforming a low-ARPU service into a premium one.
- IoT and Smart Home Bundles: With standardized frameworks for onboarding and managing smart devices, providers can upsell “smart home as a service,” combining automation, security, and support.
- Quality on Demand: Through dynamic QoE control, providers can offer tiered experiences based on context—ultra-low latency for gaming, high bandwidth for 4K streaming—charging extra for performance-sensitive use cases.
3. Network Architecture: Making the Infrastructure Agile and Profitable
This area defines the broadband network’s end-to-end blueprint—from the optical line terminal (OLT) to the data center. It addresses disaggregated BNG (Broadband Network Gateway), virtualized service functions, and interoperable cloud-native architectures.
Monetization Opportunities:
- Operational Savings through Disaggregation: Disaggregated architectures reduce vendor lock-in and lower equipment costs, freeing up capital for investment in new revenue-generating services.
- Flexible Service Creation: Cloud-native and microservices-based architectures allow operators to launch services faster, test new ideas, and adapt to market demand with minimal friction.
- Network Slicing for Enterprises: By supporting differentiated service levels across a shared infrastructure, operators can target high-value verticals like healthcare, education, and smart cities with custom connectivity packages.
4. Provider Cloud: Powering Automation and Autonomous Services
The Provider Cloud area centers on software-defined networking (SDN), network function virtualization (NFV), automation, and AI/ML for autonomous operations.
Monetization Opportunities:
- Dynamic Service App Store: Drawing inspiration from smartphone platforms, operators can enable third-party or in-house apps to be deployed in customer premises equipment (CPE) via containerization. Think cybersecurity, remote collaboration tools, or telemedicine modules—instantly deployed, billed monthly.
- AI-Driven Upselling: With real-time insights into user behavior, operators can personalize upsell prompts (“You’ve used 85% of your data plan. Upgrade for $5 more”) and reduce churn by proactively fixing issues before customers notice.
- Self-Optimizing Networks: AI-enabled optimization minimizes costly truck rolls and downtime, improving the customer experience while protecting margins.
5. Service Requirements: Translating Strategy into Deployable Specs
This group acts as the “voice of the operator,” defining service-level expectations across different use cases—residential, business, and wholesale—and ensuring that all technical work aligns with real-world monetization potential.
Monetization Opportunities:
- SLA-Backed Offerings: With defined performance and reliability benchmarks, operators can confidently sell business-grade broadband to SMEs, including work-from-home hybrid plans.
- Market-Differentiated Services: Clearly defined service profiles enable operators to carve out niches (e.g., “gamer broadband” or “remote education-ready plans”) that resonate with specific demographics.
- Wholesale Expansion: Wholesale and unbundling models become more viable when service expectations are standardized and certifiable.
Conclusion: The Shift from Access to Experience
The Broadband Forum’s new structure reflects an industry-wide evolution: broadband is no longer just about the dumb pipe. It's about the platform—the services, applications, and experiences that ride on top of it, and the service providers need this shift badly.
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