Tag Archives: CommScope

Broadband Shorts January 2026

This blog covers topics that I found interesting but which don’t warrant an entire blog.

Indoor CBRS. Federated Wireless announced a new product and a system that allows cellular carriers to use CBRS spectrum inside large buildings like hotels, malls, office buildings, and sports venues. The system places CBRS antennas throughout a building to provide the needed coverage. The concept behind the deployment is to let the carriers use free CBRS spectrum inside buildings to preserve licensed spectrum for outdoors. Currently, big crowds, like at a sporting event, can use licensed spectrum that reduces the coverage in the immediately surrounding areas. All except really old cellphones are capable of using CBRS spectrum.

Map of Data Centers by State. I found this map that shows the number of existing data centers in each state to be interesting.

Customer Interest in Satellite Cellular. A report published by GSMA Intelligence showed that 56% of the U.S. respondents to a survey said they would pay extra each month to be able to connect to satellite cellular. One of the interesting statistics from the survey is that 23% of cellular customers reported that they were unable to use basic texting at least 5 times per month. That’s not surprising to anybody who has studied rural cellular coverage, and who understands that the typical city has numerous dead zones for a given carrier.

While this finding is clearly encouraging for the companies busy deploying satellites for cell service, the 60% finding is likely overstated for now and will probably decrease once the public understands the limits of satellite cellular. It doesn’t work well indoors and is a challenge from a moving vehicle. It seems likely that satellite cellular will be far less robust in terms of data capabilities. I suspect over time that the fledgling industry will tackle these shortcomings, and this could eventually become popular product for anybody who  lives or routinely works in areas with poor cell coverage.

Starlink Approved for More Satellites. The FCC recently authorized Starlink to operate an additional 7,500 next-generation satellites. This order doubles Starlink’s authorized next-generation satellites to 15,000, still only half of its request for 30,000 additional satellites. The FCC deferred any decision on the remaining 14,988 Starlink requests to use orbits above 600 kilometers. This order also allows Starlink to expand the use of spectrum in the Ku- and Ka-bands for links to customers, and the V-, E-, and W-bands for connections to earth station gateways.

CommScope Cancels Fiber Factory Expansion. On the day that CommScope was renamed as Vistance Networks, the company announced it is cancelling plans to expand its fiber manufacturing facility in Catawba, North Carolina. In doing so, the company will be foregoing a $2 million economic development grant that would have covered some of the $60 million expansion cost. The expansion was going to create 250 additional jobs.

One reason for the change is a recent transaction where CommScope spun off much of its manufacturing capacity to Amphenol.  The announcement also said part of the change was due to the smaller amount of fiber being constructed with BEAD grants. While there is a lot of current discussion about a short-term supply chain issue with obtaining fiber, it’s likely that the company also looked out at fiber demand five and ten years from now.

A New Major Telecom Vendor

Many folks in the industry will already recognize Amphenol, the company that is poised to become one of the major new vendors in the industry. The company has decided to grow quickly by acquisition. It recently purchased the Connectivity and Cable Solutions subsidiary from CommScope for $10.5 billion. Amphenol also bought Trexon, a cable assembly business, for $1 billion.

Amphenol is a worldwide business with manufacturing facilities in forty countries. The company is in a wide range of markets, including military-aerospace, industrial, automotive, information technology, mobile phones, wireless infrastructure, broadband, medical, and pro audio. The largest division of Amphenol is Amphenol Aerospace (formerly Bendix Corporation).

In the telecom world, Amphenol Fiber Systems International (AFSI) was started in 1993 to manufacture fiber optic connectivity products and systems in Allen, Texas. In July 2024, Amphenol purchased two subsidiaries from CommScope. The company paid $2.1 billion to buy the Outdoor Wireless Networks (OWN) and the Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS) business. Amphenol also resurrected the Andrew Corporation brand name, a company previously acquired by CommScope, that manufactures tower and rooftop systems and cable management accessories.

Amphenol’s acquisitions are not just focused on telecom, and recent acquisitions include Carlisle Interconnect Technologies (CIT) which makes antennas and sensors for harsh environments; Lutze, a railway technology company; LifeSync, a manufacturer of connectors, antennas, and sensors for the medical industry; Narda-MITEQ, a maker of RF and microwave equipment for the military; XMA, a manufacturer of passive microwave components; and Q Microwave, which specializes in RF filters and subsystems for the military and space sectors.

The many acquisitions have already boosted 2025 earnings for the first half of the year. The strategic acquisitions contributed 15% to the first half of 2025 revenues. On a reported basis, revenues jumped 52% and excluding acquisition-related contributions, organic growth was 37% to hit $10.46 billion. In second-quarter 2025, revenues jumped 57% year over year on a reported basis and 41% organically to $5.65 billion.

The acquisition of CommScope’s fiber business makes Amphenol a major player in the broadband business. This puts Amphenol in competition with companies like Corning, Belden, and Prysmian. The company is also hoping for a big boost from selling fiber to supply the current AI explosion.

The CommScope sale might surprise some, but the company was in trouble due to a massive debt load of over $7 billion, and slower-than-expected sales that led to inventory build-ups in its broadband and cable access segments.

Manufacturing Returning to the U.S.

The other day I watched an online announcement by Nokia of a partnership with Sanmina in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin to rehab and expand an existing factory. The factory will create over two hundred new jobs and will manufacture fiber electronics like OLTs and ONTs that are used for fiber-to-the-premise. Vice President Kamala Harris was on hand for the announcement since the impetus to build a factory in the country was partially driven by Buy America provisions in the upcoming BEAD grants.

Nokia is not the only fiber-related manufacturer to expand production in the U.S. Corning announced the construction of a new fiber optic cable plant near Hickory, North Carolina. CommScope is building a new factory in Catawba, North Carolina.  Prysmian announced the conversion of a factory in Jackson, Tennessee from building copper cables to fiber cables.

A recent press release from the U.S. Department of the Treasury documents the big burst of investments in new factories. This is being funded, at least in part by infrastructure spending that came from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), and the CHIPS Act.

The following chart comes from that Treasury press release and shows how 2023 spending for manufacturing facilities has doubled the average spending for 2005 – 2022. Most of the new spending is on computers, electrical, and electronic factories. The Treasury press release notes that 18 new chipmaking factories were started in the country in 2021 and 2022. But since the announcement of the CHIPs Act there are over 50 new chipmaking facilities underway.

This can only be good news for the broadband industry. First, it increases the chance to buy American electronics as part of fulfilling grants. But the real benefit is over the longer run. This means that a lot of U.S. electronics manufacturing will be able to rely on U.S. factories manned by U.S. employees.

I’m sure many of you join me in being dismayed for decades as U.S. manufacturing jobs were shifted overseas. We’ve seen a steady erosion of good-paying factory jobs and a decrease in households in the middle class.

Many of these new and repurposed factories don’t require as many new workers as older factories due to automation. But every new U.S. manufacturing job created is a win for the economy. This is a needed shot in the arm for the economy. We can’t run an economy where everybody is doing service jobs – although it looked at one time like that is where we were headed.

Generation Z as Customers

There has been a lot written about how Millennials are not buying telecom products at nearly the same rate as old generations. A large percentage of new Millennial homes reject both traditional cable TV and telephone service. They seem to be buying home broadband at about the same rate as those in Gen X. I remember seeing a study a few years back that suggests that people’s telecom buying habits are heavily influenced by what they did as teenagers, and the buying habits of the Millennials seems to bear that out.

But now we’re starting to see studies of the next generation – Generation Z, born between 1995 and 2012. This is the first generation that was handed smartphones at an early age and it can be argued that this makes them the first generation that has been immersed in computer technology for their whole life.

CommScope has been doing an annual report of the technology behavior of Generation Z, and this year’s report can be downloaded here. The study is not for the whole generation, just those 13 and older. It’s fascinating and takes an in-depth look at how this young generation uses technology. Some of the more interesting takeaways of this year’s study include:

  • First, this is a large generation. In 2015 they were 26% of worldwide population, which will increase to 33% by 2020.
  • Already today this generation accounts for 25% of consumer spending which is expected to increase to 40% in ten years.
  • 96% of Generation Z in advanced countries own smartphones.
  • This generation is nearly always online and spend 74% of their time online outside of school and work. According to the report this is the “first generation that appears to live equally in the digital world and the real world”.
  • 60% of Generation Z will not use an app or website that is too slow.
  • 2/3 of Generation Z are interested in buying things directly from social media sites.
  • The generation’s use of technology is increasing year-over-year. 80% say they are using their smart phone more than last year. Plus there is an increase of 42% for usage of laptops/desktops, 24% for tablets, 10% for smart watches.
  • 44% of the generation expect to buy a new smartphone every two years.
  • Their most popular apps are YouTube (56%), WhatsApp (47%), Facebook (38%), Instagram (30%), Twitter (22%), Snapchat (20%) and Google Apps (19%).
  • The generation expects performance from devices and services. They want fast bandwidth, long-lasting batteries, efficient and easy-to-use apps. They are likely to be demanding consumers.
  • 70% of the generation are satisfied with their bandwidth at home, and far less satisfied with bandwidth elsewhere like school (41%), shopping (38%), or outdoor public spaces (36%).
  • I don’t know how this compares with older generations, but a lot of Generation Z is interested in new technologies – virtual reality (44%), AI (41%), driverless cars (39%).
  • This generation is the first where more than half are content creators. 52% share content they have created with others. 43% create content weekly.
  • 2/3 of Generation Z agree with the sentiment that the age of personal privacy is over.
  • The generation is split on cellphone choice with 51% preferring Android to 49% for iOS.
  • 63% of Generation Z say that they would be lost without their smartphone.

What does all of this mean for an ISP? I think there are a few key takeaways.

  • This generation values high speed broadband. They also value mobility more than anything else. They are likely buyers of home broadband products unless future cellphone data products get fast and affordable enough to be a reasonable substitute.
  • Generation Z will be even less likely than Millennials to buy traditional cable TV, and practically none will buy landline telephones. This generation is not going to be buying the bundle.
  • This generation grew up with the small cellphone screen and will be happy with that format for much that they do.
  • Generation Z is going to be more demanding than past generations in terms of bandwidth and product performance and will quickly bail on providers that don’t live up to their expectations. This is not going to be a generation of loyal customers, but one that will switch to something better.
  • They are far more likely to be early technology adapters, particularly for technologies that will save them time, like driverless cars.