Smart Home and Home Network Management Services to Drive Residential vCPE Deployments

The ability to offer a better quality of service and a richer user experience is increasingly important for pay-TV and broadband operators to differentiate their services. Providing advanced Customer Premises Equipment (CPE), the ability to manage home networks efficiently, and fast service deployments are becoming essential to stand out in the increasingly competitive market.  ABI Research, a market-foresight advisory firm providing strategic guidance on the most compelling transformative technologies has identified that the Virtual Customer Premises Equipment (vCPE) platform will become the future of connected home solutions that will enable service providers to offer advanced services to residential customers more efficiently.

“The implementation of vCPE solutions utilizing Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) and Software-Defined Networking (SDN) allows service providers to shift some of the functions of CPE onto the edge or cloud, enabling service providers to save on hardware costs by deploying low-cost CPE at the customers’ site. Better visibility of home networks, device level management, and the rapid deployment of new services are also enabled by a vCPE platform,” says Khin Sandi Lynn, Industry Analyst at ABI Research. Such features are important for residential broadband network management as smart home penetration grows. ABI Research forecasts that the installed base of smart homes will exceed 360 million in 2023, representing nearly 35% of worldwide Wi-Fi households.

Service providers have already experienced success in vCPE deployments in the enterprise segment. Enterprise vCPE deployments have resulted in hardware and operational cost savings, as well as opening additional revenue-generating services such as better security services. As a result, service providers are now investigating how best to leverage vCPE deployment in the residential market. For example, Etisalat partnered with NEC/Netcracker to deploy a vCPE solution for residential services in early 2018. Several service providers including CenturyLink, China Mobile, and Orange are developing vCPE deployments for the residential market as well.

“vCPE offers a competitive advantage with CAPEX and OPEX savings to service providers. To get the full benefits of vCPE, service providers will need to create a monetizing strategy to augment the cost savings from their investment in vCPE,” concludes Lynn. “In markets with high smart home and connected device penetration, there is a higher chance to provide revenue-generating services in home network optimization and device level management. As associated markets continue to scale, the potential ROI for vCPE grows in turn.”

These findings are from ABI Research’s vCPE and Edge Computing in Digital Homes report. This report is a part of the company’s Video, VR and OTT Research service, which includes research, data, and Executive Foresights.

About ABI Research

ABI Research provides strategic guidance for visionaries needing market foresight on the most compelling transformative technologies, which reshape workforces, identify holes in a market, create new business models and drive new revenue streams. ABI’s own research visionaries take stances early on those technologies, publishing groundbreaking studies often years ahead of other technology advisory firms. ABI analysts deliver their conclusions and recommendations in easily and quickly absorbed formats to ensure proper context. Our analysts strategically guide visionaries to take action now and inspire their business to realize a bigger picture. For more information about ABI Research’s forecasting, consulting and teardown services, visionaries can contact us at +1.516.624.2500 in the Americas, +44.203.326.0140 in Europe, +65.6592.0290 in Asia-Pacific or visit www.abiresearch.com.