Connected Cars NPRM Seen as First Step in Wider Campaign

ATLANTA -- The U.S. is taking an increasingly hard line against all connected Chinese and Russian devices, not just those from particular manufacturers such as Huawei, cybersecurity expert Clete Johnson told attendees at SCTE's annual TechExpo Wednesday. Meanwhile, cable providers at TechExpo discussed why it's imperative that there is better convergence in wireline and mobile services.

Johnson, a Wilkinson Barker cybersecurity lawyer and senior fellow at the Center for Strategic International Studies’ strategic technologies program, said Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security NPRM this week proposing restrictions on sales or imports of connected vehicles using hardware or software tied to Russia or China (see 2409220001) was "just the first step" in what likely will be a salvo of U.S. government moves against connected widgets from those nations broadly, not just particular Chinese or Russian manufacturers. "It will not stay within connected vehicles," Johnson said.

Russia, China, Iran and North Korea are increasingly in a cyber alliance, with the first three especially active in the information space, including hacking presidential campaigns and producing deepfake information, Johnson said.

Regardless of the fall election results, the U.S. is unlikely to deviate notably from cybersecurity approaches that date back more than a dozen years, Johnson said. While tone and tactics vary from administration to administration, the trajectory -- a greater focus on restricting Chinese and Russian hardware- and software-based companies and an understanding that cybersecurity demands a dynamic, flexible approach -- remains constant, he said. That every major piece of cyber legislation -- from the statute that established the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act to the Secure Equipment Act -- passed easily underlines the point that the U.S. approach has strong momentum.

Turning to declines in cable’s broadband subscriber figures, GS Sickand, Cox Communications vice president-wireless engineering, implied subscribers are seeking a more-cohesive mobile and home broadband service. He said boosting customer acquisition and reducing churn will require better convergence of services. “Cable has taken our customers for granted for a very long time,” he said. The easiest convergence play is a multiproduct offering of internet, video, voice and mobility in one bill. But that layering doesn't differentiate an operator very well from competitors, he said. Combining network services can streamline resources instead of having various verticals. While speeds will vary between Wi-Fi and mobile, subscribers' services and settings should persist even when they are on other connectivity providers’ networks, making the cable provider's services stickier, he said.

The different standards cable operators must deal with, such as DOCSIS and Wi-Fi, need a common point where they overlap, and cable must push standards bodies to "cross-pollinate," Sickand said.

Cable officials will talk about convergence five years from now, as it’s not an end state, said Josh Lonn, GCI vice president-connectivity products. Matters like combined billing and policy controls like parental controls are low-hanging fruit that are easily handled, but network technologies convergence is trickier, he added. Unless a cabler is a large operator with relationships in the original equipment manufacturer community, convergence will take a while, Lonn said.

One goal should be to combine Wi-Fi and cellular signals. This would end those moments when customers abandon a weak Wi-Fi signal and rely on cellular signals from their smartphones, Sickand said. Subscribers switching off Wi-Fi undercuts cable operators' need to offload mobile traffic onto their Wi-Fi networks instead of a partner mobile virtual network operator carrying it, he said.

Over the next few years, the low latency of cable networks will become a competitive differentiator, Comcast President-Technology, Product, Experience Charlie Henin predicted. He said cable has growth opportunities in such applications as remote medicine and work from home. Justin Colwell, Charter Communications executive vice president-connectivity tech, said cable should work toward easier onboarding and activation of subscribers' smart devices.

TechExpo Notebook

In light of the flood of pole attachment applications that rural-permitting authorities will likely face from broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) projects, a detente among pole owners, local and state governments and the broadband industry is needed, said telecommunications regulatory consultant Deborah Lathen. Pole attachment and easement issues mustn't hold up BEAD projects, Lathen said. While NTIA lacks the regulatory authority that would give it leverage in pole attachment issues, said NTIA Policy Director Amanda Martin, it has asked states in their BEAD plans to offer ideas that address permitting. States in turn are proposing approaches such as assisting counties with pole attachment processing or handling pole attachments at the state level, she said.

Low earth orbit satellite connectivity is both a friend and foe to cable, said GCI's Lonn. In small, remote Alaskan markets where GCI has aging equipment, LEO lets cablers retire more-expensive legacy networks and focus investment elsewhere, he said. But LEO becomes a competitor when it comes into more urban markets. However, Cox's Sickand said if cable can keep its costs under control, it can easily compete with LEO.

A fixed wireless access customer will consume 20 to 40 times the bandwidth of a single mobile device subscriber, so a mobile operator can only sell so much FWA service in a certain area, said Ron McKenzie, adviser to the CEO at Rogers Communications. As such, the economics of FWA-only services are more challenging than mobile, he added. The current FWA growth as a cable competitor is "a moment in time" due to the availability of the 2.5 GHz band.