We have written earlier about the need to upgrade the backhaul network which connects the approx. 25,000 antenna-towers in the Netherlands with the Internet.
One potential solution apparently is not viable: connect the antenna-towers with the existing cable-networks.
Cable networks cover a large part of the Netherlands and overlap with the copper networks used for telephony, connect every home as well. The speeds advertised by the cable networks (such as UPC Fibre Power 120 Mpbs/10 Mbps) appear to be at least 5 times better than the SDSL and microwave connections which are used now. Upgrading to cable connections must be a lot cheaper than digging new fiber all the way to central exchanges.
And yet this is apparently not an option, nobody uses a cable connection for backhaul.
The only logical conclusion is that the shared architecture of cable networks and the already limited backhaul capabilities of these networks prohibit any garantuee of service levels.
Which says something about the inherent limitations of these networks versus the advertised claims.
( My sources tell me that the mobile operators have sent their RFI’s for upgrades to the cable networks, but the response was “yes we can if we dig and lay fiber all the way“).
