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Summary
Software-defined fixed access networks (SDANs) involve breaking down the traditional monolith of vendor hardware and vendor-specific element management systems. SDANs are about moving to managing networks in a neutral fashion and common control and management can drive automation of network operations and improvements in service assurance and service fulfilment. This article summarizes some of the findings of Omdia’s recent report entitled Software Defined Fixed Access Networks: Opportunities and Challenges (see Further reading). It assesses the current state of SDANs, as well as analyzing and quantifying some of the potential benefits of such deployments before finally looking at the future prospects for such rollouts.
The “softwarization” of fixed access networks is still at an early stage of development
At the end of 2024, the largest SDANs of fixed broadband operators such as Globe Telecom in the Philippines and NBN Co in Australia were managing more than 1 million subscribers. Many greenfield operators have also emerged as early adopters of SDANs. However, there are still some limitations in the scope of SDAN deployments.
- The management of hardware deployments that involve multiple vendors are still rare, as operators often prefer to check all is as expected through initial single-vendor rollouts before moving to a more complicated multi-vendor deployment.
- New breed network management systems are frequently limited to greenfield deployments, typically focusing on managing newer access technologies.
Some vendors have been more proactive about promoting SDAN deployments. Nokia, for example, with customers such as Globe Telecom and NBN Co, holds a particularly strong position. Meanwhile, vendors that do not supply OLT or ONT hardware are also playing an important role in the market ‒ Netsia, for example, is set to launch a sizeable commercial deployment in 2025.
Nevertheless, despite the evident progress and interest, fixed access networks still remain a long way from being fully autonomous. According to a 2024 Omdia survey of operators, the fixed access network had the lowest average score of 2.3 across all the network domains covered in terms of the TM Forum definition for autonomous networks. This lower score is partly because many interventions require manual human involvement in the fixed access network domain.
SDANs offer multiple benefits and currently greater service agility is the most important
Service agility is an important element of the overall SDAN business case, particularly as operators face mounting pressure to speed up the deployment of new services and technologies. SDAN offers significant advantages in this area; for instance, it should be possible for new OLT line cards to be plugged in and activated straight away. Moreover, OSS integration work can be reduced by as much as 90%, shrinking deployment timelines from up to a year to just a few weeks.
SDANs can also deliver meaningful cost reduction benefits. Overall, opex savings in the range of 10–20% are plausible. In the area of service assurance, SDANs can help with proactive fault detection, which can significantly reduce mean time to repair – though not necessarily eliminate the need for truck rolls. Given the scale of operator opex in this domain, even modest percentage reductions in these operational costs can translate into substantial absolute savings.
In contrast, the picture for service fulfilment is somewhat reversed. Absolute opex cost savings in this area from deploying SDANs are lower but the percentage savings are higher than for service fulfilment.
Beyond cost savings, SDANs also open the door to new wholesale propositions that offer enhanced functionality compared to traditional bitstream services. Although the actual commercial models need further investigation, there is clear potential for wholesalers to lower their costs and attract more retailers to their networks.
We are less optimistic about the prospects for SDANs to deliver increased revenue by supporting more advanced retail broadband offerings. While SDANs can support network slicing, other means such as traffic prioritization are also available to offer such differentiated retail plans.
The value of SDANs will increase over time
Multi-vendor networks ‒ enabled in large part by software-defined networking (SDN) ‒ are likely to become commonplace and strategically valuable for operators. This trend is being accelerated by the growing number of mergers and acquisitions among FTTP providers in many markets. In such scenarios, the ability to manage multiple vendors’ hardware environments through a unified network management platform becomes more valuable.
The strategic value of SDANs is expected to grow significantly over time, particularly as AI becomes more deeply integrated into broadband operations. There are many potential applications for AI across the broadband lifecycle, ranging from the build phase and subscriber installation to network monitoring. This breadth of application will drive increased data processing demands, requiring infrastructure that is both highly scalable and optimized for efficient data streaming and collection. Cloud native SDN architectures enable enhanced telemetry, facilitating more comprehensive and frequent data collection across a broader range of devices than ever before.
However, while there is good reason to believe that operators will become increasingly likely to deploy SDANs, a number of challenges remain. Omdia’s primary research indicates that interoperability or integration with existing networks remains a significant concern. Not all vendors are following the same set of standards, so operators themselves will need to push harder for better vendor interoperability. Vendors also need to be clear on exactly what they want to achieve and understand that the value of openness is likely to grow over time.
Appendix
Further reading
Software Defined Fixed Access Networks: Opportunities and Challenges (June 2025)
Author
Stephen Wilson, Senior Principal Analyst, Broadband Access Intelligence Service
