Brownfield MDU Broadband: Unlocking Revenue with Existing Infrastructure

From Burden to Breakthrough

Brownfield multi-dwelling unit (MDUs) are often viewed as complex and costly to upgrade. In reality, many properties already have existing coax or fiber that can be leveraged, and residents in those buildings are demanding more bandwidth. With the right approach and technology, these legacy buildings can be transformed from perceived burdens into strategic assets that support new revenue and sustainable growth.

The Brownfield Opportunity

Rewiring a brownfield MDU triggers permits, unit access, and long construction windows. Crews move gear through halls, open ceilings, and drill walls, which creates dust, noise, and occasionally closes the elevator or corridor. Residents juggle appointments and brief cutovers, while property managers handle complaints, coordinate with contractors, and oversee security. The result can be slower deployments, higher labor and vendor costs, and underserved high-demand properties such as urban corridors with waitlists, student housing at term peaks, and work-from-home communities with heavy streaming and smart-home usage.

Brownfield MDUs present a clear opportunity. Legacy coax and in-building fiber are installed assets that can be activated without full reconstruction. A reuse-first playbook treats existing plant as an on-ramp to multi-gigabit service, with fewer build steps, limited interior work, and more predictable cost control. This is the MDU Gold Mine: unlock value already in the building with the right solutions.

Revenue, Not Renovation

By focusing on reusing existing infrastructure and rapid deployment, providers can achieve faster time to revenue, lower capital expenses, and improved customer quality of experience (QoE).

4 Ways to Turn Brownfield MDUs into Revenue Drivers

1. Use What You Have

   Reusing existing coax or fiber eliminates the need for costly drilling or construction. For many brownfield buildings, a simple coax drop already exists to every unit. With DOCSIS 3.1, BoostD 3.1, or other compatible coax solutions, operators can activate multi-gigabit service with minimal disruption.

2. Deploy at the Edge

   Compact, low-power nodes, such as SeaStar and Oyster, can be mounted on strands, poles, walls, or in cabinets. These bring capacity to the building's edge and enable service activation without waiting on permits or core construction. The result is faster installs and lower deployment risk.

3. Minimize Disruption

   Prioritize low-impact deployment tailored to each building, keeping work outside where practical or in nonresidential spaces to limit tenant access, noise, and mess. This simplifies installation workflows, while accelerating rollout timelines and demonstrating a considerate approach to customer service.

4. Accelerate ROI

   The less time and labor required to turn up service, the faster the revenue begins. Infrastructure reuse reduces labor costs, truck rolls, permitting cycles, and time spent inside buildings, allowing operators to realize ROI faster, even in challenging urban environments.

Technology Snapshot: How It Works Without Rewiring

Harmonic's SeaStar and Oyster MDU solutions deliver high-speed broadband by utilizing the existing building infrastructure. With support for both DOCSIS and PON architectures, they enable seamless integration into a wide range of environments, orchestrated by Harmonic's cOS™ broadband platform, which provides operators with a common management platform.

• For lower-density MDUs with fewer units, SeaStar lets operators centralize resources at the neighborhood level. A micro node at each MDU delivers service over existing coax, improving small site economics by supporting up to 16 MDUs within a 5 km radius.
• For large, higher-density MDUs, Oyster terminates the operator’s fiber at a central location, such as a utility room, and bridges to the in-building coax.

Both SeaStar and Oyster preserve existing wiring and can deliver up to 8.5 Gbps downstream and 1.5 Gbps upstream, with an option to overlay 10G PON for fiber to the unit when needed.

These deployment configurations enable operators to avoid rewiring while delivering high-speed performance and enhancing operational agility.

Business Value Breakdown: From CAPEX Avoidance to OPEX Efficiency

Treating brownfield MDUs as standard FTTH projects by bringing fiber to the building and bridging to coax inside offers clear benefits:

Operators reduce cost, complexity, and delay while accelerating revenue activation.

Strategic Implications: From Niche to Norm

Whether an operator starts from a legacy environment or is building a greenfield network, brownfield MDUs are no longer exceptions. Instead, they can be repeatable, cost-efficient deployment scenarios with substantial revenue growth opportunities.

With SeaStar, Oyster, and the cOS™ platform, Harmonic enables multi-gigabit broadband for every MDU by activating existing in-building coax and fiber with remote devices. These solutions deliver a compact optionality for higher-density sites, serve multiple lower-density MDUs from a single neighborhood deployment, reduce costs, speed up installations, and require no rewiring, turning overlooked properties into an MDU gold mine.

When building owners choose to invest in new fiber inside the property, Harmonic's solutions are ready. Operators can upgrade node units with a Fin OLT (Optical Line Terminal) to support XGS-PON (10 Gigabit-symmetrical Passive Optical Network) delivery, enabling fiber-to-the-unit functionality with zero node replacement.

The Shortcut to Revenue is the Infrastructure You Already Own

For years, brownfield MDUs have been considered risky, expensive, and unpredictable. Today, they are some of the fastest paths to new subscribers and new revenue—if approached the right way.

By combining modern node technology, flexible deployment models, and a software-defined orchestration layer, Harmonic empowers operators to treat MDUs as a core part of their growth strategy.

Brownfield is no longer a barrier. It is a business opportunity ready to be unlocked.