2019.07.19 – Open Broadband News

New video shines light on the heart and Seoul of KT’s MDU strategy in Korea – G.hn technology

Korea Telecom (KT) is meeting the clamor for high-speed broadband in MDUs where only copper is economically viable by using GiGA Wire and G.hn technologies – and is achieving spectacular success. That message was delivered at Broadband Forum’s Q2 meeting in Seoul by KT Lab’s Vice President Jongpil Lee and is now expanded with a newly released video from KT and GiGA Wire Alliance.

In Seoul, Lee explained to attendees that when faced with the normal telco dilemmas of flat revenues, increasing competition and the need to invest, KT started research which culminated in the development of its G.hn Access Multiplexer (GAM). Located in apartments and buildings where fiber delivery is not possible, the GAM – with a vector boost to cut crosstalk and G.hn at the customer end – gives ten times faster speeds and while cutting Capital Expenditure (CapEx) cost by 50 per cent when compared with fiber.

GiGA Wire can easily co-exist with VDSL2 in the same cable bundle and KT has already replaced some 16 percent of its DSL installations with the technology.

For those who missed the KT/GiGA Wire Alliance field trip to the Good Morning City Shopping Mall in Seoul to show their use G.hn technology live, this video offers a good demonstration.

FCC announces ISP-ecially good news for rural US broadband

More than 220,000 unserved rural homes and businesses in 24 US states will get broadband access because of funding authorized yesterday by the Federal Communications Commission, the agency said. In all, the FCC authorized more than $563 million for distribution to ISPs over the next decade. It is the latest pay-out from the commission’s Connect America Fund, which was created in 2011.

Under program rules, ISPs that receive funding must build out to 40 percent of the required homes and businesses within three years and an additional 20 percent each year until completing the buildout at the end of the sixth year.

The money is being distributed primarily to smaller ISPs in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, and Virginia. Verizon, which is getting $18.5 million to serve 7,767 homes and businesses in New York, is the biggest home Internet provider on the list.

Full stream ahead for UK & South Korea metro passengers after 5G entertainment partnership

£2.4 million ($3 million USD) has been set aside to help support a ground-breaking new project for underground transportation. The UK and South Korean governments are each providing £1.2 million ($1.5 million USD) in funding for 5G services on public metro systems.

UK Digital Minister Margot James announced the contract winner as 5G RailNext.

5G RailNext aims to provide infotainment services across the Seoul Metro system. Technologies such as AR will help to deliver entertainment in addition to travel information and more.

In the UK, a similar project will be undertaken across the Glasgow Metro. Further expansion to the London Underground and New York Metro systems is also being explored.

“5G is the future of connectivity and we want the UK to be a world leader,” said James. “This collaboration with South Korea will explore innovative ways to use the technology to deliver content and services on transport networks in Seoul and Glasgow.”

Plenty of fiber on the “Verizon” for US telecom giant

Verizon is currently offering mobile 5G in four markets –Chicago, Denver, Minneapolis and Providence – with plans to activate next-generation cellular in parts of the 30 cities by the end of the year. At the same time, Verizon is deploying fiber in more than 60 areas and is preparing to restart its 5G Home fixed wireless services later this year with long-term ambitions of covering 30 million homes.

As it executes on its network plans, Verizon is making the most of its capital dollars in what Adam Koeppe, SVP for technology strategy and planning, described as an “integrated engineering process.”

Speaking in May during the Wireless Infrastructure Association’s Connectivity Expo, Koeppe said: “We’ve made a conscious effort to really pair our wireless engineering with a fiber engineering process and what that’s allowed us to do is pursue over 60 markets around the country. We’re going to actually be building fiber into the footprint and, you know, truthfully, serving our own needs if you will from a frontal and backhaul perspective. That’s a very integrated engineering process that creates tremendous synergy on our end and allows for very rapid deployment.”

Core, blimey! 3 UK customers get cloud migration treat

Three is starting to migrate customers to a brand-new cloud-based core network ahead of the launch of its 5G service in August.

The core network has been tested with more than 3,500 staff since February and is now ready to handle commercial traffic. 4G customers will also be moved onto the new core, meaning all users will benefit.

The infrastructure, delivered by Nokia, is a key component of Three’s £2 billion 5G investment program, which also includes new equipment, spectrum and an IT transformation.

“UK consumers have an insatiable appetite for data as well as an expectation of high reliability.  We are well positioned to deliver both as we prepare for the launch of the UK’s fastest 5G network,” said Three CEO Dave Dyson.

Vodafone squares up to UK broadband market with Gigacube

Vodafone UK has debuted its 5G Gigacube to further expand its connectivity portfolio, perhaps gaining more of a foothold in the broadband market.

Although Vodafone is primarily associated with the mobile segment in the UK, it has been making positive moves in the broadband market over the last twelve months. Having signed a partnership with CityFibre last year to deliver fiber broadband services, the 5G Gigacube offers another twist to the portfolio.

Vodafone claims the 5G Gigacube can offers speeds of up-to 1 Gbps, while 64 devices can be connected simultaneously, and the range can be as great as 90 meters.

Due to the offering being mobile by nature, there aren’t geographical limitations, in theory. If you are a small business without a fixed office, the plug and play feature allows you to effectively carry connectivity wherever you are. This could be applied to a variety of situations, such a pop-up restaurants or bars, and could potentially open-up new markets for broadband products.

Home is where the smart is for US adults

Interest in smart home tech isn’t waning. On the contrary, according to the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), 2019 is heading toward a record-breaking year in U.S. consumer technology sales. The CTA expects tech sales to $400 billion for the first time, and smart home safety, smart speakers, and home robots are leading segments in that drive. The CTA’s estimates are based on factory sales figures so far this year for more than 300 consumer tech products and related software and services.

Earlier this month, a Thinknum opinion piece used a single data measure, Amazon sales rankings, to suggest consumers are over smart home tech and interest is dwindling. Implying that smart home gadgets, home automation, and the Internet of Things (IoT) all stemmed from The Clapper in 1996 (“Clap on, Clap off”), the Thinknum author suggests smart home devices may have appealed to an early few, but most people don’t care.

In The Smart Audio Report this spring, NPR and Edison Research found that 21 percent of U.S. adults — 53 million people — owned smart speakers and of that number 69 percent used the devices daily. Among smart speaker owners, 48 percent reported owning one device, 22 percent said they had two, and 30 percent said they owned three or more smart speakers. To cap off the preceding figures, the number of smart speakers in U.S. households grew by 78 percent from December 2017 to December 2018, from 66.7 million in 2017 to 118.5 million in 2018.

A Series of Fortunate Events – by Broadband Forum

The Q3 2019 Broadband Forum meeting, sponsored by F-Secure, is fast approaching – September 2-5 in Milan, Italy. This is a meeting you won’t want to miss with activities ramping up across all work areas, and a special “Birds of a Feather” (BOF) session focused on one of the hottest topics in broadband today – Security. Visit the Information Page for more details and to register today! Additionally, we will be offering a limited number of guest passes to prospective members. If you have a candidate, please contact info@broadband-forum.org for details.

Broadband World Forum 2019 will be a key event for Broadband Forum. It will host its Interop Pavilion at the event which will take place at the Amsterdam RAI from 15-17 October. Broadband World Forum annually welcomes in excess of 4,000 attendees from around the world and is the perfect opportunity to connect with the entire fixed network ecosystem with a large floorspace and three days of curated content.

As part of the Interop Pavilion, the SDN/NFV Work Area is looking for vendor and operator participation in developing and executing the CloudCO Demo. This follows the success of the OB-BAA demo last year which gained very high industry visibility. This year, Broadband Forum will take a major leap forward by leveraging Application Note 446 (APPN-446) which has been enhanced for multi-vendor capabilities that will be provided by the OB-BAA reference implementation. If you would like to be involved in pulling together this highly visible project, see the description on the Wiki here.

Broadband Forum is a forum partner of SDN NFV World Congress 2019, taking place at World Forum, The Hague, Netherlands from 14-17 October. Broadband Forum will discuss key projects at the Multi-player Association Workshop, where there will also be extended informal Q&A sessions to allow the audience to engage with project leaders to better understand how initiatives and standards can help their specific business. Broadband Forum CEO Robin Mersh will also speak as part of the conference, exploring how operators can achieve seamless co-existence and cost-effective migration when implementing automated access networks.

Finally, Broadband Forum has confirmed the dates of two more of its highly popular BASe events. Two concurrent workshops on the Connected Home and 5G will kick-off Broadband World Forum 2019 on the morning of October 15. If you are planning to attend BBWF 2019, mark your calendars now! Additionally, Broadband Forum will host its annual BASe North America event prior to the stat of ConneXions 2019 in Las Vegas on October 26. Don’t miss this opportunity to catch up on the latest technology updates and best practices across 5G, Connected Home, Security, and Next Generation Access. Keep an eye out for more details soon at BASe home on the Broadband Forum website.