2019.07.26 – Open Broadband News

You’ve got a friend in IoT

Friendly Technologies, the leading provider of carrier-class platforms for IoT, Smart Home, and TR-069 device management, has launched a next-generation USP based on TR-369 (part of the TR-069 group of standards).

Earlier this year, Broadband Forum released new specifications for TR-069. The specifications, known as the TR-369 User Service Platform Protocol, represent a significant change for the industry, with a standardized protocol for managing, monitoring, upgrading, and controlling connected devices.

TR369 easily transforms and replaces various devices in case of replacements, a new network or added device. USP TR-069 proves highly efficient with scaling multiple connections and produces manageable data.

“Friendly is already a leading player in the TR69 industry, installed by 200+ Carriers and CSPs worldwide,” said Ilan Migdal, CEO of Friendly Technologies. “The introduction of a USP solution, according to the Broadband Forum’s TR-369 protocol, is the next step in the evolution of the TR-069 market and we are proud to be leading the industry forward.”

Fiber fuel boosts broadband speeds

Broadband speeds are increasing around the world, especially in countries where operators are moving to install more fiber in their networks.

The average global broadband speed measured between May 2018 and May 2019 was 11.03 Mbps, up 20.65 percent over the previous year, according to recent data from the broadband comparison site Cable.co.uk. Dan Howdle, a consumer telecom analyst at Cable.co.uk, noted that some countries are seeing much faster increases than others, especially in places where there is a push to install fiber to more homes and businesses.

“In all cases, those countries ranking highest are those with a strong focus on pure fiber [FTTP, or fiber-to-the-premises] networks,” Howdle said in a news release.

In particular, Taiwan saw a huge year-over-year jump in speeds, catapulting to the top spot in Cable.co.uk’s global broadband speed rankings. The data — gathered for Cable.co.uk by M-Lab, an open-source project with contributors from civil society organizations, educational institutions and private sector companies — showed a mean download speed in Taiwan of 85.02 Mbps, up from 28.09 Mbps in the year-ago period.

Wizard of Aus grants broadband wish  

The Australian Department of Communications has announced that the National Broadband Network (NBN) has reached a major milestone with more than 10 million Australian homes and businesses ready to connect to broadband services.

Australia’s largest infrastructure project is on track for completion in mid-2020. More than 85 percent of the network build is now complete and 5.6 million homes and businesses have already connected to the NBN’s broadband services. In the past 12 months, the NBN has connected an additional 2.9 million Australian premises to internet services.

NBN Co, the company building and operating Australia’s broadband access network, announced in July that it has exceeded its rollout and activation targets for FY19. In the three months to 27 June, NBN Co connected more than 1.1 million premises to its network, which brought the total number of ready to connect premises to 9.93 million at 27 June. NBN’s FY19 forecast target was 9.7 million ready to connect premises.

According to research commissioned by NBN Co, at end-May, around 62 percent of homes and businesses were on a 50Mbps wholesale speed plan or higher, compared with 44 percent in May 2018. There are currently more than 160 million connected devices in Australian households and almost 400 million expected by 2023, according to Telsyte’s Australian IoT@Home Market Study 2019. Nearly 25 percent of people say they are interested in making their homes ‘smarter’, but 35 percent indicate they would like help to set-up their connected services.

CityFibre to conquer cities’ connectivity cravings

CityFibre has entered the next phase of its challenge to the connectivity status quo with an additional 14 towns and cities to experience the full-fiber euphoria.

With capital secured from Goldman Sachs’ Street Infrastructure Partners fund, CityFibre has been buoyed to build out its fiber spine into a genuine connectivity challenger. This latest expansion will take the number of full-fiber deployments across the UK to 26.

“CityFibre’s sole purpose is to deliver the future-proof digital infrastructure the UK deserves,” said CityFibre CEO Greg Mesch.

“With a new Prime Minister set to increase government’s ambitions for the pace of full fiber rollout, we are delighted to welcome another 14 towns and cities to our Gigabit City Club. These Gigabit Cities will not only gain new full fiber networks that will spark their digital transformation, but also unleash the benefits that only competitive infrastructure investment can bring.

The new towns and cities on the CityFibre expansion roadmap are; Batley, Bradford, Derby, Dewsbury, Doncaster, Inverness, Ipswich, Leicester, Lowestoft, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Rotherham, Slough, Swindon and Worthing. These new projects will take the number of homes connected by CityFibre to two million, once completed of course, with CityFibre estimating the construction will create 3,5000 jobs.

Fiber fever catches on for new UK home-builds

The percentage of new homes without a basic superfast broadband service has improved both for 2019 and 2018, according to the latest data from Thinkbroadband.

According to the statistics, three out of four new 2019 homes have full fibre available.

Thinkbroadband believes this indicates that developers are getting the message that good broadband is part of the basic requirements the public now want to have.

All Henze on deck for Deutsche Telekom’s 5G push

Communications service providers have long talked about improving the day-to-day experience of their customers but have not always backed up their words with actions and resources.

Thomas Henze, program director of Zero Touch Connectivity at Deutsche Telekom, is proof that at least one major European operator is preparing for an increasingly competitive 5G world by walking the walk, as well as talking the talk.

In an exclusive interview ahead of his talk at Broadband World Forum, taking place in Amsterdam from October 15-17, Henze discusses how his role is directly linked to “unburdening” DT’s customers, the importance of innovation and ecosystem collaboration, the role of AI in telecoms and his expectations for technology evolution.

Smart homes get a green makeover

According to Metova, it was revealed that last year, 90 percent of U.S. consumers own some form of smart home device, with almost 70 percent already having a voice-controlled system. Also, over 30 percent of those without a connected home device had plans to make a purchase within a year. However, perhaps more importantly, the majority of U.S. consumers now believe that connected home technology will change their lives significantly in the next several years.

The benefits of smart integrated solutions, such as convenience, control, and flexibility, are endless, as we can now optimize our home environment to suit our particular lifestyles and needs. All we have to do is set the schedule, and the rest is automated based on our personal preferences. Some devices can actually learn our behaviors and patterns to adjust settings automatically. And thanks to a geo location feature, some will even ensure we never heat an empty home.

However, the smart home system is more than just a gimmick of convenience; it’s actually one of the easiest and most lucrative ways to reduce energy consumption and save money on heating bills. In the typical U.S. household, the biggest share of energy use generally goes to HVAC, with heating accounting for around 50 percent of the total energy bill. However, by replacing a traditional thermostat with a smart thermostat, it’s estimated that homeowners can save between 10 to 12 percent on heating and 15 percent on cooling, or about $131 to $145 in savings a year.

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 two special “Birds of a Feather” (BOF) session focused on some of the hottest topics in broadband today – Security and 5G. 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, there is still time – 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.