2019.08.02 – Open Broadband News

Wake (US) up before you go-go! T-Mobile and Sprint’s big merge

With the Department of Justice giving its ascent to the long-awaited $26.5bn Sprint and T-Mobile merge last Friday, the deal looks set to complete, once it gains formal approval from the Federal Communications Commission.

FCC chairman Ajit Pai has already come out in support of the deal, saying that he would encourage his colleagues at The Commission to approve the deal.

“This is a unique opportunity to speed up the deployment of 5G throughout the United States and bring much faster mobile broadband to rural Americans. We should seize this opportunity,” Pai said.

Cloud based apps provide cover for 10G PON

Cloud-based applications are creating surging demand for 10G PON, according to Ovum.

Accessing software online instead of downloading applications to a computer is not new. For years, consumers and small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) have used tools such as Google Docs instead of Microsoft Office and uploaded data to sites like Dropbox. But the ongoing success of over-the-top (OTT) encourages consumers and, increasingly, enterprises to seek a Netflix-like menu of software, games and other content for subscription-based use.

“People have said there is no one killer app for bandwidth – and that’s true,” said Ovum Research Analyst for Service Provider Technology, Julie Kunstler.

She noted that storage becomes more important, too, especially cloud-based storage. Cloud-based DVR empowers subscribers to save and watch more content, potentially subscribing to more pay-TV and improving customer experience.

Open Fiber (Enel)bling a better future: FTTH rollout to Campobasso

The Open Fiber wholesale-only venture of Italian utility Enel and state lender CDP has announced that work has begun to bring Fiber to the home (FTTH) services at speeds of up to 1Gbps to the southern city of Campobasso in the Molise region of Italy.

The wholesale provider reached the milestone of five million connected homes throughout Italy at the end of last year and plans to bring FTTH connections to around 19.5 million homes and businesses in 271 Italian cities and nearly 8,000 smaller localities by 2022.

Russian evolution! Rostelecom expands network in Kirov and Penza

Russian national operator Rostelecom said it has deployed more than 100km of fibre-optic lines to 270 state institutions and commercial properties in the Kirov region this year. The list includes 26 schools and five commercial centres.

The national operator has also launched 20 new public Wi-Fi hotspots in villages in the Penza region. A total of 265km of fibre-optic lines were built for the project, delivering services to 7,500 residents.

Texas says hou-dy to new Smart Home Village

Tacara Village, a 332-unit multifamily project, will be the first community to integrate smart home technology from the ground up at AllianceTexas, a 26,000-acre master-planned development in north Fort Worth. Built by Hillwood, phase one of Tacara Village will open late this summer, with a planned completion by early 2020.

Chris Price, Senior Development Director for Hillwood says this will set a new standard for multifamily communities by featuring some of the latest smart home devices that can be remotely monitored and controlled for ease of use including smart locks, thermostats, light switches and building/amenity access.

Hillwood is partnering with Dwelo, a smart apartment service provider, to create a simple, seamless home automation experience. With Dwelo, residents of Tacara Village can control their smart in-unit devices through a fully integrated app.

“There’s potential for energy savings remote access to their units AC can help them save money if they forget to change it when they go on vacation or even daily when they go to work,” Price said.

Openreach building high hopes with full fiber program

Openreach has published a list of 36 new locations where it intends to build Fiber To The Premises (FTTP) over the next 12 months.

Openreach has reached more than 1.5 million homes and businesses since it first began the programme in February 2018.

New locations in Scotland (Kilmarnock in East Ayrshire and Bathgate, Broxburn and Whitburn in West Lothian) have been prioritised taking advantage of the Scottish Government’s decision to extend rates relief on new fiber broadband networks.

“I’m convinced that prioritising investment in faster, more reliable and future proof broadband networks will prove to be a no-regrets decision for future generations,” said Clive Selley, Chief Executive, at Openreach.

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. We will host our 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 and go here to see more detail on the Day 1 agenda! 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.