2019.09.20 – Open Broadband News

Telia and Datek join forces to make the smart home even smarter

The new generation telco – Telia – is partnering with Internet of Things (IoT) platform provider, Datek, to deliver smart home services.

Datek’s IoT platform server infrastructure will be integrated with Telia’s customers’ homes through a Datek gateway, enabling Telia to offer various smart home services such as home appliances, equipment and door locks. Services can communicate with each other, be automated and controlled remotely through an app.

“We’re happy to team up with Datek as a strategic partner to make the smart home even smarter. This will allow us to bring new and exciting services to our customers in the Nordics,” says Marcus Lidbeck, Head of Digital Markets, Telia Division X.

The Global Connected and IoT Device Forecast Update report predicts, that the home market will be the fastest-growing segment over the coming years, driven by further rapid growth in smart home adoption, particularly in yet to be untapped regions.

Fib-tastico! Open Fiber to roll out broadband across northern Italy

The Open Fiber wholesale-only venture of Italian utility Enel and state lender CDP has signed an agreement with the local council of Asti, in the northwestern Piedmont region, to build a fiber-optic network in the city. With a total investment of around EUR 10 million, the company said it intends to connect over 28,000 households after rolling out 150 kilometers of cable, around 40 percent of which will use existing infrastructure, over the next 18 months.

The wholesale provider reached the milestone of five million connected homes throughout Italy at the end of last year and plans to bring Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) connections to 271 Italian cities and some 7,635 smaller localities.

55G, what’s your emergency? O2 will provide connectivity to smart ambulances

02 will provide mobile connectivity for a trial of smart ambulances that aims to improve the speed of a patient’s diagnosis and the level of treatment that can be offered by paramedics.

The project will see a standard ambulances equipped with technology and 5G capabilities, allowing paramedics to conduct checks, collect data and communicate with consultants while the patient is being transported to a medical facility.

“It’s no secret there is increasing pressure on our health services. Healthcare is one of the areas set to benefit most from 5G technology, with faster, more effective treatment, and significant efficiency savings,” said Derek McManus, O2 COO.

The Li(o)ne King:  UK fiber penetration roars as it reaches 2.5 million homes

The UK’s FTTH deployment continues to gather pace, with analysts speculating that penetration levels could hit 10 percent by the end of the year.

The UK has sharpened its focus on deploying FTTH fixed line broadband services, with 2.5 million homes and businesses now passed, according to the latest figures from Ofcom. The UK has added around 400,000 premises to its full fiber networks in the past four months.

“The full fiber build is the largest upgrade to our digital network in a generation and has the ability to unlock huge social and economic benefits. We are proud to be leading the way having reached many  homes and businesses already but we want to go further, faster and continue to work with Ofcom and the Government to ensure they create the right conditions for a nationwide roll out,” said an Openreach spokesman.

Anything 4G can do, 5G can do better!

The 5G market is developing much more quickly than the previous generation 4G LTE standard, with a total of 31 5G commercial service launched globally by June 2019, according to IHS Markit.

Amid a burst of launches, the deployment of 5G has become widespread, with projects in 17 countries in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North America, as reported by the 5G Commercial Launches report from IHS Markit. This level of deployment was achieved just 10 months after the first commercial 5G launches, which IHS Markit | Technology traces back to August 2018. In contrast, 4G took about three years to begin deployment and four years to attain a large number of launches.

A Series of Fortunate Events – by Broadband Forum

Broadband World Forum 2019 will be a key event for Broadband Forum, with the return of its Interop Pavilion at the event which will take place at the Amsterdam RAI from 15-17 October. As part of the Interop Pavilion, Broadband Forum will showcase demonstrations of the Connected Home and CloudCO including Open Broadband – Broadband Access Abstraction (OB-BAA), as well as an encore performance from the recent Q3 Broadband Forum meeting – the world’s first practical implementation demonstration of Broadband QED.

There will be two Connected Home demonstrations from a team led by Vodafone and Domos as well as a demo of OB-USP-agent demonstrating the testing of USP managed devices from CommScope and QA Cafe.  The Vodafone/Domos demo will also include Kaon Media and Axiros and will implement USP to exploit new data collection and transport capabilities.

The CloudCO/OB-BAA/OB-Labs Demo 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. More information can be found on the Wiki here.

Outsys will also be showcasing its groundbreaking practical implementation demonstration of Broadband QED within the pavilion. For a preview of this demo, you can watch this video.

Broadband Forum will once again host its BASe North America Summit on Saturday, October 26 on-site at Calix ConneXions 2019 in Las Vegas. The Summit, which is free to ConneXions registrants, will run from 10am to 5pm PT and focus on three of the hottest technology topics – 5G, Connected Home and security. Attendees can register for the event and the associated ConneXions conference 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, as mentioned above, 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.