2020.04.03 – Open Broadband News

The event must go on…Broadband Forum to host virtual Q2 meeting

The coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak is continuing to impact the way of life for all, bringing a set of unprecedented challenges. In light of the current global situation, Broadband Forum has decided to switch its Q2 meeting, scheduled for June 16-19 in Melbourne, Australia, to a series of virtual meetings.

Broadband Forum anticipates the series of virtual meetings to run for approximately two weeks and will have both opening and closing sessions, as well as technical sessions driven by an agenda with the usual contribution deadlines.

More details will be forthcoming as Lincoln Lavoie, Broadband Forum Technical Committee Chair, has been tasked to work with the Steering Committee to further define the details of the virtual meetings.  At these uncertain times, the Forum is able to take a new approach to meetings, explore new tools, and continue valuable work and cadence of that work to the best of its ability.

If you would like to attend the virtual Q2 meeting, please contract Rhonda Heier at rheier@broadband-forum.org for more information.

COVID-19: What is the impact on broadband networks and how are Broadband Forum standards helping?

For years, internet traffic has been growing as remote corners of the world get connected for the first time and the number of connected devices continues to mount. Operators across the world are preparing their networks to manage this increasing demand – but with recent school closures and remote-work directives in place across the world, intended to slow down the spread of COVID-19, service providers are experiencing a sudden and significant spike in internet traffic.

Whether for people that normally go to work to communicate or people who normally head out for entertainment, service providers are feeling the pressure to deliver reliable, robust and high-speed connectivity. And with video conference calls and streaming services all being used more than ever before, this can be a challenge if everyone is wanting to use the network to its full potential at the same time. From dropped connections, slower downloads, and loss of video feeds, the pandemic is likely to test the limits of home broadband capacity.

Fortunately, a lot of operators have already done a significant amount of work on network preparedness. Service providers are so far reporting that their networks are performing well despite the recent huge surge in internet traffic and they are waiving fees for excess usage. Technicians are busy boosting network capacity.

The Rolling Homes! CityFibre plans to pass up to 8 million premises

CityFibre, the UK’s third national digital infrastructure platform, has completed its acquisition of FibreNation from TalkTalk Group following shareholder approval, continuing CityFibre’s long-term strategy of investing in critical national infrastructure.

The acquisition of the full fiber network builder enables CityFibre to increase its rollout ambition from 5 million to up to 8 million premises, supporting an investment programme of up to £4 billion. It will also help to accelerate the availability of full fiber across the UK, a platform critical to social and economic recovery in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic.

The completion also triggers TalkTalk’s onboarding as CityFibre’s latest major customer, making long-term commitments of both residential and business customers.

“Now more than ever, reliable and affordable connectivity should be available to every single home in Britain, and this agreement shows that a full fiber future can be delivered through competition and investment by many players,” said Tristia Harrison, Chief Executive of TalkTalk. “CityFibre’s ambitions to take forward our hard work with FibreNation over the last five years, should take us a step closer to that fully connected Britain.”

Let it grow, let it grow, can’t hold 5G back anymore

SMA Intelligence estimates that 5G connections reached 9.9 million in the fourth quarter, with 6.8 million in Asia, 1.9 million in North America and around 600,000 in the Middle East. Rapidly falling handset prices are expected to fuel adoption as network deployments widen. GSMA Intelligence forecasts that worldwide 5G connections will reach 1.8 billion by 2025.

The global average monthly data usage is expected to hit nearly 10GB in 2024. Driving that increase in usage is a raft of new services, covering everything from 4K ultra-HD video and fast gaming to multi-screen viewing and immersive AR and VR. A major 5G market in the future will be enterprise applications. While the benefits of 5G are many, mobile operators face a range of challenges as they look to launch the next-generation mobile service. These include significant investments, rising network complexity, launching a diverse range of services, network optimization considerations as well as a number of spectrum limitations.

Have I got telecoms news for you! Your questions answered…

Europe is in the midst of an unprecedented health crisis. Epidemiologists, virologists and policymakers in the healthcare sector have called for the help of industry and civil society to slow the spread, fight the disease and save lives. The European telecoms sector, like many others, has given a strong and swift response.

Click here to find out Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) on what telecom companies are doing and what it means for citizens.

A Series of Fortunate Events – by Broadband Forum

Cancel the date – UFBB BASe postponed until further notice

In light of the current global situation, that brings with it a set of unprecedented challenges, Broadband Forum regrets to inform potential attendees that the Ultra-Fast (UFBB) Broadband Acceleration Seminar (BASe) will be postponed until further notice.

We strongly believe that there is still an urgent need to share the UFBB BASe workshop with the industry, so we are working hard on alternative plans. The seminar will still go ahead in the near future and we will share more details on time and format shortly.

We did not take this action lightly and apologize for any inconvenience this action may cause. It goes without saying that the decision has been made in order to ensure the safety of our staff, members and the wider industry as the COVID-19 crisis continues.

We would like to thank you for your interest and look forward to your participation in the upcoming workshop.

Home smart home – save your seat for the latest USP webinar

Join the Broadband Forum Connected Home Council and Axiros on April 16 at 14:00 UTC to find out how today’s providers and consumer electronics vendors are monetizing the connected home.

The Broadband Forum’s User Services Platform (TR-369) has powerful new tools and an improved data model to make this simpler than ever before. Attendees of the webinar are invited for an in-depth technical look at:

• How to quickly and easily discover device capabilities via USP
• How commands and events in USP’s TR-181 data model provide flexibility
• How backwards compatibility with the TR-181 data model aids migration
• And more!

The webinar will also end with a live Q&A session, so mark your calendars now!

You can register for the webinar here.

To find out more about how Broadband Forum is unleashing the connected home ecosystem, please click here.

Knowing me, knowing you…

From 5G and the smart home to next-generation access and network automation, Broadband Forum is working on a series of initiatives to enable the next era of connectivity. If you would like to track or get involved in these projects, you can learn more about Broadband Forum’s work in progress here or visit its YouTube channel for further insight.