2020.08.07 – Open Broadband News

Opening the door to smart opportunties with USP

As the number of connected devices continues to proliferate, service providers have a unique opportunity to monetize the Connected Home. But first, they must unlock a truly interoperable ecosystem for user services that vastly improves the consumer experience.

Bringing both benefits and challenges, service providers must evolve how the broadband experience is measured and delivered both in the home and for business. Built by vendors and service providers within Broadband Forum, TR-369, also known as User Services Platform (USP), is the evolution of TR-069 – the protocol for remote IP network CPE management.

For service providers, this will provide the key to accessing a host of new revenue generating opportunities. Find out more in the latest Broadband Forum blog here.

Eastern Europe delivers rural broadband – Ukraine and Ukraine

With an estimated 35% of rural Ukraine still lacking access to high-speed Internet, the country’s Ministry of Digital Transformation has set a goal of making broadband with minimum speeds of 100 Mbit/s available to 95% of people living in the region over the next four years.

Responding to that call, Ukrtelecom – the country’s largest ISP – has said it will roll out broadband to 2.6 million people in rural areas in the next two and a half years.

Ukrtelecom said its fiber build will cost $110 million, of which it proposes the government fund $51 million from the $197 million it has committed to the rural rollout. Ukrtelecom says it will raise the remaining $59 million “in cooperation with international vendors and/or financial partners” but named no specific partners.

Overall, the company says its work will occur in two phases, with the first phase involving building 23,000km of fiber backbone and 26,000km of access network across 3,900 villages, to bring connectivity to 85% of rural Ukraine.

Telefónica takes Euope’s outstretched hand for digitalization  

Telefónica España has proposed a Digital Deal to help self-employed people, SMEs and the public sector digitalize, post-pandemic.

The Digital Deal will see Telefónica make the greatest effort to promote the complete digitalization of Spain and it is committed to ensuring that by 2025 fiber optics will cover 100% of the country, and to be a leader in the implementation of 5G technology.

“This is Telefónica’s service commitment to reactivating the economy and rebuilding life. Digitalization is essential. With this Digital Deal, Telefónica shows that it is no longer enough to adapt to change, but that it must anticipate and lead this profound transformation,” said Telefónica’s Chair, José María Álvarez-Pallete.

You can put a price on 5G – UK Government splashes its cash on tech innovators

The UK government has made its second commitment to help businesses take advantage of the UK’s growing 5G infrastructures, with projects in Liverpool, Brighton, Manchester, Sunderland, Preston and Suffolk testing what such networks’ capabilities can do for UK industries.

The new schemes follow an announcement by UK Digital Secretary Oliver Dowden, unveiling a £200m investment in testbeds and trials across the country to explore new ways that 5G can boost business growth and productivity, improve the lives of people in rural areas and maximize the productivity benefits of new technologies.

In addition, the government introduced 5G Create, a new £30m Rural Connected Communities (RCC) competition designed to look at how 5G can create new opportunities in industries such as film, TV, video games, logistics and tourism. This will involve seven 5G research and development projects across the UK – five in England, one in Wales and one in Scotland, with plans to expand into Northern Ireland.

Project Kuiper to deliver out of this world connectivity to underserved communities

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has unanimously voted to approve Amazon’s plan to deploy 3,236 satellites as part of its Project Kuiper to deliver satellite-based broadband services across the U.S.

Project Kuiper will deliver high-speed, low-latency broadband service to places beyond the reach of traditional fiber or wireless networks, according to Amazon. The plan is to serve individual households, as well as schools, hospitals, businesses and other organizations operating in places without reliable broadband.

“We have heard so many stories lately about people who are unable to do their job or complete schoolwork because they don’t have reliable internet at home,” said Amazon Senior Vice President  Dave Limp. “There are still too many places where broadband access is unreliable or where it doesn’t exist at all. Kuiper will change that.”

A Series of Fortunate Events – by Broadband Forum

The event must go on…register now to attend the virtual Q3 meeting 

In light of the current global situation and restricted international travel, Broadband Forum’s Q3 quarterly meeting is going virtual, taking place Monday, August 31 to Friday, September 4, 2020.

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.

To find out more information and to register for the Q3 meeting please visit: https://www.broadband-forum.org/meetings-and-events/broadband-forum-q3-virtual-2020-meeting

Save your seat for the Incognito USP webinar now!

Broadband usage is increasing exponentially as consumers rely on teleconferencing, video streaming, and digital gaming services, and more devices become connected within the digital home.

As the “new norm” sets in, a different approach is needed, to include third party application and device vendors, coupled with the operator need to rapidly deliver compelling product offerings to their subscribers.

Register now and join Incognito Software to explore the different stakeholders within an operator’s ecosystem and their challenges. The webinar will highlight how operators can leverage the opportunities that USP provides within the connected home.

Time to get on the case for UFBB BASe

The ‘Call for Proposals’ for this year’s UFBB BASe Conference, the leading industry event for technologists and strategists, is now open.

The event, which takes place from November 17-19, 2020, focuses on how operators plan to leverage the latest advancements within the access network, broadband connectivity, and within the connected home. Unlike many events, UFBB is designed to meet the requirements for more technical discussion, real-life implementations, testing, and strategic technical planning as well as valuable peer-to-peer networking.

Speakers will have the opportunity to speak in front of an extremely loyal and growing technical decision-making audience of service providers from Europe and throughout the globe as well as a very varied vendor representation.

If you wish to propose specific topics and presentation opportunities for this leading event, please review the below link and submit your proposal to basechair@broadband-forum.org. Proposals should be made for a physical event, but potential speakers should also be aware of the possibility of presentations having to be made virtually due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. If you are interested in sponsorship opportunities for this event, please contact rheier@broadband-forum.org. To learn more, click here.

Back to BASe-ics – the emerging reality of PON in 2020

With full broadband connectivity services, the Connected Home and the customer experience becoming more critical than ever, Broadband Forum and its BASe series have a responsibility of keeping the industry informed and inspired.

While stay at home initiatives across the world due to the COVID-19 pandemic make this more difficult, staying up to date is crucial to make sure the entire ecosystem can continue to work together to deliver the optimum service customers require.

Therefore, Broadband Forum has virtually reformatted its BASe workshops. With the new-look workshops delivered via a series of upcoming webinars, people can access the latest information on technologies driving the broadband industry and learn about the latest technologies enabling the next era of connectivity.

Our final webinar will cover the topic of the state of PON applications in the MSO market, with the date set to be announced soon.

It is also set to be a hectic last quarter of 2020, with Broadband Forum’s physical BASe events set to return from October. Two BASe BBWF 2020 Workshops will kick-off Broadband World Forum 2020 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and BASe North America, in Las Vegas, USA. UFBB BASe 2020 will return in November, in Den Haag, The Netherlands, for the twelfth consecutive year and the first ever BASe FTTH Europe 2020 will take place at FTTH Conference, in Berlin, Germany, in December.

For more information about the BASe Webinars and to register for the next event, please click here.

Missed the last PON Webinar? Listen again here.

Read – or watch – all about it!

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.