2021.01.15 – Open Broadband News

How accurate speed tests can lead to a brighter ecosystem

Service providers face competitive and regulatory pressures to guarantee a high-quality, high-bandwidth broadband service for their end-users. However, existing methods of capacity measurement are often difficult to employ. Not only this, but accuracy has always been a problem with testing any kind of internet connection. For example, traditional web-based speed tests can easily be impacted by issues such as slow Wi-Fi and local network congestion from background updates or other users consuming bandwidth at the same time as the test being run.

Broadband Forum has recently released a new User Datagram Protocol Speed Test (OB-UDPST) project to help mitigate these challenges mentioned. User experience is at the core of any service provider’s offering, and today’s consumers expect their broadband service to deliver speed and low latency. With the help of the Forum and its new broadband speed test, it will enable more accurate results for a vastly improved broadband user experience.

The Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), which current ad-hoc speed tests are based on, was for a long time considered the only option as a reliable transport protocol. However, TCP reacts conservatively to loss and round-trip delay, and therefore produces a significant underestimate of Maximum IP-Layer Capacity. Read the full blog from Al Morton and Len Ciavattone, OB-UDPST Project Leaders here.

What is Zyxel’s New Year’s resolution? Getting BBF.247 Certification!

Zyxel Communications has announced that the company’s flagship Wi-Fi 6 product, the AX7501-B0, has successfully completed the Broadband Forum’s international BBF.247 GPON Certification Program and is XGS-PON certified.

Leveraging Zyxel’s OPAL software already deployed to millions of devices, the AX7501 helps service providers deploy and migrate to new technologies fast and easily. In addition to the AX7501’s technical capabilities, Zyxel’s BBF.247 certification is representative of the company’s next-generation fiber access solutions.

The Broadband Forum’s BBF.247 Certification Program has helped pave the way for new broadband technologies by addressing a variety of ONUs; testing various VLAN profiles and functionality. Certification of ONU devices assures conformance with the Broadband Forum’s TR-156 and TR-280 specifications, as well as the International Telecommunication Union’s G.998 GPON standards.

James Harris, Product Director, EMEA at Zyxel Communications said: “Broadband Forum’s BBF.247 certification program sets the industry standard when it comes to data and technology interoperability for service providers. This certification accelerates IOP integrations for multi-vendor OLTs that have already deployed, while also giving operators the confidence to complete larger, more complex deployments and still reduce churn.”

Connectivity in the stars! Space broadband network by 2024?

The European Commission says it wants its newly proposed satellite mega-constellation to be offering some sort of initial service in 2024.

The first priority is to fill in gaps in broadband coverage where ground infrastructure cannot reach, but later it will power services such as self-driving cars. The project will mirror America’s Starlink and the UK-Indian OneWeb networks.

The secure communications system would be the next flagship space project to come out of the EU after the Galileo satellite-navigation constellation and the Copernicus program with its Earth observing Sentinel spacecraft.

The EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton said: “My objective is to go fast. And therefore, it would be appropriate that the Commission puts forward this year a proposal to the European Parliament and the Council so we can move concretely.”

Premium content sets profits soaring for APAC!

The scale and velocity of investment in premium content should ensure that net new customer additions in the online video market in the Asia Pacific region will remain robust over the medium term says research from Media Partners Asia (MPA).

The Asia Pacific Online Video & Broadband Distribution 2021 report also assured that profitability should grow more rapidly than revenues and subscribers as online businesses scale.

The study found that by the end of 2020 revenue in the Asia Pacific online video industry had grown 14% year-on-year to reach $30.5 billion. Asia Pacific online Subscription Video-on-Demand (SVOD) grew 34% in 2020 to reach $16.3 billion in revenues with China contributing 58%.

“While subscriber growth will decelerate in 2021 and the production of new content will remain impacted in 1H 2021, the scale and velocity of investment in premium content should ensure that net new customer additions will remain robust over the medium term,” said Vivek Couto, the MPA Executive Director. “Moreover, profitability should grow more rapidly than revenues and subscribers as online businesses scale.”

US Military eyeing up 5G deployment with 3GPP

 The US Department of Defense (DoD) said it plans to expand its activities in standards-setting organizations including the 3GPP, which is the primary global technology-development association for 5G.

The agency said its subject matter experts will work with peers at other US agencies like the Federal Communication Commission (FCC), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the National Telecommunications in order to interact with standards-setting bodies including the 3GPP, the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) and the Institute for Electrical & Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

“To promote high-quality, protected and reliable 5G devices and applications, the US must play a lead role in shaping information and communications technology standards,” the Pentagon wrote in its new “5G strategy implementation plan,” issued in December. “DoD will fully implement its Standards Engagement Plan and will actively participate in the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) organization.”