2021.07.16 – Open Broadband News

Three factors to unlock working from home potential finds Fiber Council Global Alliance

A business’ ability to maintain work-from-home (WFH) policies post-pandemic is linked to three factors, according to a new white paper from the Fiber Council Global Alliance (FCGA). “The Future of Work: Analyzing Global Broadband Trends” explores which broadband technology was used most by home workers and what technology investments businesses made to support remote employees.

The six regional chapters of the FCGA — the Fiber Broadband Association North America and LATAM chapters, FTTH Council Europe, FTTH Council Asia Pacific, North Africa and Middle East Fiber Connect Council and the Digital Council Africa — conducted surveys to better understand the quality of experience businesses and employees faced while working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how those experiences differed across global regions.

“While remote workforce trends have been growing over the last decade, the pandemic made work-from-home a necessity overnight. As we expected, our survey results demonstrate that global broadband networks struggled to keep up with this demand,” said Deborah Kish, Vice President of Research and Marketing at the Fiber Broadband Association. “Fiber is critical to eliminating these broadband struggles. A fiber broadband network offers the best performance in speed, latency, reliability and end-user experience than any other type of broadband network.”

Salud! Peruvians pay lower prices than the average for the South American region

Mobile services and fixed Internet in Peru presented lower prices available to their users than the average for countries in the South American region and Mexico. This result shows the downward trend in fixed and mobile broadband rates in the national market, reported the Supervisory Agency for Private Investment in Telecommunications (OSIPTEL).

The price comparison was observed in the study “Measuring digital development: ICT price trends 2020”, prepared by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and the Alliance for an Affordable Internet (A4AI, for its acronym in English), after reviewing the prices of telecommunications services in more than 200 economies and examining the information from Chile, Colombia, Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru and Mexico.

The results of the ITU study show that Peru reached the affordability goal established by the UN by 2025 in four of the five categories evaluated, becoming one of the countries with the most affordable mobile telecommunications services in the region.

UK ‘Streaming divide’ revealed between rural and urban areas

The digital divide that exists in general broadband availability between urban and rural areas in the UK is a recognized political issue but a study from YouGov has revealed what are said to be stark contrasts in consumer trends for TV and streaming services in these areas.

The data, commissioned by ISP partner for TV and Wi-Fi mesh services Netgem, found that 79% of rural respondents were unsure or were considering switching to an ultrafast broadband package that included streaming services as part of the bundle. Only 21% would not consider it, even though only 25% of these same respondents currently had a TV and broadband package.

“The findings show that there is a clear link between slow average broadband speeds and lack of uptake in streaming services,” noted Netgem UK CCO Shan Eisenberg. “The research shows that the demand for ultrafast broadband and streaming services is there in rural areas, so there is a huge opportunity for the altnets to fill this gap in the market and bring consumers in underserved areas of the countries the fiber and TV streaming bundles that are so successful everywhere in the country.”

Broadband Forum and prpl Foundation unite to create a secure cross-platform service delivery framework

Service providers will benefit from greater agility, faster time-to-market, delivery of improved operational support and ultimately the ability to significantly enhance end-user experience thanks to the latest collaboration between Broadband Forum and prpl Foundation. This will help create a truly interoperable ecosystem of 3rd-party applications and services and allow Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) to be seamlessly upgraded with new innovative services.

The joint effort will see the two industry organizations enhance existing home gateway architecture to enable service providers to more easily deploy, activate and manage portable 3rd-party applications and services, such as Wi-Fi analytics, security and more onto Wi-Fi routers and Home Gateways. Leveraging Broadband Forum’s User Services Platform (USP), it will open up new opportunities for service providers to deliver value to their subscribers.

“The Broadband Forum is very pleased to be joining forces with prpl Foundation to extend USP and the TR-181 Data Models to enable an ecosystem of 3rd-party applications and services,” Broadband Forum Chairman and BUS Area co-director John Blackford said. “This ensures fast time-to-market of innovative solutions that are portable across a variety of different CPE platforms. The result will ensure service providers can quickly deliver more value to subscribers and improve overall customer experience.”

Five reasons to seek certification in the Connected Home

Throughout history standardization has been one of the key drivers of progress. Revolutionary – and standardized – technology like the Broadband Forum’s TR-069 protocol and its successor, the User Services Platform (USP/TR-369), has driven this progress for operators, developers, and consumer electronics manufacturers all looking to add value to the connected home.

For manufacturers and designers, there has always been a distinct advantage to having your product certified as meeting the industry standard and the same remains true today. Those who build or deploy technology solutions based on industry standards still have the chance to give themselves a competitive edge by seeking certification for their products, as buyers or prospective customers can request certifications as part of their procurement processes.

Several questions therefore arise to those considering certification: What are the key advantages of doing so? Do the benefits outweigh the effort involved? Here are five key reasons outlined. Read the full blog from Jason Walls of QA Cafe and Chair of the Broadband Forum Connected Home Council here.