2022.02.25 – Open Broadband News

10 mil get cut broadband bills: ACP subsidy popular in US

Over 10 million US households are enrolled in the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), a $14.2 billion program that provides a monthly broadband subsidy to qualifying low-income homes, the White House has announced.

The ACP, funded by the bipartisan infrastructure law (BIL) signed by President Biden in November, is the successor to the Emergency Broadband Benefit (EBB): a temporary subsidy program passed as part of a larger COVID-19 aid package. Under the new program, intended to be permanent, a household can receive up to $30 off their monthly broadband bill (up to $75 for households on tribal land), as well as a one-time $100 discount on a device.

According to the FCC’s database tracking ACP participation, over 1,200 providers have signed up to participate in the Affordable Connectivity Program so far. In Vice President Kamala Harris remarks about the program, Harris stressed the need for “meaningful” participation from providers in order to ensure all who need the subsidy can enroll in it.

“We are working with community and faith-based organizations to help people fill out their applications, and we are calling on all Internet service providers to participate meaningfully in this program to offer more affordable, high-speed plans to customers and to spread the word to all eligible households,” said Vice President Harris. “This will take all of us working together.”

Don’t cut the BSS say Nokia in 5G monetization warning  

Nokia has announced new research showing that communication service providers (CSPs) are behind in having the right software solutions in place to help them monetize their 5G networks with new services and network management tools.

To generate returns beyond the traditional data plans of the 3G/4G era, CSPs and enterprises need to modernize their legacy monetization systems, with new service offerings and application development ecosystems. New monetization systems that enable operators to deliver new services, like slicing, faster and at scale are a critical enabler of helping CSPs and enterprises realize faster returns on their network investments.

But the global survey of 100 CSPs around the world found that only 11% of respondents have sufficient Business Support Systems (BSS) in place to meet the needs of 5G-enabled business models. BSS are a critical patchwork of business applications, which includes monetization tools, that help CSPs manage their operations and supply chains through functions, such as billing and charging, and for delivering a solid customer experience.

John Abraham, Principal Analyst at Analysys Mason, said: “Most service providers are ill-prepared to effectively engage and monetize emerging 5G-enabled use cases and need to urgently transform their BSS. With service providers looking to get that ROI on 5G, now is the time for them to invest in flexible monetization systems especially as 5G brings to the forefront the importance of real-time charging capabilities.”

Fiber rollout delays cause Eire

A $3.4 billion plan to deliver fiber broadband across Ireland has run into a myriad of delays since its inception in 2019, but officials with National Broadband Ireland (NBI) told Ireland’s Committee of Public Accounts (PAC) this week that it was still on track to meet its target by 2026.

The National Broadband Plan (NBP) is the Irish government’s effort to connect the unserved parts of the country. NBI is responsible for building 146,000 kilometers of fiber, covering 96% of Ireland’s landmass, to connect over 500,000 homes. But in testimony before the PAC, as reported by Irish Examiner, officials from the Department of Communications said NBI is a year behind schedule, and NBI confirmed that just 7,000 rural homes have been connected so far – representing 1% of the target.

Ireland is just one of several European countries with a government-funded national broadband plan. France announced a plan in 2020 to achieve 100% fiber coverage by 2025, allocating an initial $320 million, followed by an additional $264 million stimulus fund. Italy recently announced a $4.2 billion program to connect seven million homes to gigabit-speeds. And the UK government is seeking to reach at least 85% of the country with gigabit-speed broadband by 2025 through its $6.9 billion Project Gigabit.

In the chips? €43 billion EU act to protect semiconductor supply

The European Commission has proposed a comprehensive set of measures to ensure the EU’s security of supply, when it comes to semiconductor technologies and applications. According to sources from Bloomberg, globally, broadband providers have seen delays of more than a year when ordering internet routers, with some carriers having been quoted order times as long as 60 weeks, more than doubling previous waits.

The European Chips Act is designed to help the semiconductor sector thrive, from research to production and a resilient supply chain. It will use more than €43 billion of public and private investments and set measures to prevent, prepare, anticipate and swiftly respond to any future supply chain disruptions. The ambition is to enable the EU to reach its ambition to double its current market share to 20 per cent in 2030.

President of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen said: “The European Chips Act will be a game changer for the global competitiveness of Europe’s single market. In the short term, it will increase our resilience to future crises, by enabling us to anticipate and avoid supply chain disruptions. And in the mid-term, it will help make Europe an industrial leader in this strategic branch. With the European Chips Act, we are putting out the investments and the strategy. But the key to our success lies in Europe’s innovators, our world-class researchers, in the people who have made our continent prosper through the decades.”

Howzat? Broadband Quality of Service to be reviewed, says Pakistan

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has decided to review the existing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in fixed broadband Quality of Service (QoS) regulation while saying that due to the growing number of subscribers, the quality of broadband services is a concern.

The “Broadband” service, as defined in BB QoS Regulations 2014, is an “always-on” service with a data rate equal to or greater than 256 Kbps or as adopted by the Authority from time to time. To ensure a level playing field along with a competitive environment and subscriber satisfaction, performance measurement with a common standard regarding QoS is a must. Customers’ opinions should also be taken into consideration in this regard.

By 2025, Pakistan aims to connect 75 percent of Metropolis, districts, town, tehsil, and union council with optical fiber based fixed/wireless access network with an average user data throughput of 50Mbps in its Major cities.

Ofcom calls on operators to better help low-income customers afford broadband

Thanks to the ramping up of development by the UK’s service providers, the reach of fixed broadband networks has never been greater – but the same can also be said of the cost of living, and communications regulator Ofcom is calling on operators to help customers on benefits cope with rising bills.

Publishing a report on the affordability of broadband services in the UK, Ofcom found that about 1.1 million households (5%) are struggling to afford their home broadband service. That figure rises to about one in 10 among the lowest-income households.

Even though special discounted broadband packages – so-called social tariffs – are available to an estimated 4.2 million households that receive the Universal Credit social benefit, only 55,000 homes have taken advantage of these discounted rates so far, representing just 1.2% of those eligible. That means that millions of benefits recipients are missing out on an average annual broadband saving of £144 each, said Ofcom.