2022.03.04 – Open Broadband News

The eagle has landed! Broadband Forum releases latest open-source implementation for the connected home

Vendors utilizing the open-source reference implementation of Broadband Forum’s connected home standard, User Services Platform (USP/TR-369), will benefit from easier integration and increased functionality thanks to the latest Open Broadband-USP-Agent (OB-USP-Agent) release from Broadband Forum.

The USP standard continues to be the go-to interoperable ecosystem for the connected home since its inception. Developed by device and infrastructure vendors and operators, the OB-USP-Agent project is a reference implementation that aims to increase the number of USP deployments from operators each year and allows vendors to accelerate their own developments and seamlessly integrate this solution into their service offerings. Currently, the open broadband project brings together 20 industry leading vendors and service providers.

“OB-USP-Agent combines the latest open-source software with standards to increase the number of USP deployments and ensure interoperability in the connected home,” said Broadband Forum Chairman and OB-USP-Agent Project Leader John Blackford. “Our latest release incorporates the final unimplemented USP Message Transfer Protocol and highlights the importance of our project work, bringing together collaboration from across the broadband industry. This continues to prove the quality of USP as it supports future standards development and ensures a greater level of device management.”

For more information, read the full press release here.

Here Today, PON Tomorrow! – Ken Ko delves into the future of emerging PON technology

Contribution from Ken Ko – Managing Director at Broadband Forum

As PON technology has developed, demand for superfast fiber networks has grown alongside it. Government broadband targets, requirements for 5G backhaul, and increased use of the fixed network as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, are all factors in this growth. The result is a significant increase of rapidly growing PON deployments, most notably in the North America, EMEA, and Asia markets, in addition to the more mature Chinese market, according to Julie Kunstler, Senior Principal Analyst at Omdia. Looking at these worldwide deployments, GPON continues to lead the way, covering a 70% shipment share — but this is set to change considerably as network capacity requirements continue to grow.

One of the biggest shifts we will see is the greater role played by 10 Gigabit Symmetrical PON (XGS-PON) in the coming year. The rate of XGS-PON deployments is already increasing rapidly. Initially, this was seen in new fiber rollouts where it only made business sense to deploy PON technologies that will meet broadband demands for the next 5 to 10 years. Additionally, XGS-PON is increasingly being deployed in existing brownfield environments to coexist alongside existing GPON services. This is especially true in high density urban areas where operators are facing increasing demand for gigabit+ business services across the shared fiber infrastructure. Service providers such as CityFibre in the UK, AT&T in the US, and Chorus in New Zealand, are all investing in XGS-PON.

To read the full feature on emerging PON trends, access the latest digital edition of ISE Magazine here.

Broadband Forum pioneers brand new standards for managing connected devices

The Broadband Forum and Wi-Fi Alliance have published a new set of standards for managed services that is expected to make managing connected devices faster and more efficient. The new standards will enable interoperable customer Wi-Fi optimization and management services. The latest technology can enable greater control of smart home and IoT devices.

Jason Walls, Chair of the Broadband Forum Connected Home Council, said that industry collaboration was key to publishing the new standard. Broadband Forum is a non-profit industry group comprised of broadband operators, vendors, and policy leaders.

“By bringing together broadband players from across the industry to work together, operators worldwide will benefit from these new standards, helping unlock the full potential of the connected home market.”

A connected world! Global broadband usage passes the half a terabyte mark for the first time

Indicating not only the continued alignment between usage and speeds, but also a major shift in consumption and subscriber speeds, the OpenVault Broadband Insights report for the fourth quarter of 2021 has found that average global broadband usage was 536 GB, passing the half a terabyte mark for the first time.

In its standard quarterly round up, OpenVault used data aggregated from its broadband management and analytics tools, and believes it has identified a pattern of lockstep growth in usage and speeds in recent years. The average in the fourth quarter of 2021 represents a 165% increase over Q4 2017, when consumption was 202.6 GB.

Moreover, OpenVault found that the average download speed of subscribers who consume more than half a terabyte or more of data per month is more than twice the average speed of those subscribers who are consuming less than half a terabyte. The report also contains a breakdown of average consumption for six different speed tiers, ranging from 1.057 TB for subscribers provisioned for gigabit speeds to 185 GB for subscribers at speeds below 50 Mbps.

Save the date, as FCC confirms September 1st deadline for broadband data collection

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a public notice on Tuesday setting data collection dates for its long-anticipated broadband map. The agency told broadband service providers they may begin submitting deployment data as of June 30, 2022, with all data due by September 1, 2022.

The requirement to file biannual availability data applies to “all facilities-based providers of fixed or mobile broadband Internet access service – i.e., any provider supplying mass market broadband services,” according to the public notice.

The broadband map is a project mandated by the Broadband Deployment Accuracy and Technological Availability (DATA) Act, signed into law in March 2020. Among other requirements, the law mandates that the FCC collect and disseminate granular data on broadband service availability and quality. It must further develop a broadband serviceable location fabric, on which all Internet service data for the US must be overlaid.

The map is a hot topic with broadband stakeholders, particularly those in Congress concerned about how federal funds will be spent. The $2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law (BIL) signed by President Biden in November reserves $65 billion for broadband, most of which is to be doled out by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) through grants. Those grants will be awarded based on state plans for broadband expansion. The plans are required by law to be based on an FCC broadband map.