2022.05.06 – Open Broadband News

New UN targets chart path to universal meaningful connectivity

The Office of the United Nations Secretary-General’s Envoy on Technology and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) have announced a new set of UN targets for universal and meaningful digital connectivity to be achieved by 2030.

The 15 aspirational targets, developed as part of the work of the UN Secretary-General’s Roadmap for Digital Cooperation Roundtable Group on Global Connectivity, co-chaired by ITU and UNICEF, prioritize universality, technology and affordability to ensure that everyone can fully benefit from connectivity. The Roadmap had called for establishing a connectivity baseline and targets to aid in advancing a safer, more equitable digital world and a brighter and more prosperous future for all.

“The universal connectivity alone is not enough to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and ensure that every person has safe and affordable access to the Internet by 2030,” said ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao. “These targets will help countries guide their efforts towards effectively ensuring we meet our goal of universal and meaningful connectivity by the end of the decade.”

Survey Claims Two Thirds of Brits Unaware of Right to Request Broadband USO

A new survey of 2,019 UK residents with broadband connections, which was conducted by National Broadband, has claimed that almost two thirds (63%) of broadband users in the UK do not know they are entitled to demand access to download speeds of 10Mbps+ (Universal Service Obligation). But this conclusion might not be correct.

The survey further adds that 60% of respondents said they don’t think the public should have to pay anything at all towards broadband infrastructure installation, while on the flip side, 51% thought that the UK Government needed to do more when it comes to improving broadband speeds across the country. But the reason for public intervention in some areas (e.g., remote rural) is usually because commercial deployment models have failed. We should add that the USO itself is an industry funded scheme (mostly via BT).

The survey also links to a campaign page on National Broadband’s website, which states: “Did you know that every home and business within the UK has the legal right to request access to a decent broadband service …running at a minimum of 10Mbps? Probably not. And that’s why we’re raising awareness of the Universal Service Obligation for broadband.”

Italian fixed broadband lines up 500,000 to nearly 19 million in 2021

The total number of active fixed broadband connections in Italy climbed to 18.7 million at the end of December 2021, up around 500,000 year on year, as steady rises in Fiber-To-The-Home (FTTH), Fiber-To-The-Cabinet (FTTC) and Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) more than offset plummeting DSL lines.

According to the latest official monthly update from regulator Agcom, total FTTC, FTTH and FWA accesses grew by 3.9 percent, 0.7 percent and 4.2 percent in 2021, while copper (ADSL) lines fell by 8.8 percent (1.7 million lines) to account for 27.1 percent of the fixed broadband total, down from 72.1 percent in December 2017.

As a result, some 77 percent of lines now offer speeds of at least 30 Mbps, with lines claiming speeds above 100 Mbps surged from 20.0 percent at the end of 2017 to 61.6 percent at the end of December 2021. Total traffic consumption also increased sharply with regard to the pre-Covid period, with average daily data traffic rising 19.3 percent year on year compared to December 2020 and an impressive 78.7 percent compared to 2019.

IBM exec says customer service, not just network, should be top of mind for telcos

Broadband providers are scrambling to upgrade their networks with the latest cable and fiber technology. But one IBM executive warned a flashy new network won’t get them very far without stellar customer service to match, especially with plenty of new competition flooding the market.

“Customers expect the best experience that they receive regardless of who provides it to them, and every day the standard of great customer experience, the bar goes higher, and the gap gets wider for those who haven’t done it,” Steve Goetz, VP and senior partner at IBM told Fierce Telecom. “As the telecommunications providers’ customers evolve within that continuum, they will also at the same time have more and more choice…I see it as an absolute requirement regardless of what environment you’re in.”

Telecom operators today have notoriously low net promoter scores, which measure customer satisfaction and loyalty on a scale of -100 to 100. The latest report from CustomerGauge showed the telecom industry has an average NPS of 31, the lowest of any in the company’s NPS Benchmark report. According to Goetz, operators are looking to improve their NPS rankings by speeding time to resolution when customers call in, eliminating the pain points that cause call-ins in the first place and enabling self-care.

Mobile lines, broadband and 4G still on the up in Colombia

Colombia’s telecommunications sector saw significant growth of 4G technology last year, as it expanded to account for 78.7% of the market at the end of 2021 at the cost of 3G and 2G, which declined to 18.2% and 3.2%, according to figures from ICT ministry Mintic.

At the end of the December 2021, Colombia had over 46.4mn internet connections, including both fixed (8.44mn) and mobile (38mn) accesses. In fixed services, this was growth of nearly 610,000 new accesses compared with December 31, 2020.

The main fixed internet access technologies were cable (5.1mn), fiber optics (1.9mn), xDSL (1.0mn) and other technologies (0.5mn). Between the third quarter of 2021 and the fourth quarter of the same year, fiber optic connections grew 3.8%, cable connections were up 1.7%, xDSL down 6.4% and other technologies up 14.1%.