2022.05.13 – Open Broadband News

Accelerating the broadband industry through global BASe Series

Collaborating and exchanging ideas with the global broadband community is key to our progress towards standardizing and advancing the broadband landscape. The Broadband Acceleration Seminar (BASe) series will continue to focus on three main broadband ecosystem elements: Connected Home, Fiber Access, and Network & Service Delivery. Our 2022 line-up of events, both virtual and face to face, comes at a crucial time for the industry and will continue to deliver key insights into the state of broadband innovation, technology, standards, and ecosystems.

2021 was a resounding success for BASe and vBASe. Hosting 145 guest speakers at more than 18 separate events (a record for the BASe series!). There were 400 average attendees for webinars, and 600 attendees for vBASe events. The mission of the BASe series is to educate the industry on the innovations to accelerate broadband globally. Known for its informative and valuable presenters, the BASe series has gained loyal attendance from service providers, analysts and vendors to gain important insights.

To learn about what’s upcoming later this year, read the full blog from Tiffany Groves, Marketing Coordinator at Broadband Forum and Rhonda Heier, Director of Membership Development at Broadband Forum here.

A Delhi good deal! Broadband license fee break proposed in India

India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has proposed removal of the license fee for fixed line broadband services, including IPTV, for the next 10 years, in a bid to promote proliferation of the high-speed internet services across the country.

The final decision will be taken in a meeting of the Digital Communications Commission (DCC). Currently, fixed line broadband-voice, internet and video including IPTV-attracts a license fee of 8% on adjusted gross revenue (AGR).

The proposal is aimed at promoting the proliferation of broadband services across India, especially in rural and remote areas. The exemption of a license fee will allow service providers to invest more in fiber, leading to wider coverage via wireline services.

Testing, testing! Telecommunications Regulatory Authority plans to measure fixed broadband services in Oman

The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) plans to measure the performance of fixed broadband services in the sultanate. According to Speedtest by Ookla, a world leader in analysis of Internet access performance metrics, Oman’s fixed broadband is ranked 77th in the world with a download speed of 43.91Mbps and upload speed of 17.30Mbps.

Earlier in February this year, TRA and Ookla had a collaborative arrangement as part of the authority’s aim to leverage the latest technologies to gauge mobile and fixed broadband performance across Oman. The collaboration will help drive network improvements in Oman, delivering significant new value to local mobile operators who build the networks and consumers who rely on them.

“Ookla’s unique data insights will help TRA identify weak spots and consequently guide network operators to improve their networks, in turn creating a better experience for people in Oman,” said Ahmed Hassan al Haddabi, executive manager of TRA’s Strategic Planning Unit. “We look forward to leveraging Ookla’s data to assist us in making informed decisions to advance Oman’s ranking internationally in support of the government’s Oman Vision 2040.”

Biden announces new partnership to expand broadband access

On Monday, the Biden administration announced a new partnership with 20 broadband providers to improve their subsidized high-speed internet plans made available to low-income Americans.

The move bolsters the Federal Communications Commission’s Affordable Connectivity Program, which provides a $30 per month subsidy to cover the cost Americans pay for internet service ($75 per month on tribal lands). The program was finalized last November as part of Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure law and the $65 billion investment it made to increase connectivity across the country.

“In the 21st century, access to the internet is essential for success. Every person in our nation, no matter how much they earn, should be able to afford high-speed internet and a high-speed internet plan,” Vice President Kamala Harris said during Monday’s announcement.

Still, broadband providers largely stand to benefit from this partnership. Americans who were previously unable to afford service will now be able to access the internet by way of these government subsidies, accounting for new customers for the partnered companies. Providers aren’t required to do more than boosting packages a few megabits or lowering costs.

Broadband battles for market share will intensify says Kagan

New forecasts and analysis from Kagan, the media research unit of S&P Global Market Intelligence, suggests that the U.S. residential broadband outlook will see even greater competition dominated by market share battles as the industry reaches a saturation point with residential service penetrations exceeding 90%.

Amid surging investment and technological advances, a new report written by Ian Olgeirson and John Fletcher at Kagan argues that a number of factors are driving increased competition, with telcos keying in on fiber upgrades, carriers fueling 5G fixed wireless residential and commercial broadband replacement, upstarts readying fleets of orbiting satellite broadband alternatives and cable fortifying its dominate market share a mix of DOCSIS 4.0 and fiber of its own.

“According to Kagan’s update forecast, U.S. residential broadband subscriptions are on track to top 122 million at the end of 2022,” the analysts add. “There simply are not enough subscribers to accommodate the growth ambitions of each segment. Cable operators believe they can continue to take market share, the telcos believe they can steal momentum with fiber, the wireless services believe 5G is their answer to residential substitution and the satellite services believe they can elevate access everywhere.”