2023.03.10 – Open Broadband News

Broadband Forum’s UDP speed test delivers on latency promise

Broadband operators are a step closer to being able to deliver a new standard of connectivity as Broadband Forum released the next update of its groundbreaking User Datagram Protocol (UDP)-based Speed Test utility.

UDPST performs the tests defined in TR-471 Issue 3 ‘Maximum IP-Layer Capacity Metric, Related Metrics, and Measurements’, to quantify and verify broadband networks in instances where consistent low latency is just as critical as speed. It aids the deployment of gigabit services that intend to support next-generation applications with growing user uptake. Applications such as gaming, UHD streaming, augmented reality and virtual reality require low latency to assure the required Quality of Experience.

“Our open source implementation provides an approach to Internet access measurement with demonstratable accuracy and is an integral part of Broadband Forum specifications. The TR-471 specification was harmonized and developed in coordination with other standards organizations, including ITU-T, IETF and ETSI-STQ/Mobile,” said Al Morton, AT&T and OB-UDPST project co-leader and TR-471 Editor.

“UDP is a critical communication protocol for time-sensitive transmissions on the Internet, and the UDPST measurements provide consumer confidence in their service’s support of applications that use UDP.”

Read the full press release here.

The state of play in Peru’s telecoms market

Peru ended 2022 with 41.6 million mobile lines in service, 3.27 million fixed internet accesses, 1.90 million pay-TV subscriptions and 1.89 million landlines.

The figures, reported by telecoms regulator Osiptel, indicate an annual decline in all services except for fixed internet, with fiber broadband as the trailblazer.

According to Osiptel, the number of fiber optics connections nearly doubled from 2021 to 2022, reaching 1.22 million. Of the 3.27 million accesses registered in 2022, 37.4% comprised fiber optics, the only technology to grow at double-digit rates and the engine of fixed broadband. These connections, however, remain concentrated in the richer and most populous departments of Lima and Callao.

In five years, the number of FTTH subscriptions in Peru has increased at an accumulated average annual growth rate of 172%, according to Osiptel.

The critical role of the FAN Work Area

Next-generation broadband services and applications such as artificial intelligence, augmented reality, and virtual reality are set to drain the bandwidth of home networks. It is forecast that there will be 478.22 million smart homes globally by 2025. As a result, customer demand for more bandwidth and lower latency continues to climb. This poses a significant challenge for operators. With networks reaching capacity quicker than ever before; how do they satisfy their subscribers’ insatiable appetite for more? The answer, for many, is fiber.

Today, PON is a mature technology, but as demand for ultrafast connectivity and requirements for 5G backhaul grow, there are new technologies being introduced. This includes the MSA’s 25GS-PON and the ITU-T’s 50G PON. Seen as a natural evolution of existing GPON and XGS-PON technologies, 25GS-PON can support 5G transport networks, bridging the gap between 10G and 50G PON. Meanwhile, 50G PON is a higher capacity PON technology suitable for wide use by enterprises with higher bandwidth requirements.

Whatever the PON, ensuring it is applicable to future specifications is critical. Regardless of the technology deployed, operators need to design the physical optical distribution network to ensure a single fiber build.

Read the full blog post from Marta Seda, Calix and Fiber Access Networks (FAN) Work Area Director at Broadband Forum here.

Where will net adds come from once there’s Internet for All?

U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration has set an ambitious goal to deliver Internet for All using $42.5 billion in funding from the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program. It’s not entirely clear how realistic that goal is. But in an environment where operators have turned to expansions in un- and underserved areas to drive net additions due to low move activity, it’s worth asking what will happen to the market once every household in the country is connected.

Craig Moffett, of SVB MoffettNathanson, told Fierce Telecom that the growth rate in the broadband has already slowed dramatically. And in a post-BEAD world, “the growth rate should slow to something close to the rate of new household formation in the United States, which has historically been less than 1% per year.” Beyond that, “everything else will be a battle for market share gains,” he stated.

Moffett added a look at mature broadband markets which are already fully penetrated offers a “pretty good preview for what the whole country will look like.”

It’s worth noting that most operators are expecting BEAD funds to be allocated to the states this year and divvied up via grants to operators next year. That means customers from BEAD deployments will likely start coming online in the 2025 timeframe. Many BEAD-funded builds are expected to be fiber-based, though there will also be cable and fixed wireless grants sprinkled into the mix.

EU’s new Gigabit rules will have mixed reaction

The European Commission has launched a series of new initiatives designed to boost the development of Gigabit connectivity, but while the bloc’s telecoms industry will applaud certain moves, others could well be less popular.

Brussels’ latest actions include the launch of its much-discussed consultation into infrastructure investment; essentially, its latest attempt to look at making big tech companies contribute to building the networks that carry their traffic. But it has also presented two new Gigabit initiatives – the Gigabit Infrastructure Act and a draft Gigabit Recommendation – both of which will also occupy their fair share of column inches in the coming months.

“Thanks to the new rules, operators will be able to swiftly deploy networks through simplified, digitised and less costly procedures,” the Commission explained.

There’s not a lot to argue with there. Indeed, the GSMA swiftly put out a statement applauding the Commission’s actions, including welcoming the proposed Gigabit Infrastructure Act, which is, according to John Giusti, Chief Regulatory Officer at the GSMA, “set to serve as an effective pan-European instrument to accelerate network rollout by reducing administrative barriers and costs.”