2019.01.21 – Open Broadband News

Vodafone hopes to make future broadband networks invisible 

Broadband Forum has launched a new project – Broadband Quality Experience Delivered (Broadband QED) – which will be led by Vodafone and Predictable Network Solutions (PNSol). The initiative brings together one of the Broadband Forum’s oldest members with one of its newest to create an “invisible” network that will greatly enhance the quality of experience broadband networks provide.

Focused on addressing factors such as latency, consistency, predictability and reliability, Broadband QED will use Quality Attenuation to look beyond just data rate and deliver greater insight into quality of experience and application outcomes. Quality Attenuation is a framework for capturing, measuring, managing and manipulating the performance aspects of networks, as well as the services they enable.

“As an industry we’ve increased the speed of broadband to one gigabit and beyond, which is a remarkable achievement, but we now have to look beyond speed, said Gavin Young, Head of Vodafone’s Fixed Access Centre. “That means we need to improve other aspects of quality such as latency, consistency, predictability and reliability, ultimately moving from a fast network to an invisible network.”

A video interview with Gavin Young, Vodafone’s Head of Fixed Access Centre of Excellence, on why the Broadband QED project is important can be found here. If you are aware of companies outside the Forum who should be engaged in this project, please forward this information on to them and let Rhonda Heier of membership development know.

Broadband Forum 2019: Focused on services 

Broadband Forum has revealed its six new areas of focus in 2019, following the debut of its Broadband QED project.

In addition, Broadband Forum will build on operators’ infrastructures, looking at how traditional access technologies. This will address copper- and fiber-based solutions including next-generation PON (XGS-PON and NG-PON2, for example), VSPN-focused solutions (like Gfast amendments such as G.HN and prior iterations of Gfast), 5G and R-hybrid access.

“I can’t think of any large operator that doesn’t want a multi-access strategy,” Broadband Forum CEO Robin Mersh told Broadband World News. “But I think operators really want choice. There are various, different ways they can get to gigabit connections. For smaller operators, I think there is more of an education [needed], showing them there is more than one way to get to one-gig connectivity. How do you refuse what you’ve got? What is the path to follow? It’s not at all a question about fiber to the home: Yes, it’s gigabit and yes, it’s fiber. But how do you do this in a cost-effective way?”

The Broadband Forum will also continue its work on Cloud, Software Defined Networks (SDN), Network Functions Virtualization (NFV), Cloud Central Office, Yang and related technologies. The User Services Platform (USP) will gain momentum this year, allowing operators and their end-customers to use a “multitude of connected devices” by leveraging Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi mesh networks, as well as the platforms’ ability to speak an array of Internet of Things (IoT) languages.

Webinar to focus on what the best Wi-Fi solutions are for the digital home

A new complimentary webinar on deploying premium Wi-Fi solutions to optimize home networks will take place next week on Tuesday, January 29, 2019 at 1pm Sao Paulo / 3pm GMT / 4pm CET.

The session will include insight from John Kendall, Principal Analyst for Service Provider Technology at IHS Markit, and will focus on innovative Wi-Fi solutions such as cloud solutions and access points to reduce the rate of customer complaints. Case studies in premium Wi-Fi will also be presented.

On the panel discussion are industry experts Lincoln Lavoie, Technical Committee Chair of Broadband Forum and Senior Engineer of UNH-IOL, and Yupeng Xiong, Director of Access Network Product management at Huawei Technologies, which is co-hosting the webinar with IHS Markit.

For more information and to register to attend, click here.

Surgeon in China used 5G Network to operate remotely on animal 

A doctor in China has become the first to perform remote control surgery over a super-fast 5G network.

The surgeon, who manipulated two robotic arms, was 30 miles from an operating theatre in Fujian province as he removed a laboratory animal’s liver.

The 5G system – which is said to be at least 10 times as fast as current networks – and perhaps even up to a hundred times, has a lag of only 0.1 seconds. That meant the delay between the surgeon’s movements, and the robot in the theatre, was short enough to avoid potentially dangerous mistakes.

In future, it is hoped such technology will enable surgeons to work remotely in war zones and disaster areas. It will also allow specialists from large hospitals to assist more junior colleagues elsewhere.

Greece approves ultrafast broadband funding 

The Greek General Secretariat of Telecommunications and Post’s large-scale broadband project Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFBB) has been approved by the Intergovernmental Project Committee.

The project’s total budget is EUR 700 million, of which EUR 300 million is a public contribution, and the remaining EUR 400 million is private.

Of the EUR 300 million public participant for the ESPA 2014-2020 program, EUR 265 million comes from EPANEK and EUR 35 million from the ‘Rural Development Programme.’

The UFBB project aims to cover the majority of the country’s areas not covered by the plans of the telecommunications providers and is designed in addition to the corresponding infrastructure developed by private telecommunications providers.  The project’s infrastructure is estimated to cover approximately 2.5 million citizens (about 18 per cent of the connections) at national level.

Indian broadband subscribers cross 50 crore mark for the first time; Jio boasts over 50 per cent market share

The number of broadband subscribers in India increased to 51.19 crore at the end of November 2018, according to the latest data. This increased from 49.2 crore at October-end, showing a growth rate of 3.18 per cent on a month-on-month basis.

In the same period, while the number of Indians going online through mobile devices (phones and dongles) increased by 3.39 per cent, the number of Fixed Wireless subscribers (Wi-Fi, VSAT) declined by 49.51 per cent.

Reliance Jio retains the largest market share in broadband services (wired and wireless) at 53.05 per cent with 27.15 crore subscribers. It was followed by Vodafone Idea at 20.60 per cent share and 10.54 crore subscribers, Bharti Airtel with 20.46 per cent share and 10.47 crore subscribers.

Broadband Forum announces next Broadband Acceleration Seminar

NG-PON2 and its potential to provide a universal platform for residential, business and wireless 5G will be the focus of Broadband Forum’s next Broadband Acceleration Seminar (BASe) series event.

Taking place during OFC Conference 2019, in San Diego, on Thursday, March 7, and sponsored by Go!Foton, Lightron, and Calix, the seminar will be split into four segments, with each one featuring prominent industry leaders from across the broadband ecosystem. The four segments are:

• Worldwide Access Market Overview
• Component Market Update
• Ecosystem Overviews & Best Practices
• Integration and Applications

Confirmed speakers taking part in the event include sponsors Go!Foton, Lightron, and Calix as well as leading service providers (AIT Greece, Google, Verizon), influencers (Ovum, Fiber Broadband Association) and vendors (Hisense, Pic Advanced, Bifrost, Hybrid Access Solutions, Corning, Huawei, and DASAN Zhone).