2019.02.08 – Open Broadband News

Broadband Forum brings together industry luminaries to explore NG-PON2’s role as a universal platform for broadband connectivity

Broadband service leaders Verizon, Google, SK Broadband, and AIT Greece and thought leaders from OVUM and the Fiber Broadband Association will speak at the Broadband Forum’s next Broadband Acceleration Seminar (BASe) event on March 7, 2019 at OFC in San Diego.

Focused on ‘NG-PON2 Roadmap and Evolution – A Universal Platform for Residential, Business and Wireless/5G?’, the seminar will include a host of technology leaders from across the optical industry.

The seminar will be split into the following segments:

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

To see more about the growing momentum around Broadband Forum’s BASe events, click here for a video interview with BASePOINT OFC hosts Bernd Hesse and Broadband Forum CMO Geoff Burke.

Register for the March Gfast plugfest

The Broadband Forum Gfast Chipset & System Integrator Interoperability plugfest will be hosted by the University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory’s Gfast Consortium.

The plugfest will run on the week of March 11-15, 2019 and any potential participants must register their interest by filling out a register form here.

Participants should make hotel and transportation arrangements for the week-long plugfest but breakfast, afternoon snacks, and a catered lunch will be available on site.

KDDI deploys Nokia gigabit Gfast solution for customers in Japan

Japanese Telecommunications operator KDDI will be deploying Nokia’s Gfast solution to help deliver ultra-broadband services to its customers.

Reducing the need to install new fiber, Nokia’s technology will enable KDDI to use existing copper lines in Multi-Dwelling units (MDU) buildings to deliver 830Mbps combined uplink and downlink speeds.

“As one of the few vendors capable of supporting both the global and local Japanese VDSL standard, Nokia has been able to help KDDI capitalize on the benefits of Gfast and seamlessly scale and migrate their network with minimal disruption,” said Teresa Mastrangelo, Principal Analyst at Broadband Trends. “This win is another great example for how Gfast technology is being used to quickly address customers need for greater broadband speeds.”

Nokia’s Gfast solution will minimize the impact to existing VDSL systems and enable operators to quickly upgrade their high-speed internet service to gigabit class through a simple Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) replacement.

Virgin Media and ARRIS Test 8-Gig Symmetrical Speeds

Wholesaler Open Fiber has partnered with Nokia to deliver Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) gigabit broadband to rural regions of Italy as part of the nation’s Gigabit Society initiative.

Italy has urged the creation of a nationwide high-speed all-fiber optic network to bolster Italian businesses, education and consumers. The government drew up a plan in 2015 that divided up the country into clusters: A, B, C and D. Each municipality was assigned to a cluster; factors determining a municipality’s cluster included lower or higher housing density, market size and whether or existing broadband coverage.

“We have selected Nokia as our supplier in clusters C and D to deliver giga-services and pave the way for future ultra-broadband technology evolutions,” said Stefano Paggi, Network and Operations Director at Open Fiber. “With Nokia’s solutions we will be able to offer services at 10 gigabit per second and in the future at 40 Gbps on the access network.”

5G round up: Real-world deployments continue to take the spotlight

EE will trial a 5G-powered AI stylist at the upcoming British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) awards on February 10. Shudu, the digital supermodel, will be on the red carpet to pose alongside celebrities with the aim of helping consumers shop for the outfits the celebrities are wearing.

The pictures of the stars with Shudu will be taken using a Google Pixel 3 smartphone and shared with consumers at home, who can also chat to Shudu via @ee Instagram stories.

That is not the only 5G-powered device taking centre stage. The first robot café using 5G is being launched next month in Seoul, South Korea. The ‘B;eat café’ has a 5G-powered robot barista that can take mobile orders, brew coffee and deliver drinks to the pick-up point in the shop.

“With the CCTV equipped inside the robot, the robot also recognizes visitors to the coffee shop and sends video footage of the inside of the shop to the manager,” said a KT official.

In Saudi Arabia, Nokia and Zain KSA have started a massive Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) pilot in Jeddah on the TD-LTE network using 2.6 GHz spectrum. The pilot uses Nokia’s 5G-ready AirScale MIMO antenna for 4.9G calls to improve network capacity, providing speeds of above 700 Mbps per user.

Sign up for Broadband Forum’s Q1 meeting

Register now for the Q1 2019 Broadband Forum meeting, which takes place on March 18-21, in Warsaw, Poland.

In addition to being one of the emerging “hot spots” to visit in Europe, it is a UNESCO heritage site as well as one of the world’s top spots for donuts!

The Q1 meeting agenda is just being finalized, but plan on this event building on the momentum of all the exciting projects underway. In addition, there will be some surprise keynote speakers and special sessions. Make your travel plans now and stay tuned for updates.

To see a video interview with Kevin Foster, Chairman of the Broadband Forum, discussing the Broadband Forum Q4 meeting, please view it here