2018.11.12 – Open Broadband News

Leading UK communications regulator, Ofcom, opened the packed-out plenary session at the Broadband Forum quarterly meeting in Glasgow this week.

The keynote session, delivered by Ofcom Director of Network Infrastructure Huw Saunders, discussed the challenges of delivering high-quality broadband services and the potential gaps in broadband customers’ knowledge.

The presentation covered the momentum behind fiber roll-out developments across the UK, including the UK government’s goal of connecting 15 million premises to full fiber by 2025, with coverage across “all parts of the country” by 2033.

Saunders told the audience of Ofcom’s plans to keep up with this demand, by exploring possible new broadband measurement solutions, approaches and data sources, the potential to charge operators for service interruptions, as well as proposing a new holistic solution to improve broadband measurements.

Saunders explained how, by improving broadband performance and measurements, consumers can benefit from better understanding of the quality of the broadband service provided in their area, which will allow them to compare between different broadband services and make better informed decisions about their services.

Key influencer of the future of broadband and the Connected Home experience, Amazon Voice Services, shared its vision for the Alexa-driven voice enabled broadband experience, during a keynote session at the Broadband Forum Q4 meeting.

Theunis Scheepers, Amazon Voice Services UK Country Manager, revealed to the audience the vision behind its virtual assistant – Amazon Alexa – to create a powerful, capable voice service which could make end-users lives across the world more convenient, safe and cost-effective.

During his presentation, Scheepers also shared examples of the advancements Amazon is making in collaboration with the connected home ecosystem across the globe, which has led them to the very exciting position they’re in today – with more than 20,000 Alexa-compatible smart home devices from over 3,500 brands. A particular example was its Work With Alexa (WWA) program – a testing and certification program which defines compatibility of devices with the Amazon Alexa.

Scheepers also discussed the future and potential of the voice enabled broadband market, as well as the growth of the connected home market.

CityFibre has today announced a new £2.5 billion full fiber investment plan, identifying 37 towns and cities in the UK where it already has critical fiber spine assets, primed for expansion for Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH).

The investment plan responds to the UK Government’s strategic direction for nationwide full fiber connectivity and its desire for this to be delivered by multiple providers. CityFibre’s rollout will be delivered to five million homes and corresponds to one third of the Government’s 2025 target of 15 million homes. The scale of its plan means it will be awarding city and town-wide construction contracts across the country for several years to come.

Greg Mesch, CEO of CityFibre said: “With a head-start in 37 towns and cities, this full fiber investment plan enables us to further accelerate our roll-out, catalyzing huge economic growth in regional towns and cities across the country and transforming the UK’s digital future. Our roll-out will soon bring to scale an innovative wholesale network, providing internet service providers and mobile network operators with greater choice and unrivalled technical capabilities, benefitting all sectors of the market.”

The highly popular BASe series continues to thrive and expand with the addition of a new format called BASe-POINT. A half day focused seminar, BASe-POINT OFC will focus on one of the optical industry’s hottest topics – NG-PON2 – and explore compelling new use cases and emerging trends, including the technology’s use for 5G backhaul.

Join companies including Verizon, Nokia, Calix, Go-Foton! and PICadvanced and others for this exciting seminar. Contact info@broadband-forum.org for more information.

Nokia and Oi have signed a long-term technology partnership to enable Oi to meet the increasing demand for fiber connectivity in the home and expand mobile broadband coverage and capacity across Brazil.

While preparing for the future introduction of 5G, Nokia will leverage its radio access, IP, optical transport and fixed broadband solutions and services, working with Oi on the service providers’ operational restructuring process as part of its recovery plan.

The deployment of the Nokia AirScale single radio access network across the country will support 2G, 3G and 4G services and can be software upgraded to support 5G. This will allow Oi to expand its 4G offering as it gradually reduces 2G and 3G services, while preparing for the delivery of 5G.

Altice Portugal and Huawei have signed an agreement committing to the development and implementation of 5G services in Portugal.

Both companies will explore potential new and innovative applications using 5G technology in a live testing network environment.

The partnership represents a key step in Altice Portugal’s plans for a commercial launch of 5G service in 2019. The operator will use Huawei’s equipment and software as a natural evolution of the existing 4G network.

Algar Telecom has announced it is the first Brazilian operator to introduce a SD-WAN for its business customers.

SD-WAN is a software-defined network that simplifies the management and operation of a WAN by separating network hardware from its control mechanism. In addition, SD-WAN allows the simultaneous use of two links: the dedicated link and the alternative links, such as broadband, 3G and 4G.

Algar Telecom’s business customers can also use the dedicated link for more critical and alternative issues to other processes securely. The service offered by Algar Telecom also includes a cloud portal, from which the customer can access and manage the infrastructure from anywhere and anytime.