Broadband World News - BBWN Bites: EU calls for HD restraint

Subscribe to the Broadband World News Weekly newsletter


Digital Divide Smart Cities Satellite FTTX FWA

Broadband Services

BBWN Bites: EU calls for HD restraint Ray Le Maistre, Editor-in-Chief, 3/19/2020 Email This Print Comment Login 50% 50% Also in this roundup: RDK's popular; WBA assumes control of Cisco's OpenRoaming; Virgin Media offers Gigabit to 1 million homes; and more. European commissioner Thierry Breton (once the CEO of France Telecom, before it became Orange) has asked streaming video services such as Netflix to curb the availability of high-definition video to relieve pressure on the region's broadband access network connections. Breton tweeted: Important phone conversation with @ReedHastings, CEO of @Netflix To beat #COVID19, we #StayAtHome Teleworking & streaming help a lot but infrastructures might be in strain. To secure Internet access for all, let’s #SwitchToStandard definition when HD is not necessary. — Thierry Breton (@ThierryBreton) March 18, 2020 For more, see this Reuters article. Operators have been reporting an increase in data traffic volumes but nothing they haven't been able to handle so far, though Vodafone has noted a 50% rise in data traffic in some markets. (See Vodafone proposes five-point plan to fight COVID-19, With COVID-19 comes the real dawn of the digital age and Home Internet data usage surges amid COVID-19 crisis.) BT appears to handling data volumes OK so far: Here's a tweet from Neil McRae, the operator's chief architect, from Wednesday: Today the BT Network saw less traffic than yesterday but still higher than normal for during the day traffic and still well below our peak. Corporate network traffic was much less today - akin to half term traffic levels. We see a lot more voice calls on the mobile network. — Neil J. McRae (@neilmcrae) March 18, 2020 The Reference Design Kit (RDK), an open source software platform for set-tops, gateways and other connected devices, has been deployed on more than 60 million devices worldwide, a 20% increase on the 50 million reported roughly a year ago. (See RDK-powered devices surpass 60M, up 20% .) The Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) says it plans to "take over ownership and management of OpenRoaming as a global wireless industry standard," a move "designed to facilitate the broad adoption of OpenRoaming by new and existing Wi-Fi Networks." OpenRoaming, which enables easy Wi-Fi onboarding and roaming, was developed by Cisco using a set of specifications and guidelines developed by the WBA and Wi-Fi Alliance. For more details, see this press release. UK cable operator Virgin Media says it has enabled gigabit broadband for more than 1 million homes in the West Midlands region. The operator says the move is part of its plan to "bring gigabit speeds to nearly 15 million homes across its entire network by the end of 2021." Bring it on! Meanwhile, Openreach, the semi-autonomous access network arm of UK national operator BT, is aiming to pass 4 million premises with fiber by this time next year and 15 million premises by about 2025, while alternative optical access network builders such as CityFibre continue to plow money into the UK's access networks. (See Eurobites: CityFibre accelerates UK network rollout and BBWN Bites: Openreach Seeks New FTTH Supplier.) The three operators on the Channel Island of Jersey, which has undergone an island-wide upgrade to fiber access during the past few years, have agreed to upgrade their fiber broadband connections to 1 Gbit/s symmetrical for all customers without any change in fees, reports local newspaper the Jersey Evening Post. — Ray Le Maistre, Editor-in-Chief, Light Reading, special to Broadband World News comments		More Blogs from Ray Le Maistre BBWN Bites: OneWeb adds birds, feels heat Also in this roundup: Streamers ease off; Danes boost broadband availability; Veego teams up with Amdocs; Ukrtelecom takes GPON rural with Iskratel; and more. BBWN Bites: Macquarie wins Cincinnati Bell bidding war Also in this broadband sector roundup: European operators ask for the improbable; Calix boasts new deals; US firms react to COVID-19; UK new builds to get Gigabit minimum. BBWN Bites: ONF's Berlin lab to focus on SEBA, VOLTHA Also in this broadband sector roundup: Why the UK needs more than just fiber investment promises; CityFibre tackles 'white finger'; FTTH dominates Portugal's fixed broadband lines. 5G rollouts give Dasan Zhone hope for 2020 growth Vendor is well placed to benefit from 5G network investments in South Korea and Japan, where Rakuten Mobile is a customer. More from Ray Le Maistre Webinars ARCHIVED Thursday, August 4, 2022 11:00 a.m. New York / 4:00 p.m. London Innovation From the Edge to the Core – How Regional ISPs Are Bridging the Digital Divide The digital divide in North America is leaving millions without adequate broadband. Incumbents operate in “islands” of connectivity, serving densely populated areas and, at a national scale, perpetuating the digital divide in the gaps in between their service footprints. Regional ISPs have a clear role in closing that gap. These regional ISPs operate in a highly fragmented landscape, including smaller wireless and FTTH incumbents, satellite ISPs, electric co-ops, tribal communities, and municipalities in public/private partnerships. These regional ISPs face the same cyber threats and operational challenges as their Tier 1 counterparts, but with far fewer resources and revenue-generating population density. As a result, many regional ISPs have developed highly innovated business models for access and core technology, partnerships, financing and services. The discussion will cover: Three ISPs that have taken an innovative approach to their business, as detailed in a recent STL Partners report Why regional ISPs need to double down on core security basics such as DDoS protection How ISPs have created new revenue by offering managed services Core network capabilities required for IPv4-IPv6 management More Webinars Webinar Archives Information Resources >> Is Network Security Keeping You Awake at Night? >> Does Your Fiber Plant Have What It Takes To Support 10G Services >> Customer Support Blueprint: Your Guide to Key Performance Indicators >> The Marketer and the Broadband Service Provider: Trends, Challenges, and Opportunities >> eBook: Three Steps to Plan, Fund, and Design a Solid Broadband Network >> How regional ISPS are bridging the digital divide through innovation >> IPv4 Cost Estimator >> The Customer 360 Playbook >> Heavy Reading Whitepaper: Monetizing 5G with B2B2X >> Drive Down Costs, Drive New Services Forward: Discover the Freedom of Disaggregation in Your Network All resources