Super-fast Singapore · challenges as poverty, climate change, an aging population, and the...

ISSUE 710/10

Super-fast broadband reaching out across Britain

Etisalat reaching for new heights

France Telecom prepares to take its FTTH revolution nationwide

China Telecom lights the way with fiber

Next Gen NBN goes live in the island nation

Super-fast Singapore

Voice from Operators Tao of BusinessPerspective Winners

Broadband is generally believed to be a bellwether of national competitiveness, and developing broadband an effective way of addressing such 21st-century challenges as poverty, climate change, an aging population, and the financial tsunami. According to estimates, a 10 percent increase in broadband penetration translates into 1.3 percent GDP growth.

More than 30 countries have made national broadband commitments that include Malaysia’s HSBB, Singapore’s iN2015, and the U.K.’s NGA, reflecting a trend that governments are reshaping the broadband landscape by way of investments or regulations. Amongst them, the developed ones embrace broadband for network speed enhancement, while the developing ones do so to improve broadband penetration.

Technically speaking, fiber access has become an important approach to broadband penetration improvement and is developing rapidly. Many operators have laid down fiber broadband plans in line with the development goals and regulatory environments of their operating countries.

On August 31, 2010, the FTTH service was launched on Singapore’s Next Gen Nationwide Broadband Network, signifying that its iN2015 vision is becoming a reality. “The Next Gen Nationwide Broadband Network is really the foundation of iN2015,” said David Storrie, CEO of Nucleus Connect.

With territory-scale deployments scheduled between 2010 and 2015, France Telecom unveiled in July 2010 its “conquest 2015” plan in which the company confirmed a €2 billion investment plan that will provide 40% of France’s population with fiber network access by 2015.

In the U.K., BT Openreach has announced a total investment of 2.5 billion pounds to reach two-thirds of U.K. premises with fiber access by 2015.

Beginning in 2007, FTTx construction in China has come a long way over the years. In 2010, the government reiterated the importance of the Three-Network Convergence project and announced its intention for a 150-billion-RMB investment in fiber broadband over three years. FTTx is destined to boom here.

As information consumption continues to increase, the days before we achieve ubiquitous broadband access and bandwidth saturation are numbered, if Moore’s Law still holds. Consumption in the forms of personal storage, security, environment monitoring and control, and personalized communications will become prevalent. As the Internet continues to spawn new applications, the Internet of Things and the Internet of Vehicles are not far behind.

Indeed, the development of national broadband is eliminating the global digital divide, making the world a better place through better communication.

National broadband is booming

Sponsor Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.

Publisher Huawei COMMUNICATE Editorial Board

Consultants Hu Houkun, Xu Zhijun, Xu Wenwei

Ding Yun, Zhang Hongxi, Zhu Yonggang

Editor-in-Chief Gao Xianrui ([email protected])

Editors Xue Hua, Julia Yao, Long Ji, Michael Huang

Zhu Wenli, Xu Ping, Joyce Fan, Ranajit Sankar Dam

Xu Peng, Liu Zhonglin, Li Xuefeng, Chen Yuhong

Pan Tao, Mike Bossick, Gary Maidment

Art EditorZhou Shumin

ContributorsLi Heshun, Fu Yu, Zhang Yufen, Huang Xinqiang

Zhou Feng, Wang Huaidong, Guan Yongge, Wang Jian

Zong Runzhe, Tang Baoye, Beena Augustine, Dai Yongxin

Hua Tianheng, Xie Zhijun, Wu Huazhong, Huang Hailiu

Miao Xiaoyang, Sun Huaqing, Shen Chen, Wang Man

Xiong Yupeng, Paulo Garrido, Zhang Lei, Rex Li

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It's all about success! We aim to help you hearwhat operators would like to share in person,see how industry peers succeed in the fierce market, delve into their secret to success, and learn from the winners in the industry.

WHAT’S INSIDE

Bakrie Telecom proud to be a budget operator

11

Can best services go hand-in-hand with low costs? Yes, says Bakrie’s Deputy President Director Muhammad Danny Buldansyah.

Super-fast Singapore: Next Gen NBN goes live in the island nation

01

Pulling off the world’s first government-backed nationwide broadband project was no mean feat. The CEO and Vice President of Sales, Marketing & Customer Operations Nucleus Connect describe how it happened, and what’s next.

Etisalat reaching for new heights07

Mohammad Omran, chairman of Etisalat Group, on how cutting-edge technologies and new business opportunities will take the operator onwards and upwards.

Voice from Operators

10/10Issue 7

Winners

Triple T standing out in crowded Bangkok

39

Telekom Malaysia: HSBB network O&M made efficient and simple

49

China Telecom Guangdong grasping the IPTV opportunity

55

China Telecom lights the way with fiber

51

Deutsche Telekom: new packet core, new vibrancy

42

A wonderful infocom world Where client, connection and cloud collaborate

28

Australia: a broadband-enabled society22

Tao of Business

Looking ahead to national broadband25

Perspective

Portugal Telecom: FTTH delivers more than telecom

35

A richer World Cup experience45

Throughout the World Cup, South Africa’s communications networks ran smoothly in the face of traffic peaks and data floods.

France Telecom prepares to take its FTTH revolution nationwide

15

With a €2 billion war chest, France Telecom wants to conquer 40 percent of France’s population by 2015, according to Jean-Claude Bourgoint.


19

Fiber access to two-thirds of UK premises within five years? British Telecom is obviously in a tearing hurry. Ian Stirrat explains BT’s need for speed, and how video is driving that.

Win-Win / OCT 20101

— David Storrie, CEO of Nucleus Connect

The Next Gen NBN is really the foundation of iN2015. We will improve the overall infrastructure to help other sectors, such as banking, to optimize their efficiency. End users will definitely benefit from the increased bandwidth.

VOICEFROM OPERATORS

Win-Win / OCT 20102

Next Gen NBN, the foundation of Singapore iN2015

ith the vision of transforming Singapore into an intelligent nation, a global city powered by Infocomm, Singapore’s Inte l l igent Nat ion 2015 ( iN2015)

initiative includes a key strategy comprising an ultra-high speed, pervasive, intelligent and trusted infocom structure.

“The Next Gen Nationwide Broadband Network (Next Gen NBN) is really the foundation of iN2015,” says David Storrie, CEO of Nucleus Connect. The Next Gen NBN will deploy fiber to the premises (FTTP) to every home, business and outdoor location. It utilizes GPON and optical Ethernet as its network access technologies, and can provide broadband speeds ranging from an initial 100Mbps to above 1Gbps.

“We found that Singapore was lagging behind some Asian nations in broadband development, such as Japan and South Korea. We needed to improve the overall infrastructure to help other sectors, such as banking, to optimize their efficiency. End users will definitely benefit from the increased bandwidth,” he adds.

The world’s first open access model

To ensure Singapore will realize significant economic benefits from Next Gen NBN, Infocomm Development

On August 31, 2010, Nucleus Connect, the company operating Singapore’s Next Generation NBN, unveiled the commercial launch of its services following 16 months of preparation. The launch marked a key stage in the world’s first open-access and government-backed nationwide broadband project.

Authority of Singapore (IDA), after thorough research and comparisons between different industrial structures, finally adopted the world’s first truly open access model, which is not only transparent, but also guarantees that all industry players will benefit from Next Gen NBN.

The three-layer structure

Singapore’s Next Gen NBN has created the first real open-access structure for a nationwide FTTx network, a depart from the traditional method in which one operator managed all network layers and directly sold services to end users.

“In Singapore, the Next Gen NBN is divided into three key layers: the Network Company (NetCo) provides the passive network, at the first layer; the Operating Company (OpCo), provides the active network at the second layer; and the Retail Service Providers (RSPs) form the third layer and offer services to end users,” says Storrie. “IDA has put in place structural separation requirements for the NetCo, and operational separation requirements for the OpCo. The separate responsibilities and roles will ensure that there are no conflicts of interest. This enables all RSPs, whether large or small, incumbent or green-field, to purchase connectivity at the same price and under the same terms and conditions.”

According to Storrie, Nucleus Connect plays the role of the OpCo within the structure. “We are responsible for designing, building and operating all active network elements to enable service delivery by RSPs over the passive fiber optical network installed by the NetCo,” he says. “You can see that we are right at the heart of the entire

By Joyce Fan

W

Super-fast SingaporeNext Gen NBN goes live in the island nation

Win-Win / OCT 2010

VOICEFROM OPERATORS

3

What we are trying to do is lay a foundation and reduce entry barriers. Though we are primarily a broadband provider, we provide various options that

make it easier for our customers.

broadband network: everything passes through us. We offer connectivity to RSPs who can then sell services and bandwidth to their customers. These services are much faster than what had been available in the market previously. The RSPs don’t have to buy wholesale bandwidth from the incumbent and compete with them at the same time. They can come to us, a neutral entity, and receive a fair and non-discriminatory pricing and service levels. ”

Fair and transparent

Singapore’s regulatory authorities regard the Next Gen NBN as a key piece of infrastructure that will ensure simple mass commercialization via open access.

Storrie says the regulated pricing framework ensures transparency and fairness. “The RSPs know the charging principles because we have the Interconnection Offer

(ICO), which has been approved and made publicly available by the IDA,” he says. All RSPs, regardless of their market position, size, or order volume, receive the same price. An RSP can easily understand the baseline of its cost structure for the services it plans to deliver, and thus be creative with its own pricing strategies.

He adds that the ICO is attractive due to its low price. The small size of the Singaporean market has led the government to specifically encourage new service providers, and for this reason “we wanted to build an easy, low cost point of entry.” For example, the wholesale prices for 100Mbps bandwidth are S$21 (15USD) for residential properties and S$75 (55USD) for non-residential ones; these are far more attractive than the market averages. “We’ve been working to keep our cost base low to enable the competitive ICO pricing levels offered to the RSPs,” says Storrie, who adds that the company has been generally successful in keeping costs down.

About Nucleus Connect

Nucleus Connect was incorporated on 14 April 2009 and is responsible for designing, building and operating the active infrastructure of Singapore’s Next Gen NBN. It operates as a separate legal entity, and in all respects, on a stand-alone basis, at an arm’s length from its affiliated operators. It has pledged to treat all Retail Service Providers (RSPs) without discrimination, so as to encourage fair and open competition. www.nucleusconnect.com

About Next Gen NBN

The Next Gen NBN is the wired network of the Next Generation National Info-communications Infrastructure (Next Gen NII), a project under the Intelligent Nation 2015 (iN2015) master plan. It will transform Singapore into an intelligent nation and global city powered by infocomm. It is envisioned that the Next Gen NBN will eventually provide a nationwide ultra-high speed broadband access of 1Gbps and more, to all physical addresses including homes, schools, government buildings, businesses and hospitals.

Win-Win / OCT 20104

Make it easy and flexible for RSPs

Malcolm Rodrigues, Vice President of Sales, Marketing & Customer Operations of Nucleus Connect explains the unique value proposition of the company’s connectivity offerings: “As a Next Gen NBN provider, we basically offer connectivity by providing 100Mbps to 1Gbps broadband access to homes, businesses, and the government. Though we’re primarily a broadband provider, we provide various options that make it easier for our customers.”

According to him, the company has several target RSP segments: “If RSPs are operationally sophisticated offering a triple play of voice, data and TV services for residential markets or want to deliver a corporate service stack to the enterprise market, they can order what we call ‘segment by segment’ services and QoS. This allows them to build, dimension and scale their own networks according to their business development.”

For smaller RSPs, Nucleus Connect offers E2E managed services like the layer 2 VPN, the layer 2 Ethernet LAN and the layer 3 VPN, thus enabling the smaller players to enter the market more quickly and easily. “What we’re trying to do with the Next Gen NBN is lay a foundation and reduce entry barriers,” he says. “So, we offer smaller RSPs hosted services and IP management services. They can house their servers and applications in our central office to connect with the Next Gen NBN and deliver services to their customers. We manage the network for them; they only need to focus on sales, marketing and customer acquisition.”

The ICO offers four available service classes for RSPs: class A for Real Time services, class B for Near Real Time services, class C for Mission Critical services, and class D for Best Effort services. “RSPs can order specific access services such as class D (Best Efforts) for broadband Internet, a better class of service (Near Real Time) for IPTV, or a premium class of service (Real Time) for voice or mobile backhaul solutions. We provide additional flexibility as well by allowing RSPs to subscribe to multiple classes of service on the same customer connection.”

Key Milestones

• 2012 June, 95% of Singapore will be covered by the Next Gen NBN;

• 31 August 2010, Nucleus Connect commences commercial operations;

• 2010 May, Nucleus Connect launches two central offices for interoperability testing, co-location and patching;

• 2010 May, IDA approves the wholesale Interconnection Offer (ICO) and makes it publicly available to all RSPs;

• 2009 April, Nucleus Connect is named as the official operating company of Singapore’s Next Gen NBN.

Malcolm Rodrigues, Vice President of Sales, Marketing & Customer Operations of Nucleus Connect

Win-Win / OCT 20105

VOICEFROM OPERATORS

Another benefit Nucleus Connect provides to RSPs is regular service workshops to train them on what they can do on the Next Gen NBN, and what applications can be added. The workshop invites content providers, application providers, and system integrators to discuss the future and what can be done to empower RSPs.

For a start, five RSPs – LGA, M1, Singtel, StarHub and SuperInternet have signed up for master interconnection offerings from Nucleus Connect. We expect to sign up over a dozen RSPs by year end.” says Rodrigues.

The pipe is never too big

When the ten-fold bandwidth leap was made, it was followed by a clearly enhanced user experience. But questions remain as to whether this much bandwidth is really necessary, and how it can be most effectively utilized.

Rodrigues says he believes that while there is no single killer application, video has emerged as the definite killer service. “Here we have HDTV coming down the pipe. One channel takes up 10Mbps, and you can easily consume 20 – 30Mbps by switching on two or three TVs simultaneously at home. This doesn’t even take into account surfing, P2P, and YouTube, which now has an HD service. In Singapore, we’re already seeing 3D TV trials that consume more than 10Mbps for HDTV.

“Over the next two years, we expect that application and service developers will see the benefits of using this type of fiber network and start delivering new services and applications,” he adds. “The government sector is also planning on new offerings tailored for education and healthcare across the Next Gen NBN. So 100Mbps may sound like a lot of bandwidth, but I think it’ll be consumed very quickly in the very near future.”

In addition to HDTV and 3D TV, tailored services provided by government sectors like education and healthcare will be introduced. So 100Mbps may sound like a lot

of bandwidth, but I think it’ll be consumed very quickly in the very near future.

Win-Win / OCT 20106

Storrie views Singapore as the perfect model for other countries. He attributes the success of Next Gen NBN to a high-performance network,

reasonable costs, government support, and the right partnerships.

Storrie agrees that the pipe will be gradually filled up. People will realize the benefits higher bandwidth can bring, and once they have it, they won’t want to lose it. “I remember my mother never had a telephone in the house when I was small; we only got one when I joined British Telecom. Once we had it, she asked: ‘Why didn’t I get it years ago?’ So once you give something to people, they understand its significance.”

Success factors for Next Gen NBN

Storrie attributes the success of Next Gen NBN to a high-performance network, reasonable costs, government support, and the right partnerships.

The Next Gen NBN is a full-fiber network that differs from existing fiber–copper legacy platforms. “In theory, our network will perform better. In addition, its active elements will remain future proof; for example, we can reach 10Gbps very quickly and easily,” he says, reiterating their pricing model is extremely attractive.

The Singapore government has invested S$1 billion (753 million USD) in the Next Gen NBN, of which S$750 million is earmarked for the passive component constructed by the NetCo, and S$250 million for the active element constructed by Nucleus Connect.

Storrie is convinced that government support and the cooperation within the whole ecosystem are crucial and particularly suit Singapore: “Singapore is a small market. The government realized that they must get behind the project because no one else will do this type of infrastructure investment as it lacks commercial viability. Similar situations exist in other countries. The bigger the country is, the greater the cost is. I think the Singapore example can be followed in other countries, of course,

with adjustments based on the requirements and rules of the market.”

A project of this size inevitably requires carefully selected partnerships. “Accurately choosing vendors who understand our objectives as partners is vital. In Huawei, we have chosen the right partner. The two teams have come together to overcome various challenges,” says Storrie. Huawei supplied Nucleus Connect with all the active network equipment, including the DWDM, GPON and Ethernet.

“The beauty for us is the single operating system that enables end to end management,” he adds. Equally, the OpCo is pleased with the value-added marketing support offered by Huawei, which enables Nucleus Connect “to creatively deliver its messages to the RSP community and to the mass market.”

Storrie views Singapore as the perfect model for other countries. Once the world witnesses what can be delivered to end users, both residential and commercial, other countries will want the same capabilities as Singaporeans, he believes.

“Numerous things will change because of the Next Gen NBN: businesses and home owners can look forward to pervasive, competitively priced, ultra-high broadband speeds of up to 1Gbps which will transform the way they currently work, live, learn and interact. Singapore will get there faster. We welcome people to come here and test their services to prepare for deployment in their home countries.”

“The commercial launch of the Next Gen NBN signals the beginning of a journey of infinite possibilities, made possible by our commitment to empower RSPs to develop services beyond our imagination,” he concludes.

Editor: Gao Xianrui [email protected]

Win-Win / OCT 2010

Mohammad Omran, the Chairman of Etisalat Group, who in May received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Middle East Business Leaders Summit 2010, talks to WinWin about how he plans to take the group to new heights by introducing cutting-edge technologies and exploiting new business opportunities.

WinWin: Congratulations on your Lifetime Achievement Award at the Middle East Business Leaders Summit 2010 that signified your contribution to the global telecom industry. Could you share some of your insights into telecom trends in the global market?

Mohammad Omran: In the global market, high growth levels are becoming increasingly difficult to sustain by relying only on organic growth. To survive, an operator will need to start adapting strategies according to the realities on the ground.

This will spread further in the workplace. Professional and personal communication methods are interacting in various way. That is why the industry will need to incorporate enterprise social networking into their overall unified communications and strategy. Enterprise-grade versions of social networking websites will begin to be as common in the workplace as email, and will change the way business is conducted. As a result, the decision-making process will be accelerated.

I would like to reiterate here that we live in a brand

By Beena Augustine

Etisalat reaching for new heights

new age, the age of social media and instant messaging. Consumers want more convenience and they want to have access to information and entertainment in their daily lives.

Big strides overseas

WinWin: Etisalat now has 18 subsidiaries with a total of 107 million subscribers. What were the drivers that prompted global expansion, and what are the future plans in this regard?

Mohammad Omran: We are totally committed to expanding our operations and investments, with a special focus on regional telecom markets. We are strategically, and for the long term, investing in markets, bringing valuable assets and experience to our markets.

Over a period of more than three decades, Etisalat has transformed itself from a local operator into an international player operating in 18 countries following a selective expansion strategy and deploying international best practices. The number of Etisalat’s customers has increased from only four million in 2004 to 107 million customers across 18 markets in Asia, Africa and the Middle East today. This means that the number has increased 2,500% in just five years. This leap is evidence of our aim to be one of the top ten telecom operators worldwide.

Having developed a strong portfolio of operations in multiple regions, our ongoing focus will be on operational excellence in order to strengthen our position and extract value out of our international operations.

WinWin: Mobily has established itself as the mobile broadband leader in the region, and Etisalat Misr is the

7

VOICEFROM OPERATORS

Win-Win / OCT 20108

— Mohammad Omran, Chairman of Etisalat Group

The number of Etisalat’s customers has increased from four million in 2004 to 107 million across 18 markets in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. This leap is evidence of our aim to be one of the top ten telecom operators worldwide.

Win-Win / OCT 2010

In the UAE, our strategy focuses on maximizing the penetration of mobile broadband. We have recently completed deployment of the advanced HSPA+ technology across the

UAE cities, making our 3G network the fastest and the widest in the Middle East.

VOICEFROM OPERATORS

9

top operator in Egypt’s MBB market. In your opinion, what have been the key factors behind their success, and could those be employed in your other markets?

Mohammad Omran: Mobily has been one of the most successful investments for Etisalat. It was the first Saudi communications company to get an operating license for 3G services and beyond. Today, it controls more than 40 percent of the mobile subscriptions market in the kingdom.

Mobily’s leadership in broadband services and applications, as a pioneer in this technology in the Middle East, is in line with global trends in mobile communications. It successfully completed trials for the coming upgrade of its state-of-the-art HSPA+ network, testing speeds of 42Mbps. The 42Mbps speed, expected to be rolled out in major cities in the interim, will be the first major speed upgrade since Mobily became the first operator in the region to launch HSPA+ towards the end of 2009 at speeds of 21Mbps,

The growth in Mobliy’s Q2 revenues has beaten expectations due to the increase in broadband revenues and the attracting of more postpaid customers, in addition to the increase in the international interconnection margin, all of which have led to EBITDA reaching SR1.38 billion (equivalent to 368 million USD) in the second quarter of 2010, as compared to SR1.18 billion in the first quarter of this year.

Egypt is another success story. In less than three years of operation in the highly competitive Egyptian market, Etisalat Misr has outperformed strong competitors. The first to launch 3G and 3.75G networks in Egypt, Etisalat Misr today covers 98 percent of the population with 2G and 3G networks and 80 percent of the population with its 3G network. It has the widest 3G coverage in the country, and the largest market-share in 3G services.

Etisalat Misr also provides unmatched capacities after

upgrading its entire network from HSPA to HSPA+, which provides speeds of up to 21Mbps, the first operator in Africa to do so, and the second in the Middle East, after Etisalat UAE. Etisalat Misr also succeeded in testing speeds of 42Mbps for high-speed wireless Internet in Egypt and other parts of the region, and the results of these tests were very satisfying.

Domestic potential

WinWin: The mobile penetration rate has already topped 200 percent in Etisalat’s home market, UAE. Where do you see Etisalat’s new growth opportunities and how do you plan to further consolidate your standing?

Mohammad Omran: It is a fact now that operators should be more than mere connectivity providers, offering value-added solutions that improve their customers’ lifestyles, such as mobile payment, IPTV, mobile TV and so on, with a special focus on local content development.

Demand for broadband is growing exponentially, in terms of both subscriber uptake and bandwidth requirements. For this reason Etisalat’s strategy focuses on maximizing the penetration of mobile broadband in the UAE, by creating the best network in the Middle East for our customers and introducing an attractive data package for their varying needs, whether they use it from their mobile devices or other 3G/3.5G devices.

To achieve this, Etisalat has been improving and upgrading its network and infrastructure with advanced technologies. This has enabled the introduction of new products and services, such as higher speed broadband packages, improved value-added services and introducing the most advanced mobiles like the iPhone and Blackberry.

Win-Win / OCT 201010

Editor: Yao Haifei [email protected]

We have more than one million mobile Internet users now. With these, Etisalat has been able to achieve an increase in Internet revenues by AED 599 million (equivalent to 163 million USD, 9% of total revenue) while the data revenues increased by AED 486 million (12% of total revenues) by the end of 2009.

WinWin: The eLife program is set to make Abu Dhabi the first capital city in the world to be totally connected by fiber-optic infrastructure. Can you elaborate on the progress of the eLife program so far, and its future plan? How will customers and the country benefit from the program?

Mohammad Omran: Innovation is one of the pillars of Etisalat’s strategy. We have managed to realize this with our nationwide eLife FTTH roll-out that will, by the end of this year, make Abu Dhabi the first capital city in the world with 100 percent fiber deployment. By 2011, it is also set to make the UAE one of the first countries in the world to have nationwide fiber-optics deployment, enabling “digital homes” that will enable customers to realize the numerous capabilities and unmatched potential of a home’s many connected devices.

Customers have already started enjoying the benefits of integrated innovative services. In less than a year of its successful HDTV launch in the UAE, Etisalat launched its 3D TV service, marking remarkable progress in home entertainment that now gives its eLife triple-play and E-Vision customers the chance to watch 3D TV at home. Also in the pipeline are many more of such creative combinations that will change the traditional way landline, broadband and TV/video services are perceived.

WinWin: Can you brief us on Etisalat’s strategy and plan for LTE? In which of Etisalat’s markets can we expect to see LTE deployment and commercialization soon?

Mohammad Omran: The region is now gradually evolving and advancing from standard 3G towards 4G technologies. Etisalat announced its first trial of LTE in October 2009, and we have progressed well since then. We have also started pre-commercial testing using a control group of customers.

Additionally, we have formed strategic partnerships with all of the major vendors in this field, and continue to test so as to ensure we will install the very best infrastructure.

Onwards and upwards

WinWin: You have mentioned that “partnerships between content developers and telecom companies are

inevitable for GCC operators”. Can you elaborate on this phenomena and how Etisalat plans to exploit such relationships?

Mohammad Omran: Indeed, partnerships are very necessary as telecommunications companies transform themselves from being mere connectivity providers to smart operators offering value-added solutions that enhance their customers’ lifestyles, such as mobile payment, IPTV, mobile TV.

I need to stress that broadband is a key driver of growth. Demand for fixed and mobile data is increasing. This is due to the increasing number of smartphones and the popularity of social networking websites. Consumers want more convenience and they want to have access to information and entertainment.

To this end, Etisalat has been building a strong profile of partnerships with content providers. Etisalat has recently linked up with one of the leading digital production groups to provide “edutainment” for cable TV, mobile phones and the Internet. Educational games, cartoons and applications for children are being distributed by Etisalat in the UAE from October. Later, the content will be available via Etisalat’s operations in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and so on.

We are also continuously focusing on network readiness. We have recently completed deployment of the advanced HSPA+ technology across the UAE cities. The new enhancement enables Etisalat’s 3G network, which covers 99% of the UAE’s populated area, to become the fastest and the widest in the Middle East.

WinWin: We noticed that Etisalat has recently expanded its foray into the enterprise market space. Though some early bird telcos have already tapped into the machine to machine (M2M) market, we have seen few successful cases so far. What is Etisalat’s strategy in promoting M2M and what challenges lie ahead?

Mohammad Omran: Etisalat realizes the potential of the M2M business and is very keen to offer the best solutions. That is why we are very meticulous in choosing our partners in this field. We recently signed a deal with a leading global automation company, to work with us towards offering applications that rely on Mobile Business Data Service through 3.5G network for M2M communication. The widespread availability of Etisalat’s 3.5G network makes it an attractive technology for replacing existing equipment and deploying new wireless solutions. We hope to help companies across different verticals facilitate business efficiency and increased productivity, in addition to helping enterprises become greener.

Win-Win / OCT 2010

Bakrie Telecom proud to be a budget operator

Budget air travel usually implies a no-frills flight experience with little focus on comfort, and miscellaneous additional fees. Is the same true for a budget telecom operator? For Bakrie, the fastest growing CDMA operator in Indonesia, the answer is a decisive NO. So, how do they remain on top of their game? Mr. Muhamad Danny Buldansyah, Deputy President Director of Bakrie Telecom, reveals the wisdom of striking the perfect balance between best value services and an ultra-low cost structure.

A budget profile

ounded in 2003, Bakrie Telecom is the fastest growing CDMA operator in Indonesia. Danny attributes the operator’s exceptional performance to its budget operator business model, which

consists of five main elements: simplicity, affordability, brand, a diverse customer mix, and efficient operating costs and capital expenditures.

KISS principle

While most operators are aware of the KISS principle (keep it simple, stupid), Bakrie has actually implemented this premise across its service and product portfolio. “At Bakrie, we strive to keep services simple, easily understood, and easy to use, so they can be enjoyed by anyone. As a result of price wars, customers are faced with a variety of confusing tariff schemes, with rates constantly changing and valid only at certain hours. In contrast, our rate has remained virtually unchanged since its inception in 2005, and remains the same throughout the day. Such simplicity gives customers peace-of-mind.”

In addition to keeping its pricing structure simple, Bakrie created an easy way for customers to compare different operators’ tariffs with the launch of Esia Bispak in 2009. Subscribers can trial the tariffs of several GSM operators without replacing their Esia cards, so customers can find

By Julia Yao

out for themselves which really is the cheapest. “All they need to do is key in specific code or just call us, and we can switch them to another operators’ plan or back to our plan. Our system automatically adapts to the tariff changes when they are tested by Esia subscribers. We win either way; if the customer is happy with the tariffs in comparison, so are we, because he pays more to us. If he is not happy, he just moves back, but doesn’t switch to another operator.”

Affordable prices

As a budget operator, Bakrie’s competitiveness derives from affordable prices and best value. Danny is proud of the numerous firsts Bakrie has brought to the domestic market, including the cheapest call at Rp1.000/hour (0.1USD); the cheapest phone at 20USD, and the cheapest color phone at just 30USD back in 2007 and 2008. “However, we’ve always been careful not to equate affordability with second-tier services and products. We give affordable prices for services that are simple to use and offer extra value.”

Brand power

Brand equity is crucial for Bakrie’s success as a budget operator. The company has received numerous awards including the Best Brand Award 2009 from the MARS Research Institute and SWA Magazine in recognition of its leading position in the CDMA field. Equally, Bakrie has a distinct approach to promoting the cost-efficient brand

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F

VOICEFROM OPERATORS


concept. “We campaign and convey our message in every possible way, but we don’t put billboards everywhere. We act with more subtlety; for example, through the radio and blogs. Also, we emphasize product features and affordability, whether we’re promoting a given tariff or handset. We make it easy to realize our potential through consumers’ perception of our brand,” says Danny.

Customer mix

Bakrie targets three major market segments: switchers, dual-users, and first-time users. At the end of 2009, approximately 33% of its customers were first-time Esia users, while 67% were dual-users or switchers. The latter two markets are generally more profitable as usage levels are higher than with new users. “In Indonesia, the churn rate is very high – 15% per month on average. With 100 million subscribers, this translates to 15 million subscribers switching between operators each month. Our churn rate hovers at around 5% to 6%, much lower than average, which means that we are on the whole winning over the customers.”

Lighter or heavier From selecting technologies to controlling OPEX, each

move Bakrie makes prioritizes cost efficiency.

Shift the paradigm

“Just because we’re a budget operator does not necessarily mean that we buy everything cheap. We choose the most sophisticated and reliable equipment for our networks as we cannot afford to lose through downtime and high OPEX in the long term.”

“We very aggressively rolled our network during 2007 and 2008. Then, rapid rollout and service provisioning were the key factors for us. We shifted the paradigm in

Just because we’re a budget operator does not necessarily mean we buy everything cheap. We choose the most sophisticated and reliable equipment as we cannot afford to lose through downtime and high OPEX in the long term.

Mr. Muhamad Danny Buldansyah, Deputy President Director of Bakrie Telecom


2009 by prioritizing quality and customer experience. We are not sacrificing customer satisfaction for the speed of rollout. Even the rollout should be delayed, so be it as long as we are not degrading customer experience.”

Asset-light strategy

Driven by a budget operator philosophy but committed to quality and customer experience, how does Bakrie keep OPEX low? An asset-light strategy is the key.

“As we started to aggressively expand our network in 2007, we realized the best way was to limit our assets, which we began to do in mid-2007. By doing so, we can focus on the core business of providing quality telecom services for our customers. I don’t think we can remain effective if we maintain our towers, paint them, cut the surrounding grass and so on – this is not our core business.”

Towers, in fact, represent a key part of this strategy. After a sale and lease back transaction for 543 towers valued at 4.3 million USD, 94% of Bakrie’s towers were co-located or leased from tower operators as of December 2009. The case is the same for its base stations; during 2009 Bakrie successfully expanded network coverage to 79 domestic cities, raising the number of BTSs to 3,677. Most of these are co-located or leased from third parties.

“The gains can be seen from many angles. Our cash flow, for example, is considerably better, partly because the ROI for building networks and towers is very low, particularly at the beginning. So, month to month leasing is far superior: when we receive income, we meet our costs. We’re implementing this as much as possible, so now, when we need to add network elements or applications,

we always calculate the best option: lease or buy.” Danny explained how they decide the light and

heavy network elements: “For high risk assets, I prefer to outsource, making them lighter. Towers, for example, are high risk, because of regulation changes. Regulators may force us to combine and share towers, and we may lose our assets. So, leasing is less risky. The second criterion is asset life-cycle. I prefer NEs, such as BTSs, MSCs, or BSCs, to be light assets, as they have relatively short lifecycles – from two to three years – due to the rapid emergence of new technologies. Assets with long life-cycles are our preferred heavy assets, such as fiber optic networks, which have a life-cycle of 10 to 15 years.”

Disruptive innovation

“Disruptive innovation is our DNA. It is our way to change old paradigms in the telecommunications industry,” says Danny Among the many forms of disruptive innovation which have become important stepping stones in the course of Barkie history, the Rp1 (0.0001USD) per character SMS service launched in 2008 unarguably tops the list, and represents a global first: “We know users on average send 50 characters, and our traditional on-net charge for an SMS is Rp50, which makes the Rp1 per character charge viable. As we expected, SMS revenue dropped by 30% to 40% in the first 2 to 3 months as people shortened their texts. Between 4 and 5 months, it became break-even as the volume picked up. And since then, SMS revenues have continued to increase their contribution to total company revenue.”


Primarily aimed at heavy texters, such as students and teenagers, the service was so successful that it spawned a new text lingo in Indonesia: “People now text Y for ‘why’, WRU for ‘where are you’. Our customers really have fun using this service.”

The success of the per character SMS model is the fruit of ingenuity and strong technical support from vendors. “The number of characters of a sent text is actually on the protocol, but nobody was capturing it. We saw the opportunity, and began talks with our SMS providers, which include Huawei, and our IN provider, which is exclusively Huawei. Huawei understood our requirements, set up a research project, and then we commercialized the service in just five months.”

In 2009 alone, Bakrie launched 56 new products and services, over one per week. To support the tempo of new services and product diversification, Danny has prioritized an integrated charging system. “Charging is a challenge, but we love challenge at Bakrie. We aim to develop a service-based approach for integrated charging and billing to support our ‘disruptive innovation’ strategy.”

AHA data

Despite its positioning as a budget operator, Bakrie knows that it cannot ignore various advances in the industry and always considers new product and service opportunities, including data. This June, Bakrie officially launched its high speed Internet access service. Employing EVDO technology, the service has been dubbed AHA, to represent its simplicity and fun.

A challenging network design

“It was a challenging EVDO network design. We have three carriers, two for voice and a third for data. We decided to implement EVDO Rev. A from Huawei nationwide. Common practice is to overlay 1X and DO Editor: Gao Xianrui [email protected]

We believe that data is the way forward. This June, we officially launched our high speed Internet access service. Employing EVDO technology, the service has

been dubbed ‘AHA’, to represent its simplicity and fun.

Rev. A using one vendor’s equipment. Due to our legacy network in Jakarta (which is not Huawei), we have to overlay around 1500 of legacy 1X BTS with Huawei EVDO Rev. A BTS. So, we started in central Jakarta first, overlaying DO Rev. A on the legacy 1X network, which was supplied by two different vendors. Fortunately, the DO is provided by Huawei, and we worked together to overcome the technical challenges.”

“We first tackled the common antenna issue, as our BTS A and BTS B are from different vendors. While this would normally require two antenna systems, we wanted a common antenna, which was very difficult to maintain. Huawei’s subsequent R&D project resulted in the right solution. Our second challenge was to ensure the interoperability between our legacy equipment and Huawei equipment. Again, with a helping hand from Huawei, that went well,” says Danny.

Data is the way forward

From a business point of view, Bakrie has already stated that data is the way forward. “We’re closely following the changing face of Indonesia’s mobile communications, characterized by high speed access, social networking, and low cost smart phones. The latest statistics show that Indonesia is Facebook’s third-largest country by monthly active users, and is likely to overtake Britain and move into second place in the near future. We are also Twitter’s fourth largest source of traffic, behind America, Japan, and Brazil. The market for broadband definitely exists.”

“Our competitors, especially operators with GSM technology, 3G, and HSPA, have begun the evolution to LTE, and we plan to do that as well. We’ll consider timing regarding the path to LTE, whether it is Rev. B and then LTE, or Rev. B, DO Advanced, and then LTE. Now, we still have a long way to go. We need to firm up the details, and then clarify our implementation path. We’re aiming to begin trials early next year.”


France Telecom prepares to take its FTTH revolution nationwideBy Julia Yao

Let the “conquest”

begin


Clearing the regulatory path

or any operator, fiber deployment involves flexing some serious financial muscle, and any perceived risk prompts extreme caution. This explains France Telecom’s brief hiatus from

FTTH last year, which was driven by remaining regulatory uncertainties and by the logical principle of not investing in building cabling sharing models that could be defined as not compliant with regulation later on.

In January 2010 after two years of consultation, the regulatory body, Autori té de Régulat ion des Communications Électroniques et des Postes (ARCEP) published the formal terms and methods for deploying and accessing fiber-optic lines in very dense urban areas. The regulatory framework mandates operators need to share the terminating sections of their fiber optic network, in

Tao of Businessother words, the first operator to install fiber in a building will give other operators access to it under conditions that enable effective competition, allowing them to market a competing offer to the residents. In most cases, multi-fiber deployment is recommended to guarantee technology neutrality for all service providers. This means that any service provider deploying in-building fiber will be obliged to install additional fiber if another service provider requests the use of fiber resources at the beginning of a project, and agrees to share installation costs.

This measure is destined to stimulate investment in the densely populated areas of France, and realize infrastructure-sharing on a large scale. As Mr. Bourgoint comments, “The issue has been clarified by ARCEP in very dense areas, which cover almost 20% of the French population. Now we know what we have to do in those areas and we will implement the best technical and operational solutions.”

In addition to very densely populated areas, in June 2010 ARCEP also launched a new consultation regarding the regulatory framework for the rest of the country, in other words in less densely populated areas which correspond to around 80% of the population. According to ARCEP, the great diversity of these areas calls for a flexible framework that includes a high degree of sharing and more joint action with local authorities to guarantee homogeneous coverage across the country.

FTTH endeavors

Clarification of the regulatory framework is prompting France Telecom to prepare for nationwide FTTH deployment and thus reap the rewards of its €2 billion investment and valuable cumulative experience.

The ambitious plan

“By the end of 2012, we will have covered 45 urban areas in all 22 domestic regions. By 2015, fiber will be open in all 96 domestic districts, and in 3 overseas administrative districts. In 2010, we will consolidate investment in the Paris area and the nine agglomerations of Bordeaux, Grenoble, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Metz, Nantes, Nice and Toulouse where deployment has already started. In addition, we are currently expanding into other cities such as Cannes, Montpellier, Orleans, Rennes, Strasbourg and Toulon. So, 2010 marks just the beginning.” In July, Stéphane Richard, France Telecom’s Chief Executive Officer, announced the “conquest 2015” plan in which he confirmed the group’s €2 billion investment plan, which will provide 40% of France population with access to fiber by 2015.

F

With territory scale deployments

scheduled between 2010 and 2015,

France Telecom’s commitment to FTTH has

never wavered since the operator’s first

pilot project in 2006 and pre-deployment

in 2007. Despite a pause in its FTTH plans

in 2009, the French operator unveiled

in July 2010 its “conquest 2015” plan in

which the company confirmed a €2 billion

investment plan that will provide 40% of

France population with access to a fiber

network by 2015. Jean-Claude Bourgoint

(left), Director of Fixed Access Networks

& Services at France Telecom, described

France Telecom’s FTTH story to WinWin.

Win-Win / OCT 2010

In addition to TV, I also anticipate some new ‘any-to-any’ simultaneous usage from videos and games, such as home video conferencing, new 3D games,

and video unicast instead of video broadband. These services will of course consume much bandwidth.

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The learning curve

As the first major European incumbent to deploy FTTH in 2006, France Telecom was embarking on a relatively new journey characterized by a steep learning curve that yielded some valuable lessons.

The first major challenge was technology. “Four years ago, the technology was unstable. We worked closely with other operators, suppliers, such as Huawei, and also with standards’ bodies such as FSAN, to ensure the technology and equipment were sufficiently stable mature and interoperable.” After the successful 2006 trial, France Telecom asserted FTTH as the optimum future-proof solution for ensuring diverse service delivery and speeds. After simultaneously testing different technologies, the operator selected GPON for the CAPEX savings made in optics and equipment, and for the reduced OPEX including power consumption.

The second challenge arose from technical and operational issues. As an incumbent, France Telecom has a huge legacy copper infrastructure. “The shift from copper to fiber is revolutionary, thus bringing with it some fundamental changes.” For example, technicians have to learn about fiber from scratch. When they went into buildings, space was often lacking for the building and apartment feeds. Also, France’s long history has produced a wealth of outstanding architecture that engineers cannot simply walk up to and drill a hole through, “We spent a great deal of time optimizing our approach.” Fortunately, experience gradually cut labor and installation costs and the increasingly integrated customer equipment. France Telecom is also proposing solutions to meet the growing Do-It-Yourself attitude of some tech-savvy customers.

Another obstacle was obtaining access permission for buildings to install infrastructure, “Sometimes, we have to wait 11 months to get approval for the next installation.” However, since 2008 the LME law (Loi de modernisation

de l’économie – Law for the modernization of the economy) is facilitating the procedures necessary to obtain cabling agreement’s with building owners. Under the LME law, landlords cannot oppose to a vote request on FTTH installation within the building. With a clearer regulatory landscape on building sharing, the landlords are now in a more secure position to propose a request from a single operator to cable the building. Flat owners cannot oppose fiber installation request from their tenants if the building is connected to FTTH.

Driving bandwidth consumption

France Telecom now markets two fiber-optic based services: La Fibre, at €34.90/month, and La Fibre Plus, at €44.90/month. The ADSL-based triple-play service without traditional POTS access is offered at the same price as La Fibre. The fiber-optic packages provide downlink and uplink access speeds of 100Mbps and 10Mbps respectively, and 120 TV channels, including 12 HD channels. The offer can also be upgraded to 100Mbps symmetrical. Comparatively, triple-play on copper may offer up to 20Mbps with 100 TV channels including 5 HD channels, depending on customer line eligibility.

Mr. Bourgoint cited the example of a typical French family to explain why people need such a huge capacity, “Between 8pm and 10pm, the mother is watching a 3D movie, which uses about 30Mbps; the father is doing two things at once: uploading his weekly work at 5Mbps upstream, and watching the World Cup on HD IPTV, which consumes about 15Mbps. The daughter is streaming her university courses from her university website at about 10Mbps, while the other 2 kids are playing a streaming game that uses 5Mbps and uploading a video of their last football match to Facebook, again at 5Mbps upstream. Combining these gives a total download of 60Mbps and 10Mbps upload – that still leaves

Win-Win / OCT 2010

We strongly believe that FTTH can satisfy our customers over the long term. We will use next generation technology to meet our requirements and protect our

FTTH investment. Using the most efficient and economical technology is a necessity, and so we’re tracking the potential of various options.

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40Mbps for other new usages.” Mr. Bourgoint is fully confident that attractive,

bandwidth-hungry services will entice customers to optic-fibers. “While I haven’t yet seen a killer application for an optic-fiber service, usage is cumulative, with a main focus on TV; so we’re investing heavily in this. For example, in May we broadcast live the Roland-Garros tennis cup event in 3D, a European first for the general public. Compared with IPTV, 3D requires twice the bandwidth.”

“In addition to TV, I also anticipate some new ‘any-to-any’ simultaneous usage from videos and games, such as home video conferencing, new 3D games, and video unicast instead of video broadband. These services will of course consume much bandwidth.”

A pragmatic technological approach

While 10G EPON and 10G GPON represent next generation PON technology, it is still too early for France Telecom to set their technological preference in stone, “We’re working on NG PON technologies with suppliers, including Huawei, but it’s premature to select or invest in a new technology, as our main current objective is FTTH GPON.”

“We strongly believe that FTTH can satisfy our customers over the long term. We will use next generation technology to meet our requirements and protect our FTTH investment. Using the most efficient and economical technology is a necessity, and so we’re tracking the potential of various options, for example, 10G GPON, 10G EPON; when the time comes, we’ll choose the best.”

Currently, Mr. Bourgoint is more concerned about minimizing the deployment and O&M costs of fiber networks. His team is cooperating with suppliers to develop innovative solutions and products to ease the burden

for technicians, two examples of which involve cutting installation time and implementing effective fault detection measures. To his delight, these issues are covered by the Joint Innovation Program by France Telecom and Huawei, and hopefully viable technical solutions will be developed soon. He is also keen to extend the reachability of the network to reduce deployment costs, “We’re investigating green solutions to match our aggressive stance on curbing carbon emissions. I think that, compared with copper, optical technology can help us realize our eco aims.”

France Telecom recently kicked off Phase 1 FTTH rollout in 2010 for 12 cities, Mr. Bourgoint is positive about the collaboration between France Telecom and Huawei, “We’ve spent several years working with Huawei. Huawei is a highly innovative company, and we are expecting Huawei to deliver more. We are confident that together we can deliver the best services for our customers.”


Win-Win / OCT 2010

In the U.K., BT’s access network business – Openreach has announced a total investment of 2.5 billion pounds to reach two-thirds of U.K. premises with fiber access by 2015.

What lies behind BT’s drive for fiber services and its accelerated timetable for delivery? Ian Stirrat, Director of NGA Program for BT Innovate and Design, lends us his valuable insights.

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By Ian Stirrat

Video takes pole position

he catalyst for major change is the explosion in video content, and distribution to individual cus tomers . As we v i ew the consumer, wholesale, and business markets, it’s clear that

video content has become a huge industry driver. Our future revenues and growth are tightly bound with how quickly we can provide fiber access networks to support TV and other video content distribution.

It’s not clear if TV is the “killer app”, but there’s no doubt that video content is propelling the industry forward at a remarkable rate. We first saw this in 2008 when the BBC launched its “iPlayer” service. With the previous seven days’ TV and radio content put online, viewers could use the Internet to catch up on any shows they had missed. iPlayer and similar “catch up” service from the broadcasters have caused bandwidth demand on our core network to skyrocket to the point where we’ve had to rethink the way we store and distribute content to bring it closer to the customer.

Looking at the other drivers of video content, such as YouTube and iTunes, if we don’t gear up to deliver huge bandwidth to customers and organize a network that prioritizes user experience, then we’ll miss a tremendous opportunity. So, this is what we’ve been doing to prepare for this next wave of video and TV service.

Broadband access for everyoneSuper-fast fiber access network Ian Stirrat, Director of NGA Program for BT Innovate and Design

T

Win-Win / OCT 2010

Openreach is deploying fiber optic technology into the U.K.’s access network in two ways: FTTP, which provides a pure fiber infrastructure capable of 100Mbps download speeds and very high upload speeds – 15Mbps and higher, and FTTC, which is part fiber and part copper. FTTC is currently providing 40Mbps download speeds and 10Mbps upload speeds, and will be deployed from the exchange to the street cabinet, running parallel to the copper feeder cables which supply the voice service.

FTTC will form approximately 75% of our broadband rollout, with around 25% of the network being planned for FTTP. Openreach launched FTTC at the beginning of 2010, and we’ve already seen a very good customer uptake and high level of pre-registrations. There are four important milestones in our super-fast broadband program. During July of 2010, we passed 1.5 million premises with FTTC. Milestone 2 will then pass 4 million premises with FTTC by the end of 2010. By the summer of 2012, we intend to have connected 40% of the U.K. – or 10 million premises with a mix of FTTC/FTTP and by 2015 we will have passed two thirds of the U.K. homes. For FTTP, we’re running industrial scale trials during 2010, and the nationwide launch is set for early 2011. Additionally, as part of the BT partnership for the 2012 Olympic Games, we’re focused on transforming London into a fiber-enabled digital city well before the Games commences. All the Games venues will be fully fibered and a very high percentage of homes and businesses in London will be passed with fiber by 2012.

Engineering, of course, still remains a challenge. Huawei has done a great job in delivering the electronics for our early infrastructure rollout, but delivering services to homes will inevitably be a demanding process – not just the physical network, but also in customers homes. Our customers have multiple devices and computers in their homes. To deploy services delivered over the fiber access, we have to help our customers configure their computers, TVs, printers, and other devices. Given the risk this poses

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Openreach is deploying fiber optic technology into the U.K.’s access network in two ways: FTTP, which provides a pure fiber infrastructure

capable of 100Mbps download speeds and very high upload speeds – 15Mbps and higher, and FTTC, which is part fiber and part copper.

U.K. telecom industry landscape

Openreach

A division of British Telecom (BT), Openreach is charged with providing fair and equal network access to communication providers in Britain. Following a review of the nation’s telecommunications by U.K.’s telecom regulator, Ofcom, BT voluntarily agreed to establish Openreach in 2005. It is separate from BT’s Wholesale and Retail businesses. The division is designed to ensure “that all rival operators have equality of access” to BT’s local network. Consequently, the telecom industry is moving towards a very open, vibrant and competitive environment, with domestic broadband availability and competitiveness among the highest in the G8.

Three telecom industry layers

Openreach , BT Who lesa le , and ind i v idua l communication providers comprise Britain’s three telecom layers. As well as backhaul networks, Openreach is responsible for copper and fiber access networks, and owns all the assets for the nation’s access networks, including cabling vehicles and external physical engineering. Openreach provides the bit stream service, which is guaranteed from the customer’s home up to the layer-2 switch in the local exchange. At this point, BT Wholesale or retail communication providers connect their services to the Openreach access, with the end user customer typically having a service made up of Openreach, Wholesale and communication provider components. BT Wholesale manages the core network, switches and routers, while individual communication providers offer services using the components of Openreach and Wholesale suppliers.


to a good customer experience, we’re delivering self-help diagnostic tools to facilitate automatic device configuration for our customers.

Ubiquitous broadband

Before we embarked on our journey to deploy fiber in the U.K., we had been working for several years on our 21st century network, transforming and building the high-capacity core. By 2009 we had enabled copper broadband to 99% of U.K. homes with speeds of up to 8Mbps. By March 2011, we will have reached 75% of our customers with ADSL2+ at up to 24Mbps. We’re targeting our enterprise customers with Ethernet and, although we were slow out of the starting gate, we’ve emerged with the largest Ethernet footprint in the U.K. over the last couple of years. We’ve enabled over 800 Ethernet points of presence (PoPs) nationwide and 90% of business premises are now within reach of an Ethernet node.

Taken together, the sum of these projects means we’re developing a complete portfolio of broadband services, as well as complete data and voice services. We target government, consumers and businesses with our connectivity services, and provide a spectrum of options, Editor: Zhu Wenli [email protected]

including 8Mbps services, high-speed copper services, fiber variants, and Gigabit Ethernet services.

“Mixed Economy” fiber strategy

“Mixed Economy” is the term we use to describe our strategy for providing copper, fiber and other access technologies to promote customer choice and flexibility. Over time, we would want to see every home in the U.K. with access to super-fast broadband, delivered over fiber. However, the physical challenge of realizing this vision means that for several years to come we will be working simultaneously on fiber and copper based broadband, identifying market trends and service opportunities. We will anticipate where customer demand will fall and deploy the most economic solution to deliver broadband services.

Variants of FTTC for consumers

BT Retail offers two options for end users who want a fiber broadband service. The first is a 19.99 pounds (30.55USD) a month service for the FTTC broadband consumer, offering up to 40Mbps downstream and 2Mbps upstream. The attractiveness of this service is evidenced by the takeup and the high level of pre-registrations in areas where we’ve not yet enabled the exchanges. The second option has a higher upstream option – up to 10Mbps upstream. This option is priced at 24.99 pounds (38.19USD) a month. It is particularly popular with those working on video content, web builders, and others who need high upload speeds.

Variants of FTTC for businesses

For our business customers, we offer the same upstream and downstream options, 40Mbps downstream and 2Mbps or 10Mbps upstream. The real differentiator for business customers becomes evident when things go wrong – our repair service pledges to fix 90% of business faults within 4 hours. We recognize that business customers need speed guarantees even at peak Internet usage times, so we guarantee them a throughput of 12Mbps. So far, customers’ feedback on the service is good and takeup is steadily increasing.

Openreach’s mission is to operate openly and equivalently in the access network, deliver ubiquitous services to every communication provider on the same basis, and bring ultra-fast fiber access within reach of U.K. homes as fast as it can be achieved. By delivering this super-fast access network, Openreach is supporting all of the U.K. communications industry and enabling “Broadband Britain” to move to super-fast broadband delivery.


Tao of Business

a broadband-enabled societyThe recently concluded Australian federal election resulted in a minority government after weeks of

uncertainty. This lack of a decisive result means that the future of the national broadband network (NBN), a popular topic in the lead-up to the election, remains unresolved at least for now. However, Kate Cornick,

Executive Director of IBES, a research center dedicated to NBN, believes that the network is the way forward, as it has the potential to greatly enrich society and people’s lives.

By Kate Cornick

n Apr i l 2009 , the Aus t r a l i an Government announced its plans to build a National Broadband Network (NBN) using the Fiber to the Premise (FTTP) technology to serve 93% of Australian

homes, schools and businesses. The remaining 7% will have access to a mix of next generation wireless and satellite broadband technologies.

The sixth largest country in the world by landmass, Australia accommodates a distributed population of about 22 million. The rollout of the network presents an exciting engineering challenge, and there are enormous research and development opportunities into innovative services and applications enabled by high speed broadband.

University of California San Diego Professor Larry Smarr was recently quoted in The New York Times as saying that Australia’s NBN is “one of the most interesting experiments in the world”. Australia now has an opportunity to take the lead in developing many of the new services and applications. In this article, a new research Institute at the University of Melbourne, Australia outlines their research program in this exciting area.

Research as a key enablerThe Institute for a Broadband-Enabled Society (IBES)

is the only research organization in Australia whose focus is solely on broadband enabled products, services, applications and end user experiences. The Institute was launched in July 2009 as a partnership between the State Government of Victoria and the University of Melbourne.

I

Kate Cornick, Executive Director of IBES

Australia

Win-Win / OCT 2010

IBES also receives significant support from its industry partners, including multi-national telecommunications equipment vendors such as Huawei, Australian service providers such as Optus, and Australian small and medium enterprises such as Warren and Brown Technologies and Pacific Broadband Networks.

The aim of the Institute is to drive multi-disciplinary research into broadband services and applications; to foster closer linkages among the Australian research communities and drive better commercialization outcomes; and to raise the public awareness of broadband. The five themes in IBES’ research program highlight the importance of broadband to different sectors of the economy including education, health, business transformation, network technologies, and social infrastructure and communities. The remainder of this article outlines some of the projects underway at IBES.

The green Internet

Next generation broadband networks have been widely touted as mechanisms to reduce carbon emissions and contribute to a sustainable future, for example by assisting to reduce air travel through the use of video conferencing. However, as telecommunications research and development continues apace, it is important that the physical networks are built and operated to ensure energy efficiency. To this end, the GreenTouchTM consortium was established comprising major vendors, service providers and research centres including IBES and Huawei.

The goal of GreenTouchTM is to bring diverse global talent together to deliver the architecture and key components needed to dramatically reduce energy consumption in telecommunications networks. At IBES, this work builds upon the research into the Green

Internet that has been led by Laureate Professor Rod Tucker, Director of IBES, and has been supported by the Australian Research Council.

Rural and regional broadband technologies

Australia’s population is distributed and while most people live in or near major cities, a significant number of people live in rural areas. Broadband technologies have an important role to play in these communities, allowing access to services that are typically city-centric, for example specialized healthcare or education.

Under the NBN, seven percent of the most remote premises will receive broadband services over wireless or satellite technologies. However, in partnership with industry partner, researchers at the University of Melbourne have developed optical fibre access technologies that are suitable for rural and regional areas. The long-reach passive optical network technology is capable of delivering broadband services in access networks of 60 to 100 kilometers in reach, without amplification. IBES researchers focused on modeling network rollouts have shown that it is economically viable to achieve fibre to the premise coverage as high as 98% using this new technology. In some cases, the rollout of long reach passive optical networks is economically more efficient that wireless or satellite alternatives.

Making data more accessible

One of the many uses of high speed broadband is to make existing datasets more accessible. For example, at

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Tao of Business

Broadband technologies have an important role to play in remote communities, allowing access to services that are typically city-centric, for

example specialized healthcare or education.


By assisting people in their older years, for instance by using remote monitors in vulnerable people’s homes, broadband can assist to alleviate the

pressure placed on the health system.

IBES we have a team of researchers focused on making convict history data available online. For example, the Tasmanian convict records document detailed information about persons arriving in Australian by boat in the 19th century. The data is currently available through the Tasmanian State Library; however clever online archiving is making the information readily available to family historians, population health experts and educators. Moreover, the data is being linked to other relevant information such as pictures and details of convicts’ lives, their ancestors and their descendents.

Understanding the end user

As high speed broadband networks are rolled out, and new services and products are made available, it is important to consider the end user experience. At IBES we have a number of research projects investigating end user behaviors and expectations. These include a longitudinal study of broadband in the home; an investigation into the barriers and drivers for broadband adoption by businesses; and a study of broadband enabled Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) services delivered via television sets into consumers’ homes. The latter project is being conducted in partnership with Hybrid Television Services, a subsidiary of the Seven Media Group and Television New Zealand.

Enhancing social infrastructure

IBES re s ea rch in to soc i a l in f r a s t ruc ture and communities focuses on environmental monitoring and social inclusion. Our environmental monitoring projects are focused on how broadband can assist consumers better understand and manage their energy consumption,

through the use of smart meters, and water usage in both the garden and on farms. IBES also has a team of researchers who are investigating the ways electronic data can be assimilated to assist in the early detection or prevention of bushfires. This is particularly relevant to Australia, as in 2009, Australia suffered the worst bush fire disaster in its history.

Health and wellbeing

IBES has a significant interest in the health sector, and we have developed four distinct programs that are of great relevance to Australia. The first area is focused on aging well. Like many countries, Australia faces an aging population and today our health care system is already under heavy pressure. By assisting people in their older years, for instance by using remote monitors in vulnerable people’s homes, broadband can assist to alleviate the pressure placed on the health system.

The second area of focus is youth mental health, and our researchers are investigating ways young people with mental health issues may be assisted using broadband technologies. The third and fourth program areas focus on the implementation of individual electronic health records and tele-health. Both of these technologies have started to be deployed in Australia, and have the potential to transform the health care sector.

The work at IBES is many and varied, and the projects outlined briefly here demonstrate the importance of high speed broadband to our future. By harnessing the research sector, with support from industry, IBES is striving to become a leading national and international centre for the future generations of broadband-enabled technologies.

Editor: Michael [email protected]

Win-Win / OCT 2010

Looking ahead to national broadband

By Nan Ningxuan

Perspective

National broadband is a new trend in broadband development, presenting both opportunities and challenges.

any believe that broadband is a bellwether of national competitiveness. Developing broadband is seen as an effective way of addressing such 21st-century challenges

as poverty, climate change, and an aging population. As estimates show, a 10 percent increase in broadband penetration contributes 1.3 percent to GDP growth.

While still president-elect, Barrack Obama slammed his country’s lack of broadband development, saying “It is unacceptable that the United States ranks 15th in the world in broadband adoption. Here in the country that invented the Internet, every child should have the chance to get online. And they’ll get that chance when I’m president, because that’s how we’ll strengthen America’s competitiveness in the world.”

Since the launch of the Next Gen NBN (NGNBN) initiative in Singapore, more than 30 countries worldwide have announced their national broadband commitments.

Broadband boosts GDP and national competitiveness

In the industrial age, how fast things went in a country was determined by highways, railways, ships, airplanes, and other modes of transportation. In the information era, however, it is decided by the speed of the national broadband network.

When talking about his country’s HSBB project, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak stressed that the project is a transformational strategy aimed at achieving

the national economic goal for 2020 by laying down a solid foundation for future prosperity. He cited South Korea as his inspiration: the per capita gross national income (GNI) of South Korea in the mid-1980s was at par with Malaysia’s, but by 2009, South Korea’s was three times larger than Malaysia’s (21,530USD versus 6,760USD), largely due to the series of national broadband initiatives taken by Seoul.

Globally, many countries have come up with national broadband plans because of the impact broadband networks are said to have on jobs, GDP, and national competitiveness. Of these countries, the developed ones are embracing broadband for network speed enhancement, while the developing ones are doing so to improve broadband penetration. These commitments include the NGNBN of Singapore, NGA of the UK, and broadband initiatives of the Scandinavian and Middle East countries. National broadband is certainly here to stay.

Three key factors to national broadband success

Requiring greatly different network architecture and capabilities than its regular counterpart, a national broadband network often puts enormous pressure on the investor. Three measures are often taken to alleviate this pressure.

The first is to accelerate the speed of deployment so that revenue can be generated as soon as possible to recoup the cash spent. The second is multiparty cooperation, where municipal civil engineering and utilities pipes are shared

M

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Win-Win / OCT 2010

as much as possible to reduce infrastructure investment in fiber deployment. The third is to use open service platforms and the network’s support capabilities to attract more business partners and diversify sources of revenue.

Besides, operators can enter into agreements with government agencies, whereby the agencies will provide support for national broadband network construction and use the network as a way of increasing the customer base and sharing costs.

As such, the key to national broadband success lies in the government’s policy and regulatory support, an appropriate network construction model, and the right technology and network architecture for lower bandwidth costs.

Policies and regulations

National broadband penetration and development directly relate to government promotion and regulation. Lack of involvement and promotion on the part of the U.S. government has led to the country ranking 15th in broadband penetration according to the OECD. In contrast, South Korea leads the world in broadband penetration thanks to its government, which promoted and invested in the national broadband network and became its first user.

The appropriateness of the government’s policies and regulations is best measured against the levels of broadband development. High levels of national broadband development and penetration indicate that the policies and regulations are favorable, which the government should ideally continue to implement. When broadband penetration is low and broadband development lags behind, the government should review its relevant policies and regulations to attract investors and users.

The government’s main considerations in broadband regulations are network neutrality and division of network layers, including billing, operations, management and control, and network ownership. In terms of planning and implementation, the open architecture of a national

broadband network is mainly divided into three layers: the service platform, active network, and passive network. The division varies from country to country. Singapore adopts the above three-layer division while Britain uses a two-layer division by combining the active and passive networks. Interestingly, Italy combines the active network and service provisioning part into one layer, and sets the passive network apart as another layer.

Network construction models

Two models are now prevalent for national broadband construction and planning: government-dominant and operator-dominant.

The Malaysian HSBB exemplifies the operator-dominant model, where the local mainstream operator Telecom Malaysia (TM) plays the lead role in the national broadband network project with the government’s sanction. This project is estimated to provide 100,000 jobs and contribute 0.6 percent to GDP.

The government-dominant model works well in countries such as Singapore and Australia, where the government is the main investor in the national broadband network and a company or companies are created to operate the network. The Singaporean government invested S$1 billion in the nationwide broadband network project, where NetCo and OpCo were created to build and operate the passive network and active network respectively. Nucleus Connect, the OpCo officially designated by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore, operates at the second-layer in the open architecture and provides bandwidth and higher speeds for service providers at the third layer.

Reasonable bandwidth cost

How to meet users’ bandwidth needs and build and operate a network cost-effectively is one of the major concerns in national broadband initiatives, and

Requiring greatly different network architecture and capabilities than its regular counterpart, a national broadband network often puts enormous pressure on the

investor. Three measures are often taken to alleviate this pressure.

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Win-Win / OCT 2010

Perspective

poses a daunting challenge to the investor. Appropriate technologies should be selected for national broadband networks to achieve appropriate, cost-efficient coverage for areas with different population densities.

For cost considerations, urban and especially densely-populated urban areas are generally covered by FTTx that is complemented by mobile technologies such as HSPA, LTE, EVDO, and WiMAX so that subscribers can have high-speed broadband connections anytime and anywhere. The main technologies for coverage in the suburbs and rural areas are FTTC+DSL and low-frequency wireless technologies (HSPA, LTE, and EVDO). In sparsely-populated areas, network coverage is usually achieved through satellites and super-long-distance microwave transmission to meet universal service requirements.

ODN deployment and other cable projects account for much of the fixed broadband construction costs. The government can reduce the TCO by way of industry coordination. In the UAE, for example, pipe costs take up approximately 60 percent of the total ultra-broadband CAPEX. Through government coordination, a partnership has been formed between the operator and civil engineering companies. With the pipes being shared, the TCO has come down significantly.

The radio frequency fee is another issue the government can help to address in wireless broadband. The industry estimates for the wireless broadband cost structure show that the frequency fee levied by the government often accounts for 10 percent of the CAPEX. 3G licenses were auctioned to bidding operators for a prohibitive 3.68 billion USD in India this year, directly causing their share prices to drop sharply.

According to the calculations based on an investment model, with frequency refarming, the number of sites required for the 4G mobile broadband 900MHz network should be lower than 2.6GHz by 20 to 40 percent theoretically. But in reality, this advantage of fewer sites is not justified in terms of costs. In Germany, the fee for 800MHz is seven times higher than for 2.6GHz. Obviously, the government can otherwise provide more support for national broadband by charging less for reused frequencies.

Network technology se lect ion i s a l so of great importance. Investment protection and cost savings can be effectively achieved by such methods as bandwidth upgrade for copper cable networks and smooth evolution for fiber access. As the major challenge with a metropolitan area network (MAN) is how to address the explosion of video traffic, it is necessary to build a video-centric network and research how to optimize network traffic. The network architecture must be designed and then IP and the CDN coordinated in such a way as to offload traffic

through the DPI. Backbone network construction requires IP/optic coordination for cost reduction. As for O&M, the management and dispatch from access network to backbone must be unified to expedite service distribution and fault separation and greatly save on the OPEX.

It is estimated that 30 to 70 percent savings can be made on access costs when the right access technology is selected for the national broadband network. If planned and built properly, an MAN helps to improve traffic efficiency by 65 to 80 percent. Adopting the right technology and equipment, a backbone network can achieve investment savings by 50% and improve transmission efficiency by five to six times.

The network and services are mutually complementary, for the p lanning and const ruct ion of a se r v ice-enablement network have a key impact on bandwidth costs and therefore on the willingness of customers and service providers to use the network. The key to service enablement lies in the standardization of components and platforms relating to the services, as best exemplified by the service platform of the Singaporean broadband network. This network is centered on the next-generation service enablement and can adapt to ever-increasing traffic. It requires the standardization of content metadata, head-ends, and terminals at user premises – all equipment to connect to the national broadband network must comply with the relevant standards to ensure that users can enjoy rich services at low costs.

Far-reaching impact

National broadband is instrumental in national economic recovery from the recession and growth, and as a facilitator of innovation and digitalization, is key to realizing knowledge-based economy and society. Broadly speaking, broadband is the foundation for the Internet and other information and communications technologies to benefit the whole humanity. On the other hand, making broadband and its applications available fairly and affordably is a prerequisite for promoting digital products and services and information sharing and improving social cohesion and diversity.

Representing a new trend in broadband development, national broadband is not without its challenges. Its success is dictated by such key factors as how to provide regulatory support, control network construction and O&M costs, and build a robust service enablement network providing bandwidth at reasonable costs. All in all, national broadband will speed up broadband development, making our world a better place to live in.

Editor: Xue Hua [email protected]

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Win-Win / OCT 2010

A WONDERFUL INFOCOM WORLD

From telecom to infocom

Knowledge o f ne twork s and communications in the public sphere is generally facilitated by terminals and applications, such as camera phones, color ring-back tones (CRBT), MP3s and MP4s , ema i l , on l ine g ames , PDAs, and mobile TV. Enterprises and pioneers that succeed in the

market have a strong insight into consumer demand and future trends, which broadly explains the overnight and overwhelming success of the iTouch and iPhone. These two innovative products have revolutionized the MP3 and mobile phone arenas respectively.

More recently, Apple sold one million iPads within 28 days of officially launching the device and shipped another million a month later. Google has rolled out G-TV. Softbank and Usteam have positioned streaming media phones as its core business, attracting more than 100 million users. In China, more than one thousand models of e-readers are available. All players in the industry chain are clamoring to produce clients and MIDs, including traditional mobile phone vendors, consumer electronics manufacturers, IT and PC companies, video game and media manufacturers, ISPs, telecom operators, and even industry application suppliers.

As Fig. 1 shows, these industry trends are following the forecasts that telecom will evolve into infocom, voice services will be subsumed into information services that

Where client, connection and cloud collaborateClients and applications are playing an increasingly vital role in the field of information, transporting

communications beyond the sphere of pure networking or connections. The development pattern of clients, connections, and cloud computing applications is predictable, and culminates in a logical inter-relationship

that is stimulating the age of infocom. Solutions, technologies and innovation are required to realize client-connection-cloud collaboration.

By Dr. Liu Nanjie

become intrinsic to daily life, and Engel’s Law will apply to the digital world.

The first stars of the infocom era are Web-based readers, specialist industry clients, home servers with the gateway/storage function, and the fourth screen that is represented in the nascent tablet computer. Next in line come media clients, the Internet of Things, and integrated “virtual clients”.

At the technical and equipment levels, future information demands will continue to revolve around reliable processors, sensors, storage, security, services, and software as a service (SaaS). At the solution level, demand is necessitating the integration of clients, networks, and applications, where the client, connection and cloud collaborate.

The “pure network” era is drawing to an end. Although still vital, networks will lose value without the support of clients and applications. All these, in turn, are blossoming under a system of underlying preconditions.

An exciting “client” space

Why are c l ients exci t ing? What do they give to applications? How do they evolve? What is the core of their competitiveness?

Over the past twenty years, the functionality of handheld clients has evolved from simple voice to infocom services that incorporate PC and TV functionality. The unification of their structure and manufacturing techniques plus guaranteed network bandwidth has resolved the throughput-input-output bottleneck. As mobile phones, PCs, and TVs become increasingly interwoven, it is theoretically viable that clients or MIDs have unlimited boundaries, and that

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Client CloudConnection

These new technologies and trends are destroying the markets of the traditional client manufacturers and those who churn out fake client products – the iPad being a case in point. However, clients are no more than expensive toys without robust cloud computing architecture and network support. All clients serve users and address their information needs. In turn, SaaS enables client functions and services, as expressed in the C³ value formulas as Fig. 2.

These formulas indicate that user value relates to the number of clients and network features, the capabilities of each client and the network, the SaaS required for each capability, and the customized software and applications on the SaaS. User value is a function of these variables.

To achieve sustainable growth, ICT players must go beyond traditional clients and simple communications services, of which Apple and Google provide good examples. Google’s advertisement profit model perfectly fits formula (ii), while Huawei’s E5 is a typical example of the C³ value formula.

When applied to the Internet, Moore’s Law states that the number of Internet users doubles every two years, which also applies to broadband users, clients,

commercial success depends on an enterprise’s ability to interweave the various strands.

In essence, a client is a medium between the physical space and cyber space, and a connecting point in the cyber physical system (CPS). If we took all clients as a population, we would see a world of individual clients that may be independent of human involvement.

Development patterns

Specifically, then, what are the laws governing the development of this world of clients?

It is almost as if an invisible hand has been behind the development of client manufacturers over the past twenty years. Recently, even giants like Nokia lost their way in transforming their client chips, OSs, platforms, and applications. The iPhone represents a new path, and the Opera and Widget encapsulate the new Web2.0 language. As Android highlights clients’ dependence on cloud computing, their processing and computing functions must be considered alongside with the networking and cloud computing capacity.

Penetration: 7%

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Perspective

Fig. 1 Infocom trend and new space diagram

According to conservative estimates, the new information consumption market has a huge space.

This is calculated based on future information requirements and per capita access cost model.

Commercial value ($)Market space (estimated)

t

Saturation: 85%Saturation: 20%

Saturation: 60%MID saturation: 5%

Penetration: 5% Penetration: 4%Penetration: 6% Penetration: 7%

Access per capita 100%

Client per capita 150%

Security per capita 190%

Bandwidth per capita 135%

Content per capita 390%

Computing per capita 280%

Storage per capita 230%

Future Information Network Framework

More special clouds, entry points for new operations, IDC,

DSC and ICT add to ARPU

Win-Win / OCT 2010

clients is their incorporation of user data, without which we can never really understand users or garner their loyalty.

When the number of clients exceeds our population, many applications will emerge that center on client types and features. The “Internet of Things” has extended Internet use to applications, and other similar applications are destined to follow: the “Internet of Vehicles” for vehicles, the “Internet of TV” for streaming media clients, the “Internet of Tourism” for the hospitality industry, the “Internet of Green” for environmental monitoring, and so on. Connected, these clients will form a complex and converged world that requires sophisticated computing capabilities, presaging a “client computing” world that is set to be even more colorful.

An intelligent “connection” space

With an abundance of clients, interconnectivity is increasing, and will result in light, reliable, and small sensor networks. Clustering and large community networks will emerge together with wide area media networks comprising a high IP load. Network and bandwidth ubiquity, perception, mobile interconnection, and the CPS will raise intelligence and create new challenges.

Bandwidth revolution

As the bearing capacity of global networks basically doubles within two years, the infrastructure architecture is increasingly IP-based. After exceeding E- and G-bits, the portal rate will reach Z-bit and then T, P, E, and Z, which represent network computing capacity upgrades. Protocol processing and computing must occur at higher rates to accommodate linear code streams in G-bits.

A saturated connection scenario will enable operators

storage, security, and even cloud computing. The human population of the world should all have access to the Internet in three years. Will Moore’s Law still hold when the number of users – as clients – exceeds our population? Given that electronics devices and machines can connect to the Internet, the answer is a definite yes. The number of clients, therefore, will greatly surpass the human population. The continued validity of this law is the basis on which to build the Smart Planet, Internet of Things, IOT, and CPS.

Essential changes

Since clients have so many functions and roles, it is necessary to understand the essential changes that will take place in the client space.

First, clients will fully integrate into PCs and the network. Mobile phones and other MIDs, PCs, and TVs will adopt consistent hardware and software structures in the future. The CPU, OS, IO, communications functions, and architecture will undergo essential changes in line with the iTouch, iPhone, iPad, and iTV. This trend is also indicated by the fact that Internet TV products with non-mainstream structures have been completely abandoned in the U.S.

Second, clients will closely relate to services and applications (such as SaaS and the app store), and clients without the support of cloud computing will be worthless. The iPad, for example, has virtually no rival because telephony is not its key application, and almost all its applications must connect to the Internet and be acquired from its app store.

Finally, clients comprise many usage characteristics, such as personal portable portal (PPP), user profile, and user properties. This is a surprising, exciting and highly significant fact. Similar to Avatar’s contribution to 3D, this phenomenon opens up the cyber world; the value of

30

User = ∑(client i) = ∑(client i [function j]) = ∑(client i [function j {SaaS}]) (i)

For a specific user x:

User (x) = ∑(client i) = ∑(client i [function j]) = ∑(client i [function j {SaaS [App Set x]}]) (ii)

Fig. 2 The C³ value formulas

These formulas indicate that user value relates to the number of clients and network features, the capabilities of each client and the network, the SaaS required for each capability, and the customized

software and applications on the SaaS. User value is a function of these variables.

Win-Win / OCT 2010

Open access, frequency sharing, network neutrality, and virtual operations are features that best explain both the bearing mode and network transformation; they

also redefine the evolution of network functionality.

Perspective

to focus on ubiquitous bandwidth, and realize the elusive goals of Ubiquity Access (UA) and Always Broadband Connection (ABC). For fixed broadband, ABC is easy, but UA is difficult, while the reverse is true for mobile broadband. The challenge lies in enabling both.

In bandwidth and mobile Internet revolutions, average bandwidth speed (ABWS) and average bandwidth consumption (ABWC) will replace ARPU as the key indicator. ABWC is set to increase exponentially, and if networks really enable ABC at 2Mbps and global UA, more than 20 billion clients will access the Internet at 2Mbps through heavy-weight All-IP networks.

Network bandwidth bottlenecks occur for many reasons. 80% of packet access is light-weight and IP-based, and equipment has reached halftime. Also, there is a shortage of wireless access and backhaul resources, constant changes in networking modes for mobile broadband under high-capacity coverage, and a restrictive frequency strategy.

Various other complex factors must be considered, such as QoE, complicated routing technologies, BGP table, BTS security, address security, RACS, roaming reservation, DFI and DFC, delay, streaming synergy, streaming cleaning, and especially FMC-BB. These features will continue to increase in complexity.

Network transformation

Networks mainly bear services, although they are evolving to incorporate “open access, frequency sharing, network neutrality, and virtual operations”. These features best explain both the bearing mode and network transformation; they also redefine the evolution of network functionality, and thus form the research focus of telecom regulators worldwide.

Although transformation has been a preoccupation of the past decade, what exactly is indicative of change? In concrete terms, it is the change in role of operators

and the services and functions they provide. Network repositioning is the foundation for this transformation, and the cornerstone on which operators are adjusting their business structures and models.

BT’s 21st Century Network (21CN) is a typical example of operator transformation, although its early development failed to meet expectations. Reflections on its transformation process and Google’s success guided it to reach an important conclusion in 2006. Despite having a network, coverage was limited to the U.K.; conversely, the network-less Google has users all over the world. Traditional telecom operators use physical networks while Internet players like Google and MVNOs depend on virtual networks. Therefore, both types of operators differ not only in operational regions but also in network intelligence.

Just as virtual connection may maximize intelligence, only network virtualization can thoroughly realize UA and ABC, and solve unified roaming/switching by ensuring service consistency among multiple clients, systems, modes, service providers, frequencies, and technologies.

The technical and regulatory foundation for triple-network convergence occurring in China is based on network virtualization technologies, such as virtual networking, access, bandwidth, roaming, and services; open access; frequency sharing; network neutrality; and virtual operations. Once transformed, networks will transcend single operators and spawn National Broadband. Thus, BT has resumed its 21CN project in the form of repositioning network functionality and virtualizing services.

Network intelligence

The fact that 90% of the traffic in the terabit era will be media will fundamentally change the legacy platform of network switching architecture, protocols,

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Win-Win / OCT 2010

network elements (NEs), control mechanisms, network management, resource allocation and deployment, flow detection and security, performance and efficiency and service perception. The six factors needed for broadband wireless connections – ubiquity, capacity, mobility, IP performance, business or profitability model, and cost – will greatly challenge the conventional cellular technology system.

With increasing network complexity, computing and computing-based NEs will be a major part of future networks where network computing will overshadow communications. Service proximity emphasizes computing capabilities while bit efficiency gains in the physical layer require massive computing power. The functional transformation of both heavy-weight IP and wireless IP is boosting network intelligence, which positions connection intelligence as the evolutionary precursor to supporting various client and service functions. Intelligent control and support for new business models will be the new network requirements.

The greatest network intelligence lies in understanding businesses and clients (or users). Besides providing control mechanisms and intelligence for UA and ABC, the physical network is a connection mechanism that can reflect business properties, resource allocation, and scheduling policies. Each is specific to user requirements so as to guarantee business interests and consumer value. For example, security-controlled location-based services (LBSs) can be provided for enterprises (network properties); guaranteed resource facilities can be allocated to M2M (business properties); transparent resource monitoring can be supplied to the public (behavior properties); and ubiquitous content capabilities can be given to users (content properties). These services are always available services and combine to encapsulate network intelligence.

Networks, NEs and subnets require different types of intelligence, but all seek to optimize QoE. Network

intelligence has allowed many operators to abandon simple broadband models such as the flat rate package. Intelligent networks will ultimately eliminate the scenario where 80% of applications reveal their location-limited nature during installation, before issuing a continue prompt. Can you choose not to continue? No – not if you need the services.

Any network can become “the world bus” when it has adequate bandwidth; is pervasive; provides precision services based on customer demand; features customer and context perception; and supports the CPS, IOT, and M2M.

A fantastic cloud space

E-book enthusiasts frequently mock traditional books, remarking on the content to space ratio compared with the

The six factors needed for broadband wireless connections – ubiquity, capacity, mobility, IP performance, business or profitability model, and cost – will

greatly challenge the conventional cellular technology system.

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lean e-readers. But people want more than e-books – they expect personalized Internet libraries, and thus e-readers to be configured as such. Even the Kindle and iPad libraries lack “long-tail” or niche collections, and others still fail to provide an Internet connection or an electronic bookstore, vastly reducing their functionality.

What is a cloud?

While cloud computing has become part of the modern lexicon, an actual cloud is rare. Fortunately, its status as a virtualization technology has popularized services such as the Google Search Cloud, and advertisement and social networking clouds. If we take cloud computing services as eco-friendly platforms that feature unified scheduling, optimized resource utilization, enhanced hardware, pervasive services, lower TCO, and virtual sharing, then operators will integrate cloud-based IaaS and PaaS into the storage, security, media, data, book, music and transaction centers that they are currently racing to build.

But several critical questions remain: which cloud is the rarest among current network operations? Which helps improve QoS? In addition to the network, the core assets of an operator include clients, service platforms, and, most importantly, users and user data.

Cloud computing in information consumption

In a world where the client, connection and cloud collaborate, abstract users are virtual customers, or digitized users. This concept is similar to that of a virtual client, as a client integrates users’ characteristics and consumer habits as user profiles.

The user DNA stores digital user profiles. It provides SSO, polymorphic authent icat ion, informat ion management and control on user clients (including all

machines and vehicles), networks/service platforms, consumer behavior characteristics, and PIM management.

The personal portal cloud for users – the App Folder Server/PPP – stores the widget pages (App Folders) of all users. Each user has a different folder and accesses the Internet exclusively from his/her own folder. This is an indispensable cloud function capable of analyzing and mining the information in the PPP folder to yield user preferences, habits, paths, knowledge structures, and client management. This mechanism makes the personal portable cloud an effective tool for marketing and CRM.

The app store is a very familiar cloud featuring current functionality platforms or specific clouds built by app category, including the future digital media entertainment (DME) stores. The app store is a prerequisite, given that a client without a supporting app store is aimless.

Since clouds are virtual and lack boundaries, it is surprising that all the cloud-computing platforms under construction are unable to interconnect, coexist and share resources with each other. This is not good news for operators, suggesting as it does that these clouds are defective.

Indeed, a cloud is needed that links all cloud platforms and forms the Digital Asset Marketplace (DAM). Network applications, services, data exchanges, access services, transactions or information sharing are digital asset or logical transactions. The DAM’s functions and cloud computing in the digital space are interconnected and virtualized. Offering operators an advantage over IT and media companies, these operable clouds must form both the foundation on which operators base their transformation to full-service operators, and also the basis on which subsequent clouds are built.

Practical clouds must have close ties with both clients and network services. With no clear supporting client and service background, a cloud will either “produce no rain” or simply cease to exist. When we talk about cloud

Practical clouds must have close ties with both clients and network services. With no clear supporting client and service background, a cloud will either

“produce no rain” or simply cease to exist.

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Perspective

Win-Win / OCT 2010

computing, therefore, we should discuss what it can solve rather than what it explains.

Infocom: where client, connection and cloud collaborate

Infocom and information consumption are the future, and clients represent customers and applications. Client functions depend on network and application platforms, as people consume not only network resources but also application, data, storage, security and computing resources. As many operator transformations illustrate, success predominantly derives from balancing the client, connection and cloud.

A glimpse into the essence of infocom can be gained from understanding the epic war between Google, Microsoft, and Apple. These three giants are industry pioneers with different backgrounds.

With its beginnings in cloud computing, Google later realized the importance of connections (or networks), and is beginning to deploy them strategically, with mobile Internet comprising its largest R&D investment area. Google has bid for the 700MHz spectrum, having already acquired Internet phone companies and built optical-fiber networks. It has also entered the client field with Android, seeking to harmoniously develop clients, connection and cloud computing.

Microsoft has always implemented a client computing strategy in one form or another, ranging from PC OS, desktop office and browser dominance to X-Box and Windows Mobile. Its cloud computing ambitions did not come to the fore until Bill Gates retired: many senior executives were replaced, and Azure was developed. Today, Microsoft claims to be a cloud-computing company that provides VASs for customers’ ecosystems.

Finally, Apple was an IT specialist before shifting from

media entertainment products to the communications (connection) sector via the iPhone, becoming an all-round player in the client-connection-cloud arena.

Dramatically, Microsoft and Google announced on the same day that they would include Tweet contents in search results from their respective search engines. Meanwhile many iPhone app developers have decided to write iPad-specific versions of their apps. These trends are shaped by the combination of clients and cloud computing.

Sufficient bandwidth is needed to enhance QoE. Recently, a few global IT giants raced to announce free Wi-Fi services, including Yahoo, which announced on June 10 that it would provide free Wi-Fi services at New York City’s Times Square for a year. On the same day, Google announced that it would do the same at 47 airports across the United States from June 10 through January 15, 2011. The Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) has persuaded operators to adopt Wi-Fi neutrality and roaming. 3GPP has incorporated the three-cloud structure for both R9 and R10. This wealth of progress is framed within a harmonious ecosystem where the client, connection, and cloud collaborate.

As information consumption continues to increase, the days before we achieve bandwidth saturation are numbered, according to Moore’s Law. Consumption in the forms of personal storage, security, environment monitoring and control, and communications will become dominant. As the Internet continues to spawn new applications, the Internet of Things and the Internet of Vehicles are not far behind. Harmony between smart clients, connection and cloud computing is the theme of today’s Smart Planet. Giving rise to a new industry chain and ecosystem, the combination of clients, connection and cloud may provide superior solutions and create new productivity and value – a direct result of the transformation of operators and the information communications market.

Infocom and information consumption are the future, and clients represent customers and applications. As many operator transformations illustrate, success

predominantly derives from balancing the client, connection and cloud.


34

Winners


Portugal TelecomFTTH delivers more than telecom

Underpinned by FTTH, Portugal Telecom (PT) continues to transform its business model to engender sustainable growth and maximum profits. According to Luis Alveirinho, Director of Network, Planning and Implementation for PT, FTTH delivers more than just telecommunications.

By Michael Huang Editor: Gao Xianrui [email protected]


ith a presence in 13 countries and deriving 55% of its income from the international market, PT obtained a customer base of 75 million as

of 1Q 2010. By focusing on Portugal, Brazil and Africa, PT has established its leadership, achieved sustainable growth, and ensured profitability through innovation and consistently high-grade operations.

To achieve these targets, PT planned a series of ambitious projects and strategies for the next years. PT intends to raise its customer base to 100 million; enlarge its international operations to generate two-thirds of income; lead the segments and countries in which PT is active; and elevate shareholder returns, financial results, and operational performance to the first quartile.

Why deploy FTTH?

There were several factors driving PT’s decision to deploy FTTH. Firstly, cable connects a very high percentage of the Portuguese households. According to a 2010 Q1 report from Portugal telecom regulation body ANACOM, the sum of all homes passed with cable is about 4 million in a total of 5.59 million, of which 1.9 million are cable and DTH TV subscribers.

Secondly, in 2007, fixed-line operators were adopting DSL broadband, yet DOCSIS 3.0 cable technology was still very strong in Portugal, with a total number of customers very close to the ones of DSL offers. Strong competition from cable operators lead to a significant loss of customers and revenue as cable operators started to offer

voice services together with TV and Internet access services. In response, PT moved into TV to supplement its access offerings. TV services are extremely popular in Portugal, and pay TV is basically a must-have when a customer selects a telecom service provider.

Undergoing three phases

To maximize its competitive edge, PT decided to provide IPTV services in 2007. In the pursuit of the right technology to support IPTV, PT went through three different phases – from DSL– to FTTN and finally FTTH.

In the first phase of implementing IPTV services, PT used DSL technology as it could be rapidly deployed over the shorter copper loops. As a result, PT enabled broadband in about 60% – 70% of its copper network, and could provide services to 8Mbps capable lines.

In a second stage, PT increased the coverage with some fiber to the node (FTTN) solutions. However, FTTN solutions require authorization to deploy street cabinets and involves significant operational costs, and keep the same type of home networking solutions in a DSL based IPTV environment (need of one set-top box per TV set connected), therefore with significant service provisioning costs and home networking CAPEX. According to PT, “we needed lower home networking complexity, a future proof network architecture and vendors capable of providing this, so after deploying DSL and FTTN solutions, we decided to go with GPON.”

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Luis Alveirinho Director of Network, Planning and Implementation for PT

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FTTH incurs lower OPEX than FTTN and can help reduce energy consumption. Also FTTH enhances QoE, and gives telcos the possibility to expand fiber connections for the enterprise market. On the residential market, GPON is a logical choice for next generation access networks, and GPON equipment can contribute to reduce O&M costs on the access network.

PT deployment also includes the RF overlay solution, and therefore analog TV, digital TV (IPTV), interactive services (such as VOD), VoIP and Internet access are included in the basic FTTH based 3-Play Meo Service offer. “A significant part of our FTTH customers basically want just one set-top box in their living room, so they adopted RF overlay on the other TV sets at home. This solution helped PT to control home networking CAPEX, reduce complexity, and cut installation time,” Mr. Alveirinho said.

Tackling technical challenges

Fiber is not new to telcos, but FTTH is the new network paradigm because it means to bring fiber to every individual home. On PT’s project, GPON technology was selected.

Labor and equipment costs vary large ly depending on building topography and the availability of ducts and space inside the buildings (vertical building network). Several challenges arise when connecting fiber to houses, namely because for PT, “FTTH means fiber outside of the customer’s door, not outside their building. This means we have to define the implementation scenarios very carefully,” said Mr. Alveirinho.

For smaller buildings with vertical ducts, PT uses individual fiber connections from the optical distribution box located at the building’s basement. For larger buildings with vertical ducts, riser cables and “floor box drop” are used to provide individual fiber connections. In some cases, when vertical ducts inside the building are not possible, connections have to be made from external distribution boxes located at the building’s facade.

In terms of home cabling, PT reuses as much as possible the existing networks inside the customer’s home (coax network and telephone network).

To connect one million houses in a year with fiber is quite a challenge; this includes identifying the areas to deploy FTTH, and then surveying and considering external network design and rollout. Quality control is also a crucial activity during the acceptance period, so PT thoroughly tested all the optical systems.

The operations support system (OSS) associated to inventory management and provisioning also played a central role in successfully deploying a fiber network, and therefore PT dedicated relevant part of the project to those areas. This was crucial in this process of changing the today’s copper access network to a next generation fiber access network.

Expanding service portfolio

With the fixed line voice business declining, TV services offer a new competitive edge for telcos, and most of them use a 3-screen approach (TV, PC, Mobile) and integrate both fixed and mobile services/capabilities in the IPTV service (mobile TV, integration of IPTV and mobile features,

We’re on the right track to implementing a sustainable and profitable business model. 24 months after launch, we achieved about 25% of market share on the pay-TV market, and we’re adding nearly 1% each month.

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remote control of STB via mobile phones, etc.).“We’re on the right track to implement a

sustainable and profitable business model. Some 24 months after launch, we achieved about 25% of market share on the pay-TV market, and we’re adding nearly 1% each month,” stated Mr. Alveirinho.

FTTH is the starting point for a new service portfolio that will fundamentally change today’s user experience. For PT, core telecom, TV and entertainment services are addressed as a combined strategy. Today PT is offering Meo IPTV with more than 100 channels and download speeds reaching 100Mbps. PT is also offering VOD services with over 2,000 films, and preparing Meo@PC, which is a PC based IPTV service.

For home services, PT has also developed special and advanced services that will allow customers to monitor, control home appliances and use video surveillance services.

The cost structure and technical capabilities of FTTH will enable the massive deployment of fiber solutions to the enterprise market, which will enhance communication services for SMEs. Moreover, fiber optics spread across urban areas will lower the CAPEX involved in migrating the mobile network to LTE by reducing costs on the backhaul.

“The benefits and capabilities of fiber will extend beyond telecom services for enterprises, and reach other fields such as e-education, e-health, and e-security. In 2009, PT implemented a large scale WAN network to connect over 6,000 schools in Portugal, enabling a huge modernization in this domain. A significant part of those schools are connected with fiber with speeds reaching 100Mbps,” Mr. Alveirinho mentioned.

Sharing lessons learned

“If customers can have access to higher broadband speeds, they will use it because new customer behavior and applications are already available.” PT noticed that from 2004 to 2009, the traffic generated by customers had risen five-fold; also every fiber customer generated three to four times more traffic than DSL customers.

During the implementation of its FTTH project, PT recognized some lessons that were of paramount importance for the success of the project. “One of the most important lessons that we learnt was that along with new technology introduction, such as FTTH, we had to re-write processes, adapt IT provisioning and inventory systems to the new fiber structure and re-train our technicians.”

Fiber networks also benefit from far lower repair and re-do rates than copper networks, generating better QoS, less complaints and less house visits for technicians.

On the other hand, PT thinks that FTTH network transformation requires the right choices on technology and partnerships: “We cannot approach the technology, network construction and R&D demands just on our own, and thus we had to look to several partners, such as Huawei, with whom we’ve cooperated on GPON since the testing and designing of the optical network that we began in 2006,” said Mr. Alveirinho.

PT promises its customers that fiber will enhance their telecommunications experience. As an incumbent with both fixed and mobile operations, PT will continue to utilize fiber rollout to foster for new and innovative services in a real converged world.

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Triple TBy Sukhum Chaolilitkul Editor: Michael [email protected]

standing out in crowded BangkokIn 2007, Thai telecom operator Triple T was a new entrant in the crowded Bangkok broadband market. In the small matter of three years, though, the operator has not only made up ground on its more established competitors, but also quickly developed a significant customer base.

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New opportunities

n Thailand, there are three fixed operators in the market: TOT, which provided services to all the country; True, which offered services only to Bangkok and its neighborhood; and

Triple T, serving major areas in the upcountry that were not covered by True and some minor area in Bangkok.

As one of the three fixed operators in the Thai telecom market, Triple T has long been known for its affordable and reliable services, boasting a 17% share in the fixed market and a brand that is greatly trusted among the public. Before 2007, Triple T offered its services in Thailand’s upcountry areas, barring the capital city of Bangkok, because of restrictions imposed by the regulations in place at that time.

Vast opportunity exists for the Thailand broadband market – the number of Internet cafés and home PCs is increasing, and people are demanding higher bandwidth for data, video and IPTV services. With broadband tariffs becoming more affordable, it is also expected that more people will upgrade their Internet access to broadband. Statistics show that after 2007, the fixed broadband growth rate has been more than 50% year on year. Yet by the end of 2009, Thailand’s fixed broadband penetration rate had

reached only 2.3%, accounting for around 1.46 million subscribers.

After 2007, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) of Thailand opened the telecom market and allowed operators to enter others’ operational areas by granting licenses to them. Triple T was the first licensed operator from NTC, which provided it the perfect opportunity to offer its services in lucrative areas like Bangkok. Compared with other areas in Thailand, Bangkok has more a developed economy and a higher income per capita, making it the best place to develop customers with high ARPU.

Even though it was tough being a new entrant in the Bangkok market, Triple T aimed for the top spot in the broadband services field. After three years of successful cooperation, Triple T once again joined hands with Huawei for broadband network deployment. To ensure smooth implementation of the project, a team was set up by the two parties at the start of the project.

Small box wins big market

Triple T’s priorities were to build a network with lower CAPEX, while constructing a green network with less carbon emissions. Triple T was also seeking a competitive edge in their services that would help beat the competition.

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Sukhum Chaolilitkul, CTO of Triple T

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With a population of more than 6 million, Bangkok is densely packed with people and buildings. As space in equipment rooms was taken up by equipment belonging to Triple T’s two peers, it was very difficult for the new entrant to find space to for its own equipment. Building new equipment rooms, or renting rooms from residents were two alternatives, but these came with heavy costs. Another alternative was locating equipment outside of buildings, but this would make power supply for the equipment an issue.

After in-depth analysis, the project team decided to develop a Mini IP DSLAM, which would be small and highly integrated – small enough to be hung from the pole along the street, and yet highly integrated to provide ADSL2+, VDSL2, G.SHDSL, GE/FE, and other services customers may require. This product was aimed at helping Triple T gain a competitive advantage.

Two months later, the MA5606T arrived in Bangkok with many tailor-made features, full service access interfaces, remote management and maintenance capabilities. Small in size and light in weight, the product enabled Triple T to use small concrete poles to hang the equipment. As Triple T did not have to rent rooms, this helped the operator reduce rental costs greatly. On the other hand, the equipment consumes less electricity and can be powered directly.

In 2007, when other operators were providing 2Mbps access to customers, Triple T decided to enhance the speed to 4Mbps, at 2Mbps prices. Triple T also began to offer triple-play services by integrating voice, Internet and TV services over a broadband network. With lower price and enhanced user experiences, Triple T began expanding its customer base rapidly.

Moving ahead

In 2008, Triple T selected a new model of Mini IP DSLAM – the MA5616 – for the second phase of the project. MA5616 has more outdoor features than the older model, such as lowered noise, reduced power consumption design, high tolerance to temperatures of up to 60°C, and AC power input with battery backup support. Furthermore, the Mini IP DSLAM is equipped with the outdoor cabinet, which provides it its own main distribution frame (MDF), optical distribution frame (ODF), power module, door sensor and temperature sensor.

In July 2009, Triple T launched a 10Mbps service for about 48.3 USD per month. In September, more value-added services were launched, including 3BB Movie Buffet (unlimited movie preview service), 3BB Spider Hotspot (Wi-Fi hotspot), and 3BB HDTV (high definition video services such as VOD). These services have helped Triple T increase both its revenue and its customer base.

Successful marketing strategies and increased purchasing power among locals have enabled Triple T expand its customer base in a fast pace. By the end of 2009, Triple T had 546,000 broadband subscribers. Thanks to the efforts of the company, not only do people in Bangkok now enjoy high speed broadband Internet, but also those in upcountry areas.

By the end of May 2010, Triple T had installed more than 8,000 Mini IP DSLAMs all over Thailand, offering broadband services to more than 600,000 customers. By 2011, the operator expects to see the number of its broadband customers reach the one million mark.

Successful marketing strategies and network solution have enabled Triple T expand its customer base in a fast pace. By the end of 2009, Triple T had 546,000 broadband subscribers.

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Deutsche Telekom

By Wang Man Editor: Li Xuefeng [email protected]

Deutsche Telekom has solved its 2G and 3G data service challenge by deploying the intelligent, high capacity packet core networks. The resulting boost to its European networks has helped the operator consolidate its leading position and build a strong base for future network evolution.

new packet core, new vibrancy

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European data pioneer

eutsche Telekom employs a precise bus iness s ty le that l everages i t s strong technical expertise to quickly commercialize nascent technologies. In

the mobile data service domain, Deutsche Telekom has become synonymous with cutting-edge solutions coupled with an early time to market (TTM).

In 2005, the operator introduced its innovative HSDPA mobile data service – web’n’walk. Attracting 5.9 million subscribers in just two years, web’n’walk emerged as one of the industry’s most successful new services at that time. Another milestone occurred in 2009 with the introduction of the iPhone and other smartphones. While these caused data usage to skyrocket, revenues for operators also increased sharply; for example, Deutsche Telekom recorded a staggering 46% growth in data revenues in 2009.

Underpinned by a wealth of experience and strong innovative capabilities, Deutsche Telekom has positioned mobile broadband services as a vital future growth point. However, opportunities are inevitably shadowed by challenges.

The challenges

Fast mobile broadband service takeup brings dramatic traffic surge, coupled with a growing number of laptop users who are keen to go Internet surfing via HSPA and expect a comparable quality of experience (QoE) to fixed broadband. As a result, the rapid growth in data traffic has swamped networks, which, in T-Mobile’s case, necessitated urgent network upgrades.

However, its separate legacy 2G and 3G networks

and constantly evolving wireless access platform greatly complicated the operator’s core network. Deutsche Telekom realized it needed a high capacity, advanced, and unified packet-based core network delivered by a new vendor capable of meeting the operator’s commercial and quality goals.

Bandwidth management was the second challenge facing the operator. Having established a dedicated group of mobile data users, Deutsche Telekom planned to differentiate its service offerings while retaining a high QoE. One way of effectively achieving this is to manage and allocate bandwidth based on the value and priority of different services.

In March 2007, the operator began evaluating mobile core solutions in five European countries based on the following network requirements: high capacity, full awareness of new services, flexible management of all traffic types, and a future capability to accommodate evolved packet core (EPC) solutions.

Evaluation revealed the need for customization based on T-Mobile’s unique market objectives and the accelerated TTM required by the rise of 3G. Deutsche Telekom recognized the Huawei intelligent packet core as a solution capable of completely replacing its separate legacy 2G and 3G data cores and meeting its strict market goals.

Intelligence lights the way

In December 2007, Deutsche Telekom and Huawei contractually ratified their partnership, and began finalizing the construction details for packet core networks in Germany, the U.K., the Netherlands, Austria, and the Czech Republic.

To accommodate explosive data traffic growth over the next five years and to facilitate precise user-

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The solution’s embedded service awareness and report analysis system has enabled Deutsche Telekom to precisely formulate market strategies, and accelerate the new service rollout. Deutsche Telekom now provides users with high QoE.


based service controls, the solution adopted a 30Gbps intelligent packet core and replaced the legacy mobile packet equipment with SGSN and GGSN.

The Huawei intelligent packet network is designed to increase network efficiency by service awareness and policy management, including service control and reports, bandwidth control, and content filtering. The solution maximizes network value by directing the bulk of network resources to high-value services, and differentiating service demands using specific and configurable control and charging systems.

The solution’s embedded service awareness and report analysis system has enabled Deutsche Telekom to precisely formulate market strategies, and accelerate the new service rollout. Deutsche Telekom now provides users with high QoE, which in turn has boosted its market share and engendered greater customer loyalty. Looking to the future, the customized Huawei solution can smoothly evolve to EPC, which will protect T-Mobile’s investment and ensure the solution’s longevity.

In May and June 2008, Huawei’s core network team successfully cut over T-Mobile’s Austrian and German networks, commercializing the new core in both countries. The resulting KPIs demonstrated an enhanced performance that verified the solution’s capabilities, and paved the way for replacing the networks in the U.K., the Netherlands, and the Czech Republic.

Expanded success

T-Mobile’s high-quality packet core networks have enabled it to confidently promote its new data service portfolio. In July 2008, the operator successfully rolled out the iPhone 3G in Germany, Austria, and the

Netherlands, which delighted its existing customers and attracted new high-value subscribers. Choosing the U.K. as its pilot market, Deutsche Telekom exclusively launched the first Android-based mobile handset, the T-Mobile G1, at the end of October 2008. It then released the high-end handset in Germany in February 2009, before entering other European countries soon after. The rise in sales of smartphones and laptops bundled with a mobile broadband Internet contract continues to attract mobile data subscribers, confirming its market value for operators.

With enhanced network quality, Deutsche Telekom has maintained its leading position in the mobile broadband service arena. The success of replacing its packet core networks in the initial five European countries led the operator to commit Huawei’s packet core solution to the other countries in which it is active.

In 2008, Deutsche Telekom chose Huawei to replace its packet cores in Hungary. In 2009, Deutsche Telekom joined hands with Huawei again to modernize its packet cores in Croatia and Slovakia successively. By the end of May 2010, T-Mobile mobile data service in eight European countries has been running on the updated packet core networks provided by Huawei, meeting future mobile broadband development needs.

The overall success of these projects has resulted in a long term, strategic mobile broadband partnership between Deutsche Telekom and Huawei, and has extended the operator’s market lead considerably.

Lutz Schade, Technology Director Europe of Deutsche Telekom, commented that, “We believe Huawei is a valuable partner, and we’re looking forward to developing a long term strategic partnership. By deploying the advanced solution offered by Huawei, Deutsche Telekom can provide users with the most advanced services, allowing us to achieve our strategic goals.”

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South AfricaBy Zhao Yuan Editor: Xu Peng [email protected]

A richer World Cup experienceThroughout the World Cup, South Africa’s communications networks ran smoothly in the face of traffic peaks and data floods, ensuring the success of the event and a richer World Cup experience.


s Spain’s Andres Iniesta buried his shot inside the Netherlands goal in Johannesburg on the night of July 11, all but guaranteeing his team its

first-ever World Cup, the clutch of Spanish fans watching the final at the Soccer City stadium erupted with joy. Among them was Fabian, a crazy football fan from Barcelona, who was sharing the action with his friends back home by sending them video clips of the best moments using his 3G-enabled mobile phone.

Accustomed to the highly-developed 3G networks of Europe, Fabian had been expecting the same while in South Africa for the World Cup. He found his 3G video service needs met by Vodacom, which he felt was “pretty cool!”. And it was not just Vodacom, but all South African operators that stepped up and delivered when it was needed the most – during the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Vodacom copes with traffic peak with ease

As the most developed African country with a population of 50 million, South Africa has the best mobile network coverage in the continent. In 2009, mobile communications penetration in

South Africa exceeded 100%.Proud of its tradition of sponsoring sporting

events, Vodacom was keen to ensure that its networks would satisfactorily cover the venues for the 2010 South Africa FIFA World Cup. The Soccer City Stadium, the largest football venue in Africa with space for 97,400 spectators, hosted both the opening and final games. Built some 20 years ago, it has since been a pride for the South African people witnessing a number of historic moments: Mandela made his first public speech here after his release from prison in 1990; South Africa won the Africa Cup of Nations football tournament here in 1996.

On June 11, 2010, the opening game of the FIFA World Cup kicked off at Soccer City with the whole world watching. During the game, Huawei’s base stations surrounding the stadium became incredibly busy coping with network traffic surges.

Vodacom’s 2G and 3G networks stood the test of traffic peaks and data floods, delivering an excellent performance. At the Soccer City Stadium, even though the traffic jumped from 210 Erlang on June 11 to 300 Erlang on July 11, the network performance remained stable all along. The number of calls at one point soared to 40,000 during the game, but the call setup success rate (CSSR) remained at an impressive 98%. The upload and download traffic per station per hour reached 5Gbps

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and 9Gbps respectively.After the event, Shameel Joosub, Managing

Director of Vodacom South Africa, sent a special thank-you letter to Huawei, which read: “I would like to express my sincere gratitude to you and all of your teams for the exceptional work done during the World Cup. The network around the country for each of the games was stable and reliable and I know that a lot of hard work and long hours went into this project.”

MTN network is fault-free

MTN (Mobile Telephone Network) Group is one of the largest multinational mobile operators in Africa. Its local operating company in South Africa has a subscriber base of over 17 million, and ranks among the best in Africa in terms of both network proficiency and customer satisfaction. According to the latest data released by Lightspeed Research, 82.7% of football fans followed the World Cup via the Internet. According to Twitter, the number of messages sent by users relating to the World Cup reached 3,283 per second. South African mobile operators found themselves bearing the brunt of high traffic volumes, and, at times carrying traffic multiple times larger than usual during the World Cup fever. MTN South Africa, the second largest operator in South Africa found that after a goal at the Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane, its network traffic soared by 100% within one minute.

Since 2008, MTN has been working and

cooperating with Huawei to work toward upgrading its existing networks. The two companies, adopting the industry-leading SingleRAN solution, jointly deployed a UMTS 900MHz network to achieve the 2G/3G dual mode, reduce OPEX, and support smooth evolution to 3G for investment protection. Jointly they also conducted the first test for GSM & UMTS 900M refarming in South Africa.

To meet subscriber needs for high-speed data broadband during the World Cup, MTN rolled out data services at HSDPA 14.4Mbps and HSPA 21Mbps. Its network not only stood the test of the huge volume of 2G voice traffic, but delivered a stable and reliable performance when it came to high-speed 3G data communications. During the four games at the Peter Mokaba Stadium, in spite of challenges such as a signaling storm from 3G smartphones, traffic surges in some hotspots, and apparent traffic bursts, the network ran in a stable manner and performed reliably. The network was fault-free, with satisfactory KPIs (such as the CSSR, call drop rate, and traffic capacity) attained in all the hotspots.

Network safeguard

The FIFA World Cup lasted from June 11 to July 11, 2010. From the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean, from the Cape of Good Hope to the Kalahari Basin, Huawei went all out to help local operators by guaranteeing communications services in nine cities, 10 stadiums, 12 fan parks, one media

In spite of challenges such as a signaling storm from 3G smartphones, traffic surges in some hotspots, and apparent traffic bursts, the network ran in a stable manner and performed reliably.


World Cup South Africa lasted from June 11 to July 11, 2010. Huawei went all out to help local operators by guaranteeing communications services in nine cities, 10 stadiums, 12 fan parks, one media center, and 64 games in a comprehensive fashion.

center, and 64 games in a comprehensive fashion.For th i s spor t ing event , Huawei s e t up

communications service guarantee teams for mainstream operators in South Africa, such as Vodacom, MTN, Telkom, and Cell C as early as January 2010. The guarantee covered the 2G/3G equipment of Vodacom and MTN, as well as the core network products Huawei supplied to Cell C, and the UA5000 (integrated access equipment) to Telkom for use in the World Cup Media Center.

By following a four-level guarantee mechanism (on-site, war room, representative office and remote HQ support), the teams spent four months getting prepared. During this period, in addition to conducting drills and developing detailed contingency plans and plans for spare parts and security improvement, Huawei carried out in-depth network assessments and optimization, and organized inspections for the operator equipment. In the six warm-up games taking place at the World Cup stadiums across South Africa from late May to

early June, Huawei worked with the operators to conduct on-site drills specific to possible scenarios at the World Cup so that risks and technical issues could be nipped at the bud.

Throughout the World Cup, the communications networks ran smoothly in the face of traffic peaks and data floods ensuring the success of the event. The one-month-long football feast threw up bittersweet moments: the Dutch making their third finals appearance but leaving with empty-handed; the Spanish squad walking away with their first title following a sensational game; Paul the Octopus showing off its incredible ability in correctly predicting the outcomes of eight games in a row. Best of all, it allowed Africa, a blend of ancient and modern, to beautifully show its charm to the world through this World Cup in spite of the many challenges it faced, proving itself with enormous progress in mobile communications that let the world better enjoy the unforgettable moments of the football fiesta.

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Win-Win / OCT 2010

By Suo Weiwei & Shen Hong Editor: Liu Zhonglin [email protected]

HSBB network O&M made efficient and simpleMalaysia’s largest telecom company has gained a competitive edge in the operation and maintenance (O&M) of its High Speed Broadband (HSBB) network.

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HSBB network O&M challenges

n increasing number of developing countries have stepped up fiber-optic network deployment to build better ICT infrastructure and st imulate

economic development. In 2004, the Malaysian government launched the National Broadband Initiative (NBI) that will bring broadband to the whole nation.

HSBB is a flagship project of the NBI, and is expected to help boost the country’s competitiveness and enable citizens and businesses to tap into the opportunities in the social and economic spheres. With a 95% market share, Telekom Malaysia (TM), the country’s largest fixed-line operator, was selected by the government to build the HSBB network for its strong overall competence.

The large-scale HSBB network deployment has a tight schedule – By 2012, TM is expected to provide 10Mbps to 1Gbps broadband access to 2.2 million customers. The HSBB network is also expected to fully re-use the existing resources, while assuring smooth future evolution and convergence of the fixed and mobile networks.

The HSBB poses unprecedented challenges for O&M. The HSBB will boast more than 5,000 virtual private networks (VPNs) and the IP service configuration is expected to be complex – For example, more than 20 command lines are required to configure a typical virtual private LAN service (VPLS). In this context, the previous O&M, based on command-line interface (CLI), could hardly meet the requirements.

To solve this problem, TM needed an O&M solution that could help end-to-end (E2E) service provisioning and network monitoring; the solution also needed to be integrated with TM’s existing operation support system (OSS).

Efficient and simple O&MTo ensure efficient operation and maintenance

(O&M), the HSBB network requires a comprehensive NMS to satisfy the strict requirements related to service provisioning, fault location, and performance monitoring. After comprehensive evaluation of the technologies and solutions of several vendors, TM adopted Huawei’s U2000 NMS, which provides convergent management and visualized O&M, resulting in enhanced O&M efficiency. This helps TM in a number of ways.

Simplified service provisioning

For complex IP services, the NMS supports various templates to help simplify parameter configuration. The NMS also delivers SDH-like operations, and parameters can be configured using simple clicks.

Compared with CLI-based operations, the NMS can help enhance the efficiency by up to 85% – as a three-step operation is enough to deliver a complex IP service. In addition, the NMS can display the relationship between service channels, providing engineers a clear view of the service structure within the IP network and ensuring visualized network O&M.

Efficient troubleshooting

Generating more than 1,000 alarms each day, the HSBB network required a mechanism to rapidly analyze the alarms and locate the faults. For example, a fiber disconnection will throw up the “link down” alarm and other alarms like “OSPF down” on the IP layer, and yet only the “link down” alarm is helpful for troubleshooting.

To solve this problem, the NMS focuses on the key alarms by combining, suppressing, and filtering other inessential alarms. As a result, the number of daily alarms reported is reduced to 200, engineers can focus on effective alarm information, and O&M efficiency can be enhanced by up to 80%.

Visualized performance monitoring

The NMS can collect performance data and monitor the equipment, network, and services. Network performance status is displayed correctly and in a timely manner based on KPI statistics and trend analysis. Supporting data collection of up to 500,000 tasks, the NMS meets the O&M requirements of the HSBB network that boasts a large number of services.

Smooth integration with OSSs

The U2000 NMS i s among the f i r s t to commercialize the northbound interfaces (NBIs) based on MTOSI Release 2.0. The NMS can also be integrated with Cobra, SNMP, FTP systems with standard NBIs. In the HSBB network, TM has deployed OSS systems like InfoVista and HP View. Utilizing Huawei’s fast delivery capabilities and rich experience in OSS integration, TM has integrated U2000 with the legacy OSS systems ahead of schedule and successfully put into commercial use.

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China Telecom

By Wu Juan Editor: Xue Hua [email protected]

lights the way with fiberThe power of China Telecom’s Fiber In Copper Out transformation strategy is derived from future-proof and high-quality optical network planning; simple, efficient service provisioning; rapid and precise failure diagnosis; and a fiber optic access strategy that has positioned the operator as a world leader in the field.

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hina Telecom is one of the three major Chinese operators, and the dominant force in wired broadband services. With 58 million subscribers as of the

first half of 2010, the operator services half of China’s wired broadband users.

China Telecom initiated its Fiber In Copper Out strategy in 2007. By shortening legacy copper wires and deploying fiber to the neighborhood (FTTN), fiber to the building (FTTB), and fiber to the home (FTTH), the operator raised access bandwidth from 2 – 4Mbps to 10 – 20Mbps. The increased bandwidth boosted QoE for wired broadband users and reinforced the operator’s leadership in the wired broadband arena.

Wei Leping, China Telecom’s CTO in 2007, spelt out the company’s FTTx strategy for that time: “Our early FTTx development focused on FTTN and FTTB. FTTH was only deployed in high-end communities and business areas, and cost was the most important factor. We were hoping the price of FTTH would drop low enough to propel the entire FTTH chain forward.”

China Telecom began its large-scale foray into FTTH in 2010. It increased access bandwidth to 50Mbps in some areas, which raised QoE and enabled premium services such as two HD inputs, interactive gaming, and HD VOD. This early start allowed the operator to sharpen its competitive edge at a crucial time as Internet, telecom and TV networks become increasingly integrated. To date, the capacity of China Telecom’s completed FTTx networks exceeds 20 million lines, 15 million of which are already in use. With this under its belt, China Telecom can justifiably claim the crown of China’s leader in FTTx engineering.

China Telecom’s fiber strategy not only raises

domestic corporate capabilities, but also denotes a long term and systematic project comprising overall network planning, fiber deployment, equipment selection and deployment, and OAM. The ultimate goal of the strategy is to maximize bandwidth and optimize service experience.

As a large-scale FTTx pioneer in China, China Telecom had no comparable experience to draw upon domestically, and so looked abroad for inspiration. This, coupled with its own diverse experience and legacy of innovation, culminated in the unique Fiber In Copper Out model, which has since spawned notable achievements for the operator in optical access network planning, engineering execution, operation management, and network failure management.

Future-oriented optical network planning

China Telecom’s FTTx requires a completely different network engineering approach compared to copper wires. In particular, the ODN located between the OLT and the ONU is formidably complex, accounting for between 50% and 60% of total FTTx investment. The heartbeat of the network, the ODN directly affects outlay, system performance, reliability, and scalability.

ODN deployment is part of a long term holistic plan and is as such executed gradually to accommodate current and future networking needs. To protect its investment, China Telecom has prioritized long term stability by planning to deploy the feeder optical cables, distribution optical cables, and drop cables within the ODN in one phase, while reserving room for future expansion. This aims to ensure that the network

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The main problem China Telecom encountered during early FTTx construction was that service provisioning and information transfer had to be completed manually, and it took 3 - 7 days to move from service signup to service provisioning.

topology can remain unchanged for 30 years, and seamlessly evolve to NG PON.

Given the complex application and maintenance environments, ODN components must be of very high quality so as to guarantee their long term performance. China Telecom began researching and then piloting high quality ODN engineering schemes in 2009, frequently discussing the specifics with Huawei and other equipment vendors, and studying overseas FTTx ODN planning and construction. The operator subsequently planned its network capacity based on expected user size, before dispatching specialist engineering teams to different cities. They were tasked with evaluating pipelines; planning the deployment of feeder optical cables and distribution optical cables; calculating optical cable quantities; and locating the precise positions of optical joints, fiber access terminals (FATs), and optical splitters. The teams also designed different last-mile drop cable engineering models.

China Telecom Xi’an has collected a wealth of effective ODN planning modes from its FTTx deployment experiences. According to Li Enhong, Senior Engineer in the subsidiary’s Planning and Construction department, “The optical paths of FTTx must be planned early on, cover future needs, and be in sync with network-wide development. FTTx construction can only be smooth when optical path resources are sufficient. Specifically, the MAN focuses on bandwidth, the OLT on layout, the ONU on access capability, and optical fibers on resource sufficiency.”

In early 2010, China Telecom showcased its FTTx ODN in Fujian, Zhejiang, and Shanghai. FTTx deployment there progressed quickly, deriving overall and drop cable deployment specifications from pipeline engineering status,

investigations, and cumulative experience. These specifications cover all types of construction scenarios, including medium-high buildings, high-rises, towers, and various types of housing. They also serve as a valuable reference resource for future large-scale FTTx deployment projects across the country, for which China Telecom has already established specialist ODN engineering teams.

Easy and efficient service provisioning

The main problem China Telecom encountered during early FTTx construction was that service provisioning and information transfer had to be completed manually, and it took between three and seven days to move from service signup to service provisioning. Inputting data by hand was complex, and resulted in high error rates and an unaffordable rework rate of 30%. The lack of automation meant that O&M personnel were stretched, customer complaints soared, and construction was deferred.

Huawei had previously collaborated with China Telecom in access network deployment, and the two resumed their partnership in 2008 to formulate a streamlined, integrated procedure for automated FTTx service provisioning. The resulting solution required the modification of just five commands, and covered various FTTx models, including FTTC, FTTB, and FTTH. It also integrated the service provisioning procedure of copper wire access and enabled a uniform interface for provisioning DSL, FTTB, and FTTH services. Service provisioning and configurations were automated and rapid, allowing DSL O&M personnel to complete operations without professional training. The service provisioning cycle was shortened to


China Telecom Shanghai can process a subscriber’s FTTH service request from installation and indoor routing to service provisioning within just three days, with the success rate of automated service activation now hitting 90%.

between one and two days, efficiency was higher, and error rates and customer complaints were slashed.

China Telecom Shanghai, for example, can now process a subscriber’s FTTH service request from installation and indoor routing to service provisioning within just three days, with the success rate of automated service activation now hitting 90%. Zhang Jun, Deputy Chief Engineer for China Telecom Shanghai, says: “Two employees can deploy drop cables for up to five households in one day.” With such high efficiency, the number of the subsidiary’s FTTx subscribers rose to 35,000 in just two months, between May and July 2010.

By the first half of 2010, Huawei had partnered with China Telecom in Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Fujian, and Guangdong to construct integrated, tailored and automated fiber and copper service provisioning systems that automate current O&M and pave the way for large-scale future FTTx deployment.

Fast and accurate failure diagnosis

By the first half of 2010, China Telecom had attracted 15 million FTTx users. As more optical fibers are deployed, the number of users will grow quickly. Given this, locating failure points in a huge optical fiber network is intrinsic to effective management.

In a large-scale FTTx scenario, the tree structure of a PON drives down network deployment costs but entails complex O&M. Compared with a conventional point-to-point network, locating point failures in an FTTx system is extremely difficult due to the huge size of optical fibers and the ODN, which greatly reduces troubleshooting efficiency. China Telecom had to set up fiber resource and failure diagnosis management

systems for the feeder and distribution optical cables and drop cables, and precisely locate failure points.

Huawei is currently working with China Telecom’s Shenzhen and Fujian subsidiaries to deploy N2510 systems. The N2510 is an integrated failure diagnostic system applicable to both copper and fiber access networks; it locates copper wire failures in last mile FTTB, and manages and identifies faults in the ODN. It immediately distinguishes between and identifies failures in a feeder or distribution optical cable, a terminal, or a terminal’s power supply. An engineer with China Telecom Shenzhen says: “We didn’t realize how smart the N2510 system was in diagnosing and locating failures until we actually used it. The reporting function on the fulfillment rate, resynchronization rate, and error bit rate is extremely useful and substantially reduces our maintenance workload.”

Combined with the Optical Time Domain Reflectometer (OTDR), the N2510 pinpoints a failure within 10 meters, creating a favorable environment for field engineering personnel to locate and rectify failures efficiently, quickly, and accurately. The N2510 increases efficiency by above 50%, and curtails troubleshooting OPEX by between 20% and 30%.

Building on its future-proof, automated, and failure-proof FTTx achievements, China Telecom is now actively exploring NG PON and next generation IPv6 Internet. It has already successfully constructed the world’s first pilot 10G Ethernet Passive Optical Network (EPON) in Xi’an; pioneered FTTH+IPv6 in the media center of the Shanghai World Expo; and incorporated the Fiber In Copper Out strategy into IPv6 construction in Changsha, Hunan. These projects and successes signify that China Telecom has carved a leading position thanks to its innovative fiber strategy and flawless planning.

Winners


China Telecom

By Cui Feng Editor: Xue Hua [email protected]

Guangdong grasping the IPTV opportunity

In 2009, China Telecom Guangdong saw rapid growth of its IPTV services, as it added an average of 40,000 subscribers each month. By the second quarter of 2010, the number of its IPTV subscribers has reached one million, reflecting a year-on-year growth rate of 250 percent.


ccording to re search f i rm Fros t & Sul l ivan, IPTV has a t t racted 20 million subscribers worldwide since its launch in 1999, and the

number is expected to reach 55 million in 2012, of which China will contribute 8 million. With the convergence of Internet, broadcasting and telecommunication networks in China, IPTV has vast potential for growth. China Telecom has managed to cash in on this trend, and its subsidiary China Telecom Guangdong has become a pioneer in the IPTV arena.

Things started slowly, though. China Telecom Guangdong first began offering IPTV in 2006, but acquired only 40,000 subscribers in the first year. The subscriber number was lower than expected, and only 40 percent of the system capacity was used.

Major reasons for the poor reception included: slow growth in the Chinese IPTV market that was limited by government policies; a lack of coordination between the three vendors providing equipment for the IPTV platform, leading to a poor-quality user experience, including unclear TV images; and the limited number of services provided by the IPTV platform, which made it hard to entice subscribers.

To expand the IPTV market and speed up subscriber acquisition, China Telecom Guangdong decided to upgrade its IPTV platform and enhance network performance, while delivering richer services and applications to subscribers.

Integrating the IPTV platform

In 2008, the Chinese government began to relax regulations on IPTV services. China Telecom Guangdong grasped the opportunity and started its IPTV platform upgrade. Instead of acquiring equipment from different vendors, the operator selected Huawei as the exclusive supplier to integrate the platform, and the two worked together to speed up the IPTV service development.

Based on a detailed evaluation of the IPTV platform, experts from both China Telecom Guangdong and Huawei worked to optimize network performance and service provisioning. Functions like video quality monitoring, quick

channel switching, intelligent inspection and retransmission of lost packets were added. As a result, user experience was enhanced and the operator could also monitor the service quality and perform fast troubleshooting. All these provided a solid basis for mass IPTV development.

To ensure the smooth coordination between equipment from different vendors, China Telecom Guangdong standardized its IPTV platform for open access. This helped the operator differentiate its service offerings while shortening the time-to-market of services.

China Telecom Guangdong also leveraged Huawei’s rich experience in network planning and optimization, and integrated its legacy bearer network with the IPTV platform. With an end-to-end operation support system (OSS), China Telecom Guangdong enhanced user experience and operating efficiency as well. The present network has a clear structure and can deliver services efficiently, helping the operator reduce its workload on IPTV upgrades and maintenance.

China Telecom Guangdong succeeded in growing its subscriber base rapidly, but the unreliable supply of set-top boxes (STBs) had become a bottleneck for the operator – it needed sufficient STBs for subscriber growth, while keeping a reasonable inventory level. In response, Huawei supplied the operator its homemade STBs and began estimating the required set-top boxes on a weekly basis, helping China Telecom Guangdong keep pace with market development.

Enriching services and applications

Besides constructing an IPTV platform, China Telecom Guangdong is also striving to strengthen the IPTV ecosystem. By cooperating with domestic content providers, the operator has enriched its IPTV content and services, which in turn has helped it acquire more customers. China Telecom Guangdong now provides more than 65 TV channels, one electronic program guide (EPG), and more than a dozen special channels. In addition, the operator also boasts more than 10,000 hours of

A

Winners


IPTV has brought new services and business models to China Telecom Guangdong, prompting the operator to build a full-service platform and transform itself from a telecom service provider to an integrated information service provider.

VOD content and 3 × 24 hours of TV on Demand (TVOD) content, while offering two hours of time-shifted TV service.

Market promotion has kept pace with network optimization. Led by China Telecom Guangdong, a joint project team was set up, which pooled together people from IT, marketing, sales and customer service, together with experts from Shanghai Media Group (SMG) and Huawei. The team has ensured smooth rollout of the project through regular communication that includes weekly/quarterly meetings and reports, which enable it to solve pending problems and deliver services properly and in a timely manner.

To better understand user habits, China Telecom Guangdong began conducting street interviews, sending out questionnaires to its IPTV customers, and extracting user data from the existing IPTV platform. The project team then tailored different packages based on the research results, and added more services to the existing packages. The team also launched special IPTV services for the rural and enterprise market, including some localized applications like delivery from restaurants, making doctors’ appointments and inquiries into traffic violations. The project team also researched future IPTV services, like three-screen convergence, video-surveillance convergence, home services, and more.

As part of the effort, Huawei added specialists from R&D, maintenance, business consulting, branding, and SP management to the project team. Besides contributing to setting the strategy and project implementation, the Huawei specialists also partnered with experts from China Telecom Guangdong to develop IPTV services; for example,

visiting communities, hotels and enterprises, doing live demonstrations, and answering questions.

Booming IPTV service

Since 2009, IPTV services have been thriving in China, with an increasing number of people and enterprises attracted to it. Adding an average of 40,000 subscribers every month, China Telecom Guangdong saw its IPTV subscriber base reach one million by the second quarter of 2010, a year-on-year growth rate of 250 percent. More than 83 percent of IPTV connections are active, and customers access IPTV services more than nine times weekly, spending an average of 5.52 hours watching IPTV every day.

China Telecom Guangdong named Huawei its “Outstanding Partner”, because of the latter’s contributions to technology and market promotion, stating that “Huawei gives us great support in the fields of quality enhancement, service operations, and customer development.”

IPTV has brought new services and business models to China Telecom Guangdong, prompting the operator to build a full-service platform and transform itself from a telecom service provider to an integrated information service provider. Closely interacting with customers, the IPTV platform is well recognized for its rich service offerings, including some convergence services. As a leader in the IPTV field, China Telecom Guangdong is poised to gain fruitful results in fields including three-screen convergence, video-surveillance convergence and more.

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