Broadband Bulletin Issue 4 - February
2006
Wales Largely Unaffected by Satellite Service Shutdown
IT website, Ping Wales, has reported that Wales was largely
unscathed by the sudden termination of services by Satellite ISP
Aramiska:
"Most Welsh rural areas haven't been affected by the shutdown
- most of them migrated to ADSL a while ago, suggesting that the
increasing number of enabled exchanges has opened up more options
in those remote areas."
Broadband School
Pack
Welsh Assembly Government in association with National Grid
for Learning - Wales has distributed a pack to approximately 1,500
schools across Wales comprising lesson plans, information for
teachers and ICT co-ordinators and parents booklets.
Broadband Wales Research
The Welsh Assembly Government's Broadband Wales Unit has
carried out a survey to ascertain the trends in computer usage and
broadband take-up amongst consumers across Wales. It has been
conducted by ORC International, a reputable UK based research
agency.
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Openreach Website Launched
BT's new business, created to manage its fixed-line network,
has launched a website with further details of the services it
provides. Information is currently being migrated from the BT
Wholesale website. Vans are also being re-branded with
the Openreach logo.
Openreach have appointed John Thornhill as director with
responsibility for operations in Wales.
Welsh Shoppers Go Online
Welsh consumers are moving from the high street to the
information super highway according to a survey of more than one
thousand broadband users by YouGov on behalf of the Welsh Assembly
Government.
Over half estimated that they had saved themselves over 8
hours by doing their Christmas shopping online, and over 80 percent
claim to have saved money by shopping online. Almost a third
claim to have saved up to 15 percent on purchases.
Bulldog to launch 20Mbps service
Local loop unbundler (LLU) Bulldog is set to launch a 20Mbps
broadband service from Spring 2006, once trials are complete.
Broadband Initiatives
Northern Ireland's Department of Enterprise,
Trade and Investment has announced that broadband is now available
to every household, business, school and library in the region
following £10m of government investment.
Regional Development Agency Yorkshire Forward has
announced that every telephone exchange in the Yorkshire and the
Humber region has now been ADSL enabled by BT following funding
from the RDA and European Regional Development Funding.
Satellite and wireless base stations are to be installed in 17
locations across the West Midlands to bring broadband to
current black-spots. The contract for this work has been
awarded to Avanti using grant funding from Advantage West
Midlands.
The Shoreditch Trust is claiming its broadband project
will create Europe's largest broadband network and generate
hundreds of jobs and new businesses. The Shoreditch Digital
Bridge is funded primarily by the trust, and will provide speeds of
up to 5Mbps to over 20,000 residents and 1,000 businesses.
The service will be operated by Video Networks Ltd who provide
broadband and IPTV in London under the Homechoice brand.
Ofcom has published its second report on BT's progress in
implementing the undertakings accepted by Ofcom pursuant to the
Enterprise Act 2002.
Consultations
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has launched a
consultation on proposals to introduce fixed penalty fines for
certain offences committed under the Wireless Telegraphy Act
1949. A fixed penalty of £100 is proposed. The
proposals include the most common transgressions, involving use of
non-broadcast transmitter equipment -operating such transmitters
without a licence or outside the conditions that allow exemption
from the need for a licence.
Closes – 31 March 2006
Ofcom has published proposals to extend the deadline for
Communications Providers to publish comparable Quality of Service
(QoS) information covering: supply times; fault rates and fault
repair times; billing complaints; and complaint resolution
times.
Closes – 28 February 2006.
Digital Libraries, i2010
Closes – 20 January 2006
Ofcom's Welsh Language Scheme
Closes – 22 March 2006
Ofcom proposed Annual Plan for 2006/7 Closes – 10 February
2006
New media and the creative industries
Culture, Media and Sport Committee
Closes – 28 February 2006
Digital Dividend Review (DDR), Ofcom
Closes – 25 January 2006
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NTL Increase Virgin Mobile Offer
Cable operator NTL looks set to make a second takeover offer
for virtual mobile operator Virgin Mobile which could create a
merged company providing mobile, TV, landline and broadband
services under the Virgin brand.
Following reports in Broadband Bulletin last month about
Virgin rejecting an initial offer, talks have continued between the
two companies and an increased offer of £961 million is now
expected.
NTL and Telewest Merger Cleared
The Office for Fair Trading (OFT) has decided that the
proposed merger of NTL and Telewest will not be referred to the
Competition Commission, paving the way for the deal to be completed
as planned in the first quarter of 2006.
The OFT commented: "Telewest and NTL are now the only two
cable operators but, as their local networks do not overlap, they
do not compete in providing services over cable and the potential
for them to do so is minimal. Where they do overlap (in wholesale
telecommunications services and narrowband internet) outside their
local cable networks they will still face a number of other
significant competitors."
Sky by Broadband or Mobile
Sky have announced two new services for viewers using
broadband and mobiles.
Sky by Broadband enables subscribers to download movies and
watch sports highlights on a PC. The service requires a 1Mbps
connection. Sky by Mobile offers sports, news and
entertainments on mobile phones. This service uses GPRS or
3G.
BSkyB and Easynet Merger Near
The OFT has cleared the acquisition of broadband company
Easynet by satellite broadcaster BSkyB, which will enable the
company to provide triple-play services (landline, TV and
broadband) under the Sky brand.
The OFT commented: "Competition between Sky and Easynet is
currently insignificant but third parties have raised concerns
about the potential for Sky blocking the supply of pay-TV content
to its emerging DSL rivals given its market power in premium
content provision and its significant buyer power in non-premium
content. However, Sky already has the potential to do this
and the merger does not materially alter its incentives in this
area."
Sky has meanwhile declared its offer for Easynet as
unconditional, enabling the deal to proceed. Sky has recently
passed its target of 8 million subscribers and is aiming for 10
million by 2010.
Tesco launches VOIP
Tesco will be working with Freshtel to launch a VOIP
service. Tesco.com recently announced that over 1 million
internet orders were delivered in the 4 weeks before Christmas and
Tesco Mobile now has over 1 million customers.
Homechoice For Sale?
IPTV provider Homechoice, which has 35,000 subscribers in and
around London, may be up for sale according to reports in the
Financial Times and MediaWeek.
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Carphone Warehouse Broadband
The Carphone Warehouse has exchanged contracts with Centrica
Plc to acquire telecoms and broadband provider Onetel. Onetel
has 60,000 broadband customers, partly as a consequence of its
purchase of ISP Rednet in April 2005. Onetel signed a deal in July
2005 to use the Easynet broadband network.
Onetel's domestic customers are likely to be moved to the
TeleTalk brand while SME customers are likely to be moved to the
Opal brand. Centrica will continue to recruit customers on
behalf of Carphone Warehouse through its British Gas
operations.
Carphone Warehouse has also announced it has completed the
purchase of Tele2 which provides telecoms services in UK and
Ireland.
In its third quarter trading announcement on 12 January 2006,
Carphone Warehouse claim they have now achieved a 10% market share
of UK residential phone lines and describe this as: "a substantial
platform of profitable voice customers from which to launch our
drive into the broadband market this year. At the same time we
continue to make preparations for our major investment in local
loop unbundling in the UK as we seek to unbundle up to 1,000
exchanges over the next three years." The company's broadband
strategy will be announced in March 2006.
Skype overtaken by ISPs
Scandvine, a broadband network monitoring company, claims
Skype has been overtaken by ISPs offering internet telephony as
part of broadband packages – supplying 45 percent of VOIP minutes
down from 90 percent a year ago.
SubHub Comes to Wales
A company which provides subscription websites on a range of
subjects is moving from Hereford to Wales. SubHub will move
soon into the @Wales incubator centre at Saint Line House in Mount
Stuart Square, where it expects to employ 20 staff.
Saint Line House is a custom-converted building based in
Cardiff Bay. A flythrough video is available on the @Wales
website.
@Wales provides business development support for innovative,
high growth early stage businesses; and is a part of the incubation
chain strategy in Wales to accelerate the growth of SMEs.
Welsh SME Broadband Growth
Figures released by the eCommerce Innovation Centre show that
58 percent of Internet-enabled Welsh Small Medium Enterprises
(SMEs) now use broadband, up from 25 percent a year ago.
The State of the Nation report also showed that Monmouthshire
and Newport had the greatest proportion of online SMEs followed by
Swansea, Bridgend and Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan.
The agriculture sector had just 22 percent of SMEs online, the
lowest of all sectors, compared with the professional services
sector which boasts 92 percent online.
Local Directgov Launched
Local e-Gov is a new website providing local authorities with
information about the local e-Government programme.
The site aims to help transform public services.
BT IPTV Content Deals
BT have signed deals with HIT Entertainment (Bob the Builder,
Pingu, Thomas the Tank Engine), Nelvana (Beyblade) and the National
Geographic Channel ready for the launch of its IPTV service in
Autumn 2006.
www.theregister.co.uk
EU Proposals to Regulate Content 'unworkable'
The Minister for Creative Industries, spoke about the proposed
changes to the TV Without Frontiers Directive at a Foreign Policy
Centre event.
James Purnell MP explained that the government had serious
concerns about extending legislation to new and existing
platforms. However, he did agree with some aspects of the
directive.
Digital Local Content
Ofcom have published research in to the future prospects of
digital local content including news, community affairs, democratic
participation, training and advertising. Ofcom comment:
"Broadband, with its powerful interactive and on-demand
capabilities, will be particularly important, with several
providers, including Homechoice and ITV, already exploring the
possibilities.
"At present most broadband services are viewed through
computers or other
web-enabled devices, but the availability across the UK of
services
delivered via internet protocol to television sets over the next
few
years offers new opportunities for the future."
US Content Charges
Google has made clear it will not discuss proposed tariffs
from ISPs in the US for allowing customers to access its content
through their networks. Several telecoms companies including
AT&T and BellSouth have recently voiced their opinions that
Google and other content providers should be paying.
Ofcom deadline over content rights
The Guardian has reported that Ofcom has set a deadline for
broadcasters and independent producers to come to an agreement over
new media broadcasting rights. If a deal isn't agreed within
two months they face intervention.
ICWales has reported that S4C has reached agreement with its
independent producers, enabling programmes to be broadcast on
broadband after 35-days.
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WiFi Announcements
Umbrella organisation The Mid Wales Partnership has published
a report which urges the development of a WiFi network in
Aberystwyth.
Nine city centres in England will be receiving WiFi
"clouds" using 500 phone BT phone boxes.
Research by In-Stat forecasts that the market for WiFi
services in Asia will increase from 213 million US dollars
in 2004 to 1.3 billion US dollars in 2010.
A pilot project by the University of Abertay in Dundee
is wiring up lampposts with solar panels and WiFi to provide
renewable street lighting and solar powered wireless
broadband.
A report by the House of Commons Administration Committee
called for WiFI access in the Houses of Parliament to enable
MPs to access the internet.
3G and WiMax – Just Hype?
Dr Andrew Viterbi, respected technology pioneer who developed
the Viterbi algorithm used in phone and digital satellite
receivers, has dismissed the need for high-speed internet access on
mobiles as overestimated.
South Korea 10Mbps wireless
South Korea is set to enjoy 10Mbps wireless internet
connections. Both WiMax and HSDPA services are being
promised.
BT Digital TV on Mobiles
Following trials, BT is due to broadcast digital TV to mobile
phones later this year under the product name Movio. Trials
were carried out using the Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) network
with 1,000 Virgin Mobile users in London and enabled users to
access both digital TV and radio through an electronic programme
guide (EPG).
The Sunday Times has reported that BT's plans to install
28,000 internet kiosks to replace traditional phone boxes have been
axed. In four years 1,300 kiosks have been installed. Some
kiosks will now be moved to maximise revenues.
UK Overtakes France
Point Topic has announced that the number of broadband lines
in the world has passed 200 million. Point Topic have also
released figures which show that the UK has overtaken France as the
biggest broadband country in Europe – although the gap remains
narrow.
France Telecom has signed up over 200,000 subscribers to its
IPTV service since it was launched in December 2003. The
service provides digital television to French homes using the phone
line.
China Broadband Subscribers
MII, China's telecom regulator, has released figures showing
over 35 million broadband subscribers in China at the end of
September 2005 and an annual growth rate of 48%.
70% of subscribers use DSL-based broadband.
France Telecom Plans Fibre Pilot
France Telecom has announced a fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) pilot
that will go live within the next few months. The French
incumbent will use the pilot to determine customer reaction to
services including high definition TV (HDTV), video on demand
(VOD), multi-user VOIP, online gaming and videoconferencing.
The pilot will be carried out in Paris and six other cities
and will involve several thousand homes.
The Mayor of Paris had previously announced that telecom
operators would be given the opportunity to develop a FTTH network
in the city.
Just days previously the Amsterdam City Council had
unanimously backed the initial phase of a FTTH open network which
would be owned by the city but available for any network operator
to market to its customer base.
www.lightreading.com
No similar plans have yet been announced for UK cities. Any
plans would be subject to European rules on State Aid as well as
competition rules.
www.europeftthcouncil.com
Cable Customers Crave Gadgets
Digital cable customers are twice as likely as satellite
customers to plan to buy a High Definition TV (HDTV) or a portable
audio player that includes video capacity according to the Cable
& Telecommunications Association for Marketing (CTAM).
Broadband Competition
The number of unbundled lines in France grew during
2005 from 1.53 million to 2.82 million.
The European Commission has approved a decision by the
German regulator to open up the broadband market, including
VDSL (very high speed DSL) which had been excluded from previous
proposals.
europa.eu.int
Bezeq, the incumbent fixed line operator in Israel, is
considering offering local loop unbundling to open the network up
to competition for the first time in exchange for being allowed to
offer television content over ADSL lines.
Point Topic's latest Broadband Tariff Benchmarks show a rise
in average prices of cable broadband from providers around the
world. This has been attributed partly to lack of price
competition from DSL providers in some countries.
Point Topic said: "Another tactic is to offer cable broadband
only as part of a bundle with TV channels. This allows the cable
company to hold on to market share even with a high entry-level
threshold and helps to account for the overall higher average level
of cable prices in the benchmark."
The European Commission has started legal proceedings against
Greece for failing to apply the EC telecom directive.
Broadband penetration Greece is approximately 1 percent, lower than
any other EU member state.
Internet Connectivity
Report November 2005
The Office of National Statistics (ONS) revealed that
broadband connections formed 60.5% of all Internet connections in
the UK, up from 59% in October 2005.
The figures for December 2005 are due to be released on 21
February 2006. This will be the last monthly figures which
will then be published quarterly from May.
www.statistics.gov.uk
OTA Update for December 2005
The Office of the Telecommunications Adjudicator announced on
13 January 2006 that the number of unbundled lines has exceeded
210,000. This is up from 163,000 in November and the OTA
predicts that the number will grow to well over one million by the
end of 2006. This prediction is based on the business plans
of Local Loop Unbundling Operators.
The number has more than tripled since June 2005 when 70,000
lines had been unbundled.
ADSL World Leaders
China Telecom remained the largest provider of ADSL services
in terms of customer numbers in 2005. Their total number of
ADSL customers rose from 10 million in June 2004 to 12.4 million in
June 2005.
France Telecom has grown to become the world's second biggest
provider of ADSL services, with just over 6 million
customers. In 2003 they were ranked in ninth place.
France Telecom owns the Orange and Wanadoo brands which operate in
the UK.
American provider SBC came third with just under 6 million
customers, followed by China Netcom, Korea Telecom, Japan's
Softbank and Telecom Italia.
Deutshe Telecom, who have a mobile presence in the UK under
the T-mobile brand, came in eighth with 4.2 million ADSL
customers.
Telefonica, who are currently in the process of acquiring UK
mobile provider O2, came ninth with over 4 million ADSL
customers. They were followed closely by American provider
Verizon.
Data compiled by Dataxis as of June 2005 and published on
France Telecom website on 20 December 2005.