Broadband Bulletin Issue 12 - October 2006
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21CN Rollout Hits Cardiff: What do you need to
know?
Cardiff will be the first part of the UK to be upgraded to
BT's new 21st Century Network.
A small number of people in the Cardiff area will have phone
services upgraded to the new network in November 2006. The vast
majority of people in Cardiff will be switched-on between April and
June 2007.
Phone services will be fully switched-on by June 2007, and all
broadband services will be switched-on by August 2007.
A new website launched by BT explains what this will mean to
home and business users, and enables you to find out when your
exchange will be upgraded to 21CN.
According to the website's FAQ:
"You won't need to do anything yourself. We don't need to visit
your home or business, and we won't be digging up roads
outside. However, you will need to check how switched-on may
affect your telephone, broadband, and ISDN services."
21CN Rollout Plan Mapped
The Broadband Resource website has mapped when each area of
the UK will be upgraded to 21CN:
"As a rough guide, Cardiff will be switched over in the first half
of 2007, followed by parts of North Yorkshire and Northern Ireland
in 2008, most of the mainland in 2009 and 2010, and then areas
primarily in Scotland and Wales in 2011."
Further content about 21CN is due to be added to the website
over coming months.
Mobiles and TV Converge
Virgin
mobile has launched its Lobster phone amid boasts of the first
"broadcast mobile TV service in the UK"
Subscribers are currently able to receive BBC1, ITV1, Channel
4's Short Cuts (its made-for-mobile TV channel) and E4.
The Lobster is a Windows operated Smartphone, manufactured by
HTC, and users can also receive between 30 and 50 DAB digital radio
stations – the actual number depending on local availability.
The service is provided by BT's wholesale mobile broadcast
entertainment service, BT Movio, and will also offer 'red-button'
interactivity (not including BBC1 interactive initially) and
feature a seven-day electronic programme guide (EPG).
The BT Movio service is broadcast via the existing national
commercial DAB digital radio network. This covers over 85 percent
of the UK population.
Alan Gow, managing director of Virgin Mobile said: "We are
really excited to be able to offer our customers the same brands
and high quality of programming that they expect on their
television at home."
Google Acquires YouTube
Search engine
company Google has announced it will acquire YouTube in a deal
worth $1.65 billion.
YouTube website was founded in February 2005 and is allows
people to watch and share video clips. YouTube delivers more
than 100 million video views every day with 65,000 new videos
uploaded daily. When the deal is complete YouTube will
continue to retain its own brand.
Orange Unik
France Telecom
has announced the launch of a new telephone, with a single number
and address book, which can be used both at home and as a
mobile.
The Unik is being launched in France on 5 October 2006 and
will later be rolled out to UK, Netherlands, Spain and
Poland.
Point Topic: Broadband Future
Figures released by Point Topic predict the number of
broadband lines in the UK will grow from 9.77 million at the end of
2005 to 18.46 million at the end of 2008 – almost doubling in three
years. The remote rural areas where penetration is lowest
today will grow fastest and catch up with the rest of the country
to some extent.
BBWO
Report: York HAP Week 23rd-27th October 2006, York, UK
The Wednesday session focused on the applications of High
Altitude Platforms (HAPs) and the technologies required to support
them. HAPs are a suitable platform for a wide range of radio
communications and therefore have a variety of potential
applications, including the supply of broadband internet, mobile
communications services, broadcasting, etc. Before HAPs can
be exploited for these applications, further work is required to
develop the HAPs platform itself. A number of different HAPs
have been investigated including tethered balloons, zeppelins and
Unmanned Airborne Vehicles (UVAs). Research is ongoing and
there are some important issues to be addressed including payload
design, user terminals, spectrum, licenses to operate in
appropriate airspace, and an appropriate business plan.
Japan has undertaken a number of experiments using UAV for
radio applications and has successfully achieved cell phone and TV
broadcasting. It was found that using a UAV, cell phone
support could be achieved without the need for modifications to
current equipment. In 2004, experiments were undertaken using
airships, and it was proved that the HAP could effectively keep its
position and perform digital video broadcasting (DVB).
Additionally a case study was undertaken to determine how HAPs
could be utilised in disaster scenarios (e.g. an earthquake) to
provide emergency communications services where cables and
satellite links may be broken, and there is loss of
power.
Korea is investigating the feasibility of utilising HAPs as a
platform for enabling mobile communications, including support for
3G, WiBro, S-DMB, T-DMB and 4G technologies.
A number of applications were discussed that were not specifically
related to radio communications. These included environmental
applications such as hurricane tracking, fire weather monitoring
and charting & mapping. UAVs were employed in these
applications, and due to the altitude at which they operate, have a
number of advantages over satellite.
Suitable business models for HAPs are an important area for
investigation. Many service providers will not be interested
in investing in the platform itself, preferring instead to rent
services and capacity. Additionally, they will want service
offerings that are compatible with their current platforms and
strategy; for example, to extend reach, increase capacity and
support existing services. On the other hand, this may not be
an issue for new players where compatibility is not an
issue.
Tesco Enters Software Market
Intending to rival such companies as Microsoft, Symantec and
McAfee – UK supermarket giant Tesco has announced the launch of its
own brand computer software.
Initially available in 100 stores, but due to be rolled out
across the UK over the next year, the software will initially
comprise of six titles:
- an office suite
- two security / antivirus products
- a personal finance tool
- a CD/DVD burning tool
- a photo editing tool
Feature: Daniel Roche's Story
Daniel Roche is a keen surfer of the Internet and lives in
Cardiff with his brother Neil, where he has access to a broadband
connection at home. Dan was born partially sighted but at the age
of 9 he lost what sight he had due to a rare hereditary genetic
disorder called Alström Syndrome.
Due to his sight loss and his health, Dan's home broadband
connection is significantly important to his everyday life. As a
Hal screen reader user, Dan makes use of the Internet for all kinds
of things including having immediate access to vital information,
socialising via email with friends and family, on-line Christmas
shopping and participating and contributing to society by helping
the charity Cardiff Institute for the Blind to audit Web sites for
accessibility purposes.
Broadband adoption has enabled Dan to make real time savings
and have access to richer content on-line. His faster Internet
connection enables him to more fully participate in society and
family life.
The simplicity of email and surfing the Web are often taken
for granted by sighted people, yet for Dan this has been a real
challenge and achievement in that he has taught himself to use the
technology and is now experiencing real benefits from his broadband
connection.
"As a screen reader user, broadband has made things so much
easier as Web Pages and graphics download a lot quicker now. Even
though it is still a sighted world, I am able to participate in
using the Internet like anyone else now and I'm really enjoying
it!"
Before Daniel adopted broadband he had access to the Internet
via a basic 56kbps dial-up connection which was slow and
cumbersome. Due to this he rarely used the Internet and relied on
his family a lot more to find out even basic information that he
needed to know. As his brother Neil observed:
"Daniel was reliant on listening to the television and radio
for information, where in most cases he would catch interesting
items more by accident than design if they happened to be talked
about when he switched on."
The Web is much more enjoyable and realistic for Dan now he
has access via a broadband connection and he is able to enjoy and
explore his hobbies far more now.
For people like Daniel who are blind or partially sighted,
having access to broadband is becoming far more than just a luxury.
It is fast becoming a necessity as it is the only means by
which they have regular and reliable access to basic communication
and information. For most people, the Internet offers just one way
to acquire information; sighted people can access information
through print such as via faxes, newspapers and snail mail to name
just a few. However, for those with visual impairments, the
Internet is often the only means of accessing basic
information.
To read more about Dan's experiences of broadband follow the
link to the full Case Study Report and other Reports at
www.bbwo.org.uk/casestudies
Feature: Broadband enables
business growth at Barton and Nichols
Ltd.
This Case Study provides a real insight into how Barton and
Nichols Ltd., a motor body repairs business based on Anglesey, has
benefited in a variety of ways from adopting broadband.
Like many other companies, their first experience of using the
Internet was through a dial-up connection. Although this proved
rewarding in some ways, it didn't quite live up to expectations and
was ultimately ineffective in delivering the business benefits that
could make a real difference to their company.
Directors of Barton and Nichols
Following some high level strategic decisions by their
insurance company partners, which would lead to great efficiency
gains for them, as well as drastically improved customer service,
Barton and Nichols were faced with the prospect of having to adopt
on-line estimating.
Initially they chose to persevere with dial-up for this
purpose, but they quickly realised it simply wasn't effective and
efficient. This was mainly because of dropped connections, and time
taken to upload photographs, but also because their phone line
became tied up. Soon common sense prevailed and they decided they
were willing to 'chance it' and pay £9 a month extra for a
broadband link. Having never experienced broadband properly before,
they were however somewhat unsure of exactly what this would mean
in tangible terms.
In practice, they were actually saving £320 a month on
employee costs alone from adopting broadband, rather than
persisting with a narrowband connection that was riddled with
problems. But this was just the tip of the iceberg.
Without broadband they would have struggled to safeguard their
contracts with the insurance companies: customers whom have created
over £330,000 worth of business for them since November 2004 – the
date they had broadband installed.
In addition, there were other indirect benefits of broadband
that have proven significant in helping move the business forward,
and in having a positive impact on their profit margin in a market
sector that has been struggling to make ends meet. These include
enhanced quality of workmanship through benefiting from Web based
research, less wastage from misplacing estimates, and improved cash
flow from faster job turnaround times. The latter has also proven
an important intangible benefit in that their car park is now not
as clogged up as it was with vehicles awaiting approval for
repair.
Put simply, a business of Barton and Nichols' calibre could
not survive today without broadband. Although their trading
partners ultimately had to introduce on-line estimating to deliver
lower prices and higher levels of customer service to the end-user,
by doing this they proved instrumental in influencing Barton and
Nichols
www.batonandnichols.co.uk/
to adopt broadband in the first place, and thus in them
experiencing the benefits sooner, rather than later. Read the
full Case Study at
www.bbwo.org.uk/casestudies
EU and UK
Consultations
Review of the Regulatory Framework for electronic
communication networks and services
The European Commission adopted the Communication on the
Review of the EU Regulatory Framework for electronic communication
networks and services. The Communication is complemented by a Staff
Working Document which outlines in greater detail possible changes
to the regulatory framework, and by an Impact Assessment. These
documents launch a formal public consultation.
The European Commission will hold a one-day public workshop on
Tuesday 10 October 2006 in Brussels. The workshop will provide an
opportunity for interested parties and stakeholders to express
their views on the
4 consultation documents published by the Commission in
July. The Workshop will be broadcast live on the Internet
here.
Closes – 27 October 2006
3G Rollout Obligations
Ofcom is seeking to measure the extent to which 3G services
are available to the UK population where they live. Such services
should, under normal circumstances, be able to provide a range of
applications such as voice, text, video and multimedia services for
outdoor reception with speeds up to 384kbps. Coverage to meet this
obligation is expected to be primarily urban/suburban rather than
rural.
Closes – 20 October 2006
Voluntary and Community Sector Must Embrace
Internet
Ignoring the Internet is no longer an option for voluntary and
community organisations, according to a new booklet 'ICT, Social
Capital and Voluntary Action' published by the Economic and Social
Research Council (ESRC).
The booklet was produced to accompany the second in a series
of special seminars entitled 'Engaging Citizens', organised by the
ESRC in collaboration with the National Council for Voluntary
Organisations (NCVO). It summarises views from two experts in the
field - Jayne Cravens, a leading researcher regarding 'online
volunteerism', and Dr Ben Anderson, of the Institute for
Socio-Technical Innovation and Research, at the University of
Essex.
The booklet is available for download at the ESRC
website.
ICT Hub: Information and Communication
Technology for Voluntary and Community Sector
The ICT Hub is a
partnership of national voluntary and community organisations. This
partnership provides a range of services to help voluntary and
community sector organisations benefit from ICT.
"Still can't get
Broadband?"
There are 434 telephone exchanges in Wales, all have now been
ADSL enabled apart from Rhos and Llawhaden. All of the exchanges
enabled will be able to deliver ADSL Max services and be included
in any future national upgrade programmes such as ADSL 2. 33
were enabled under the Regional Innovative Broadband Support (RIBS)
programme.
If you already know you are in a broadband "not-spot" you can
assist us by registering your details on our website
In addition, you may want to ask your neighbours to see if
they are facing the same not-spot issues, and encourage them to
register their details onto the brokerage site, as the more
registrations that are collected in one area, the better the
business case and justification for doing the work.
Walesis the only
country in the world that is addressing not-spots at the same time
as enabling its unviable exchanges.
Country Market Reports
Country Reports providing a market overview of data and
telecommunications services are available now for:
- Austria
- Belgium
- Denmark
- France
- Germany – NEW!
- Ireland
- Korea – NEW!
- Netherlands
- Sweden
- United Kingdom – NEW!
Regulatory Round-up
Broadband on Trains
Some train operating companies now offer Wi-Fi access to
customers, which is currently delivered though a series of
terminals located alongside the train tracks.
Ofcom have made a new type of spectrum licence available that
will allow broadband access on trains via a satellite link.
This new type of licence will allow train operating companies to
install so-called satellite earth stations on trains to provide
broadband via satellite.
This could enable train operators to provide faster and more
reliable mobile broadband connections for customers.
Hot spots on trains would allow services to be delivered
direct to laptops or handheld devices from an on-board transmitter,
enabling customers to download content and potentially use VoIP
(Voice over Internet Protocol) on the move. The new
type of licence is for use of the 14 – 14.25 GHz band where similar
systems already operate on ships and aircraft.
Digial TV Update
Over 70 percent of UK homes now receive digital television on
their primary TV set. In total over 17 million houses now
receive digital TV. 7.7 million hoseholds subscribe to
satellite from Sky, 6.4 million of use Freeview, 2.7 million have
digital cable and only 45,000 use TV over ADSL.
Small and Medium Sized Enterprises
Attitudes
Nations and Regions
Ofcom has published a statement on policy implications arising
from the Communications Market Report: Nations & Regions,
published in April 2006.
The report claims: "On internet access and broadband, the
policy issues are around concerns over the roll-out of competitive
broadband services in rural areas and the lower levels of take-up
among older and low-income consumers"
Ofcom today published an interim report evaluating the
outcomes to date for the UK fixed-line telecoms industry since the
conclusion of the Ofcom Strategic Review of
Telecommunications. Evaluating the impact of the
Telecoms Review: An interim report one year on
Ofcom has published two further documents relating to the
Strategic Review of Telecommunications:
A research paper analysing large business use of telecoms
services
A statement on the separation of Management Information
Systems (MIS) previously shared between Openreach and the rest of
BT, as part of the implementation of Equality of Access.
Unbundling Update
OTA Update for August 2006
The Office of the Telecommunications Adjudicator announced on
1 September 2006 that the number of unbundled lines in the UK
exceeded 735,000. This is up from 673,000 in July 2006.
The OTA stated: "I am pleased we have reached 735,000 lines on
the current tactical platforms and processes. The Key to success is
now getting the Right First Time KPI back on track for BAU and Bulk
Migration. The expansion of LLU is still critically dependant on
the Quality of PoP build and the Timely delivery of Backhaul
circuits to enable the PoPs to Operate. It is therefore crucial
that Openreach reverse the deteriorating Quality for Co-mingling
and Backhaul services."
The Telecommunications Adjudicator aims to facilitate swift
implementation of the processes necessary to enable competitors to
gain access to BT's local loop on an equivalent basis to that
enjoyed by BT's own businesses.
UK Unbundling League
|
Provider
|
Enabled
|
Source
|
|
C&W
|
626
|
|
|
Sky
|
519
|
|
|
Tiscali
|
249
|
|
|
O2 (Be)
|
243
|
|
|
Orange
|
218
|
|
|
Homechoice
|
145
|
|
|
Pipex
|
31
|
|
|
Edge
|
21
|
|
|
Node4
|
4
|
|
|
Zen
|
4
|
|
Wales Unbundling League
|
Provider
|
Enabled
|
Source
|
|
C&W
|
9
|
|
|
Tiscali
|
4
|
|
Unbundling Targets and Pending
|
Provider
|
|
|
C&W
|
Target: 800 by 30/09/2006
|
|
Carphone Warehouse (Talk Talk)
|
Pending: 1,045 (52 in Wales)
by 31/08/2006
|
|
Orange
|
Pending: 87 (12 in Wales)
by 30/09/2006
|
|
O2 (Be)
|
Pending: 856 (23 in Wales)
by 31/12/2007
|
|
Pipex
|
Target: 100 by 31/12/2006
|
Ofcom Data Tables
Ofcom published its telecommunications market data tables for
Q1 2006 on 6 September 2006. The tables provide a statistical
overview of the UK's fixed line telecoms, mobile telecoms and
broadband internet sectors.
www.ofcom.org.uk/research/cm/sep06/
Market Data Analysis
Carphone Warehouse announced that 625,000
people have signed up for its "free" broadband service with 421,000
live by 30 September. This brings its total number of
broadband customers to 658,000, according to the second quarter
trading update on 11 November 2006.
20,000 of these customers are on unbundled lines and more are
going through Openreach's bulk migration programme to be moved to
unbundled lines. 1,000 exchanges are due to unbundled by
Carphone Warehouse by May 2007.
Carphone Warehouse also trades as TalkTalk, which has over
2.5million landline customers in the UK.
AOL UK is to be purchased by Carphone
Warehouse for £370 million. By the completion of the deal AOL
is expected to have 0.6million dial-up and 1.5million broadband
users. This will give Carphone Warehouse the UK's third
biggest broadband subscriber base with approximately 2 million
users. AOL will continue to provide a portal and
content. AOL will also manage online advertising to all
Carphone Warehouse users.
Kingston Communications will announce interim
results on 28 November and expects that its broadband subscriber
number will exceed 139,000. This includes users of Eclipse
Internet which is available across the UK.
Thus will announce interim results on 20
November. Thus provide mostly business services but also own
domestic ISP Demon and acquired Your Communications and Legend
Communications.
BSkyB are due to release first quarter
results on 3 November which may include information about initial
market response to Sky Broadband.
Data sources:
Useful Links
Broadband Wales Programme
Visit the Broadband Wales Programme website for information on
the benefits that broadband can bring for you
www.wales.gov.uk/broadband
Broadband for Life
www.broadbandforlife.com
Other News and Events
RIBS "Not-spots" Registration Scheme
If you still can't get broadband after you have been informed
that your telephone exchange has been enabled, please register your
details at
www.bbwo.org.uk/not-spots
Details of when your exchange is due to be enabled can be
found at
The scheme is operated by BBWO on behalf of the Welsh Assembly
Government.
Please note every attempt is made to ensure figures published
in this newsletter are the most up to date and accurate figures
publicly available at time of going to press, however, exact
figures may vary.
Thank you for reading the
Broadband Bulletin from the Broadband Wales
Observatory (BBWO). This newsletter is published once a
month.
Researched by:
Edited by:
Rhys Gravell
Published by:
Broadband Wales
Observatory
eCommerce Innovation Centre
Cardiff University
Cardiff Business Technology Centre
Senghenydd Road
Cardiff CF24 4AY
Tel: 029 2064 7030
The Broadband Wales Observatory is managed by
the
eCommerce Innovation Centre
at Cardiff University on behalf of eWales at the Welsh
Assembly Government.