FTTH Conference 2017: “Together, building a brighter future.”

POLICY

Just before the 14th edition of the FTTH Conference, held in Marseille, France, NEXST discussed the conference’s key themes with president Ronan Kelly.

Ronan Kelly

PRESIDENT, FTTH COUNCIL EUROPE

This year’s conference is focusing on new Gigabit connectivity targets and European Commission’s legislative proposal for a new European telecoms rulebook. The EC is looking at 100 Mb/s coverage across Europe with an upgrade path to Gigabit service by 2025. They’re suggesting 1G connectivity for every school, library and government building. From a quality, reliability and latency point of view, the characteristics of the prescribed connectivity are clearly fibre-like. Their recommendations will profoundly impact the choice of technology going forward.

 

We’re seeing a step change in fibre deployment and very fast rollout in countries such as Portugal, Spain and France. Many countries are realizing that whoever first becomes a Gigabit society will be able to develop exciting, commercially and socially attractive new applications. This is vital in today’s global competitive environment. Early access to Gigabit connectivity means a first mover advantage in the new world.

 

 

Towards a wireless world

 

Another key conference topic is the transformational, life-enhancing role of new services and technologies, enabled by very high capacity networks. These trends are the subject of much discussion in the industry as well as at regulatory and commission level. This is, to a large extent, being driven by the rapid approach of 5G, of which we expect to see the first large-scale trial deployments in 2018. Anyone investing in infrastructure today should be aware that 5G requires fibre backhaul.

 

The world is moving towards wireless – in fact it already is largely wireless. Almost anyone using currently available broadband connectivity is accessing it though some kind of wireless Wi-Fi connection. In the future we expect 5G to offer the same speed and reliability as our wireless connections at home or in the office.

 

In a 5G world with high-speed connectivity wherever we are - at home, on the road and at work - everything will be connected, from our clothes to our cars. Three years ago, I saw a demonstration of disposable paper coffee cups with built-in connectivity. From the outset, everything will be connected. That has huge consequences for how we use the cloud and augmented intelligence. We’ll be interacting with the internet and vast data resources intuitively in new ways, from talking to cars to tapping watches.

As Europe’s population ages, healthcare is a major challenge. If we change lifestyles early on, and make the best use of what IoT and telemedicine can offer, costs can be reduced. People living alone can be monitored and won’t need to be moved to full time care. They can even remain productive members of society for longer.

 

 

Bandwidth always precedes applications

 

As soon as there’s more bandwidth, the industry and consumers will find new ways to use it. Now more upload capacity has become available, we see features such as Facebook live, which allows users to broadcast hi-def video and audio in real-time. Last year, people who had upgraded to an iPhone 6s started recording video in 4K. Not through a conscious decision, but because that’s the default setting.

 

A similar development has taken place in the area of download speeds. If you walked into a consumer electronic store three years ago, you’d mainly see HD TV sets. 4K sets were a luxury item. Now, if you walk into those same stores, you’ll see nothing but 4K TVs. These are all ‘Smart’ and designed for streaming. It’s hard to find 4K content, or virtual reality content, in physical form - you have to stream it.

 

To achieve an ambitious Gigabit connectivity vision and become a global digital leader, Europe will need vastly improved network infrastructure, and a step change in investments in fibre networks. There’s a need for ultrafast digital infrastructure as a foundation for every country’s development going forward and fibre is still the only future-proof foundation enabling fixed and wireless Gigabit networks.

VISIT

ftthconference.eu/programme/workshop-programme

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“The IT revolution offers our society a unique opportunity to significantly enhance productivity, if implemented properly,” explains Wolter Lemstra. “Telecom and communications infrastructure – specifically fibre broadband - play a vital role in this. Infrastructure-based competition is vital to developing broadband access, but we should also recognize the limits of the market-driven model. For this reason, governments have a vital role to play wherever commercial models fail to supply broadband.”

 

“Research also suggests that the economic benefits of broadband will only materialize if investments in ICT hardware and software are complemented with investment in human capital - skills development - and the reconceptualization of business models and business processes.”

 

Wolter first encountered FTTH in 1991, during a pilot carried out by telco incumbent KPN in The Netherlands. At the time, the obvious choice was to use existing copper networks and avoid the expense of laying new cables in the ground. The data rates fibre offered seemed excessive. “Today, however, they’re absolutely necessary. Video is one important bandwidth-hungry driver. Not just watching or downloading content, but also applications such as teleconferencing or security surveillance. The Internet of Things may have modest speed requirements, but there are billions of them. Moreover, upcoming applications such as remote surgery, that need extremely low latency and high data speeds, will increase the need for fibre even further. Trying to extend the life of copper networks is not a long-term solution.”

 

“Of course, the provider makes the final decision regarding the choice of technology, but governments have a duty to inform and educate and stimulate the uptake of the most future-proof solution. If the government finances a network, for example in a rural area, they can decide which technology is most appropriate. Across Europe, we see great diversity in alternative approaches to using fibre, based on initiatives by municipalities, non-telco entrepreneurs, cooperatives and user communities. We advise national, regional and local governments how to leverage and facilitate these initiatives.”

 

“In several Central and Eastern European countries which had little or no copper networks to start with they went directly to fibre. And once fibre is available, people tend to use more bandwidth. Today, people in Japan and Korea use far higher data rates than Europeans, but interestingly if current trends continue, it looks as if that gap will be closed by 2020.”

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All rights reserved.