Innovation: the key to broadband for all

SCENARIOS

Although internet access continues to rise more than half the global population has poor access - or none at all. New ideas are supporting rollout of affordable and universal broadband, in line with the UN sustainable development goals.

Teresa Mastrangelo

PRINCIPAL ANALYST AT BROADBANDTRENDS LLC

Although internet access continues to rise more than half the global population has poor access - or none at all. New ideas are supporting rollout of affordable and universal broadband, in line with the UN sustainable development goals.

 

According to ITU estimates, some 3.5 billion people are online today. However, around 3.9 billion people are unable to connect regularly, or have no connection at all. In the 48 UN-designated least developed countries, the situation is even more worrying, with just one in seven people online.

 

The ITU Connect 2020 targets call for 60% of the world’s population to be online by 2020. However, that means bringing between 1.2 billion and 1.5 billion people online within the next three years. Fortunately, a number of exciting new ideas mean universal connectivity may well be achievable.

 

 

Taking connectivity to new heights

 

In 2014, Facebook founded its Connectivity Lab, resulting in several developments, including Aquila, a solar-powered high-altitude, long-endurance aircraft capable of beaming an internet signal to people within a 60-mile diameter. Other projects include Terragraph, using millimetre wave (mmWave) technology, and ARIES (Antenna Radio Integration for Efficiency in Spectrum), which provides higher throughput in the smallest bandwidths and improves energy efficiency by enabling extended coverage.

 

Google’s Project Loon, a global network of super-pressured, solar powered high-altitude balloons that act as floating cell towers, extends internet connectivity to people in currently unnerved rural and remote areas of the world. Each balloon is equipped with two main radio transceivers: a broad-coverage LTE base station and a high-speed directional link used to connect between balloons and back down to the internet. Each balloon can provide coverage to a ground area of some 80 km across, serving thousands of subscribers providing 4G/LTE-like speeds.

AT&T’s AirGig project provides connectivity to base stations and distributed antennas using uses high-bandwidth 30GHz-300GHz communications and existing power line infrastructure. This is combined with low-cost plastic antennas and devices located along the power line to regenerate mmWave signals that can be used for 4G LTE and 5G multi-gigabit mobile and fixed deployments. The technology could be used for surface-wave communications for small cell deployment, backhaul connection for small cells, or installing base station nodes or antennas on utility poles and using transmitters to send transmissions over power lines.

 

 

No-one left behind

 

The ITU and the UN’s Broadband Commission have set a number of targets regarding broadband accessibility – however, it does remain up to most governments to make sure these targets can be achieved.  For instance, the European Commission and the European Investment Bank (EIB) recently announced plans to launch a fund for broadband infrastructure – the Connecting Europe Broadband Fund. In the case of Google, Microsoft and Facebook – three companies that are doing a lot of research to enable broadband in hard to reach areas – the goals of their R&D are, of course, to get more people to use their services.  However, they are taking the lead on innovations that could potentially be passed off to vendors, if they are successful.

 

At the moment, in markets where fixed broadband is non-existent, wireless is helping to fill the void and will most likely be the medium for broadband connectivity for a large portion of the underserved.  Universal connectivity provides a powerful platform to deliver essential services like e-governance, education, health, energy and financial inclusion. Smart solutions, coupled with a reliable high-speed network backbone, can help ensure that no-one is left behind.

A Google Project Loon balloon (Photo: Doug Coldwell)

Facebook’s Aquila drone

© Copyright Prysmian Group.

All rights reserved.

Although internet access continues to rise more than half the global population has poor access - or none at all. New ideas are supporting rollout of affordable and universal broadband, in line with the UN sustainable development goals.

 

According to ITU estimates, some 3.5 billion people are online today. However, around 3.9 billion people are unable to connect regularly, or have no connection at all. In the 48 UN-designated least developed countries, the situation is even more worrying, with just one in seven people online.

 

The ITU Connect 2020 targets call for 60% of the world’s population to be online by 2020. However, that means bringing between 1.2 billion and 1.5 billion people online within the next three years. Fortunately, a number of exciting new ideas mean universal connectivity may well be achievable.

 

 

Taking connectivity to new heights

 

In 2014, Facebook founded its Connectivity Lab, resulting in several developments, including Aquila, a solar-powered high-altitude, long-endurance aircraft capable of beaming an internet signal to people within a 60-mile diameter. Other projects include Terragraph, using millimetre wave (mmWave) technology, and ARIES (Antenna Radio Integration for Efficiency in Spectrum), which provides higher throughput in the smallest bandwidths and improves energy efficiency by enabling extended coverage.

 

Google’s Project Loon, a global network of super-pressured, solar powered high-altitude balloons that act as floating cell towers, extends internet connectivity to people in currently unnerved rural and remote areas of the world. Each balloon is equipped with two main radio transceivers: a broad-coverage LTE base station and a high-speed directional link used to connect between balloons and back down to the internet. Each balloon can provide coverage to a ground area of some 80 km across, serving thousands of subscribers providing 4G/LTE-like speeds.

 

AT&T’s AirGig project provides connectivity to base stations and distributed antennas using uses high-bandwidth 30GHz-300GHz communications and existing power line infrastructure. This is combined with low-cost plastic antennas and devices located along the power line to regenerate mmWave signals that can be used for 4G LTE and 5G multi-gigabit mobile and fixed deployments. The technology could be used for surface-wave communications for small cell deployment, backhaul connection for small cells, or installing base station nodes or antennas on utility poles and using transmitters to send transmissions over power lines.

 

 

No-one left behind

 

The ITU and the UN’s Broadband Commission have set a number of targets regarding broadband accessibility – however, it does remain up to most governments to make sure these targets can be achieved.  For instance, the European Commission and the European Investment Bank (EIB) recently announced plans to launch a fund for broadband infrastructure – the Connecting Europe Broadband Fund. In the case of Google, Microsoft and Facebook – three companies that are doing a lot of research to enable broadband in hard to reach areas – the goals of their R&D are, of course, to get more people to use their services.  However, they are taking the lead on innovations that could potentially be passed off to vendors, if they are successful.

 

At the moment, in markets where fixed broadband is non-existent, wireless is helping to fill the void and will most likely be the medium for broadband connectivity for a large portion of the underserved.  Universal connectivity provides a powerful platform to deliver essential services like e-governance, education, health, energy and financial inclusion. Smart solutions, coupled with a reliable high-speed network backbone, can help ensure that no-one is left behind.

© Copyright Prysmian Group.

All rights reserved.