News
THE LATEST
FTTH Council calls for infrastructure investments
The FTTH Council Europe has expressed concern about weakening investment incentives at the heart of the European Electronic Communications Code proposal around Very High Capacity networks in Europe. The council has addressed this with the Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council Meeting and called for European Telecoms Ministers to invest. FTTH Council Europe President Ronan Kelly said: “A clear focus on setting ambitious Very High Capacity Connectivity targets and incentivising competition for investment both by established and new network investors can help Europe to achieve the necessary investments and deliver a globally competitive digital economy and society.”
China's continues fibre investments
China's incumbent operators have been investing heavily in fibre rollouts in urban areas in order to improve take-up and comply with the government's gigabit-level broadband ambitions. Earlier this year, China unveiled plans to invest almost $170 billion) in internet projects and infrastructure over the next three years.
China has invested heavily in its network infrastructure, providing superfast speeds to nearly 60% of Chinese broadband users. According to statistics compiled by the China Academy of Telecommunication Research (CAICT), operators have expanded FTTH coverage to nearly 90% of the residents of Chinese cities. In certain provinces, such as Tianjin and Jiangsu, coverage is near 100%.
University College London maximises fibre potential
Researchers at the University College London (ULC) Optical Networks Group recently set a record for the fastest ever data rate for transferring digital information: 1.125Tbit/s. To achieve this, the team applied coding techniques commonly used in wireless communications, but not in optical communications.
Every property of the light signal – amplitude, phase, polarisation and wavelength – was used and the team examined methods for optimum encoding of information in optical signals, to maximise potential of fibre optic communications. UCL has partnered with Aston University in the UNLOC project, which is looking into ‘radically different’ approaches to coding, transmission and processing of information, to avoid a ‘capacity crunch’, where available bandwidth no longer meets demand.
Global fibre optic components market set to grow
According to the latest market study released by Technavio (July 2017), the global fibre optic components market is projected to grow at a CAGR of more than 10% from 2016 to 2021. The growth of the segment is driven by increased Internet traffic, resulting from streaming media, video conferencing, Wi-Fi as well as the rise of FTTx.
Global Fibre Optic Components Market 2017-2021 states that “Many firms are choosing to move from copper cabling to fibre optic cabling because of its diverse benefits such as lower attenuation, high return on investment, and support for high bandwidth applications”.
OTT market expanding across APAC
The number of OTT video subscribers across Asia Pacific is rapidly increasing. According to Rethink Technology Research the market will reach 200 million subscribers in 2021, twice that of 2016.
India follows China by number of OTT subscribers, and is expected to reach 14.6 million by 2021. Indonesia is expected to reach 9.96 million and Japan 8.1 million by 2021. Subscription revenues in the APAC region are expected to reach $10 billion by 2021 up from $6.5 billion today.
Total OTT subscribers 2021
Source: Rethink Technology Research
Prysmian half year results 2017
Prysmian’s first half year results show that adjusted core profit over the period rose 4.3 percent annually to €362m, beating analyst expectations. Guidance for full-year EBITDA lies between €710m and €750m ($829 - 875m). Revenue in the first six months of 2017 fell 1.5% organically but sales in all sectors improved in the second quarter.
Global economic growth in the first half of 2017 was higher than expected thanks to performance by emerging countries (Brazil, China and Mexico) and consolidation of the positive trend by more developed economies. Margins on Energy Projects (17%) and Telecom (16.8%) showed continuous improvement. Net Profit attributable to owners of the parent was €113 million, basically stable compared with €115 million in the first half of 2016.
EU: more spending and diplomacy to bolster cyber security
The EC wants to bolster cyber security in the EU by increasing investment in technology, setting stricter consumer safeguards and stepping up diplomacy to deter attacks by other nations, among other measures. It also argues for greater national and law enforcement cooperation to halt incoming attacks. The report calls for a short-term injection of additional EU spending to achieve both a critical mass of investment and overcome fragmentation within the region, calling a previous 2016 plan to spend 1.8 billion euros ($2.1 billion) by 2020 a “first step”.
It cited public and private estimates that the impact of cybercrime on the EU rose fivefold between 2013 and 2017 and could rise another four times by 2019. Europol puts these losses at 265 billion euros ($316 billion) per year. The European Commission calls for increased technical capacity to investigate cyber attacks, as well as investment to promote a stronger regional cyber industry.
PT Portugal reaches 4 mln fibre homes passed, launches 1 Gbps service
PT Portugal has reached 4 million homes passed with its fibre network, equal to 66 percent of Portuguese homes, the company announced at a press conference in Lisbon. The Altice subsidiary also launched to promote its new offer of a broadband subscription at 1 Gbps, reports Jornal de Negocios. The progress with the fibre roll-out puts the company on track to reach its goal of 5.3 million homes passed by 2020. Since the end of 2015, it has been adding around 75,000 to 85,000 each month.
AT&T to expand 5G US broadband trials
AT&T is expanding its 5G trials to include three new U.S. cities by the end of the year as part of its push to develop a next-generation network. The No. 2 wireless carrier, which is currently conducting similar trials in Austin, will extend them to Waco, Texas; Kalamazoo, Michigan; and South Bend, Indiana. The trials will test a faster broadband service where the last leg of the connection is delivered via a radio signal using high-band wireless airwaves known as millimeter wave.
Iflix launches in Ghana
SVoD (Streaming Video on Demand) service Iflix has launched its service for emerging markets in Ghana. The site acts as a digital hosting and distribution platform for Western and Asian Dramas which were obtained through partnerships with more than 150 studios and global content distributors, including Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Disney, Warner Bros and BBC amongst others. With over 220 partner studios and distributors, Iflix treats subscribers to the largest selection of iconic and well acclaimed TV series and movies both internationally and locally available in the region. The service provides the ability to download TV shows and movies to any phone, tablet or mobile device to binge-watch offline, when not connected to the internet. The service allows two devices to be used at the same time. The launch of the service comes just weeks after Iflix announced the completion of its $133m funding.
TNM launches 4.5G network in Malawi
Malawian operator TNM has launched a 4.5G network following massive upgrades on its network, reports Nyasatimes. ICT minister Nicholas Dausi said the network said will now make it possible for e-government projects to start taking shape, improving the activities of public sector organizations. TNM chairman George Partridge said TNM will continue to invest in the Malawi economy through progressive upgrades. The upgrades in the TNM network also enabled other new business services like Broadband Connect, Virtual Private Network (VPN), Microsoft Licensing, Business Connect, Customer Care Centre (CCC) and TNM Mobile WAN.
UK govt announces six areas for full fibre network pilots
The UK Government has confirmed six areas to pilot the UK's fastest broadband as part of a multi-million project. Next-generation networks will deliver connection speeds of 1 Gbps, with six test projects in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, West Sussex, Coventry and Warwickshire, Bristol and Bath & North East Somerset, West Yorkshire and Greater Manchester. The projects will get around GBP 10 million to test ways of connecting offices and public sector buildings with full-fibre networks running connections straight to the doors of premises. This is the first phase of a GBP 200 million programme announced by the government in May, a 4-year programme to promote the growth of full fibre across the UK. The remaining GBP 190 million will be invested by 2020/2021.
Etisalat: UAE now has highest FTTH penetration in the world
FTTH supports access to high-speed internet for more than 93 per cent of homes across the United Arab Emirates, data from the FTTH Council Europe show. This has come about through investment in infrastructure by Etisalat and Emirates Integrated Communication company ‘du’, supported by the regulator, the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority. Etisalat plans to spend more than Dh3 bn (€ 680 m) this year to develop and expand mobile and fibre-optic networks across the UAE. For the UAE, developing the infrastructure for a knowledge economy is a critical part of its Vision 2021 strategy to be among the best countries in the world as it continues towards diversification and to guarantee its future prosperity.
© Copyright Prysmian Group.
All rights reserved.