MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA: Back in the late 90s when the telecoms industry first developed broadband technologies such as DSL, it was the wealth of opportunities that the technology would create that really excited service providers.
Over the past two decades broadband access has provided a good revenue source and has been highly profitable for many, but service providers have never really been able to take full advantage of the other opportunities broadband access provides.
IPTV and VoD have been a success for some, but certainly from a profitability point of view, will not be an option for all. Many of the other opportunities often highlighted, such as online music, gaming, and even technical support and content back up have also been taken up by other players and therefore have become fiercely competitive markets.
Michael Philpott, Practice Leader, says: “One issue that service providers will have to tackle if they are to get back in the game, is a more prominent marketing channel into the consumer home”.
“Often the main points of customer contact for the broadband service provider is when the customer first signs up from the broadband service, and when something goes wrong -– with only the odd e-mail flyer in-between,” says Philpott, based in London.
“Operators can try and do take advantage of these main points of contact, but to be really successful, they need to be looking for innovative and eye-catching ways of opening up more consistent communication channels with their customer base.”
Ovum is pleased to see that such innovation is starting to enter the market. Those few service providers that still have a successful Internet portal, are starting to innovate around that as a way of entertaining, helping, communication with and up-selling services to existing clients.
Others, who do not have a very successful portal, are starting to experiment with free services, to gain the initial traction, and then looking for ways to further up sell services on top of the initial offering.
One such pilot by a tier one player in the US found that such a strategy increased its marketing success rate over traditional methods by 200 percent, as well as gaining:
* A significant increase in VAS awareness –- 615 percent increase in web traffic for the music service.
* An increase in service uptake –- 55 percent increase in new security subscriptions.
* A decrease in service churn –- 20 percent decrease in security service churn.
Such innovation has been a long time in coming, but it is certainly not too late, and operators will need to continue to innovate in both the services and applications they offer, and in how they market and deliver those services, if they are to successfully grow consumer revenues in the long term.
Showing posts with label DSL. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DSL. Show all posts
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
North American DSL and CMTS shipments recover
UK: Ovum today announced its preliminary quarterly results for global 2Q09 DSL and CMTS port shipments.
“Continuing demand for downstream capacity contributed to strong growth in downstream CMTS port shipments in North America. We estimate that for the first time ever, more than half of ports shipped were downstream ports,” said Ovum Analyst Kamalini Ganguly. “Arris topped the CMTS market in volume for the first time.
2Q09 highlights
* DSLAM shipments’ increase versus 1Q09 = 10 percent
* DSLAM shipments’ decline versus 2Q08 = 19 percent
* CMTS shipments’ decline versus 1Q09 = 6 percent
* CMTS shipments’ decline versus 2Q08 = 39 percent
Alcatel-Lucent, which shipped 5.8 million DSL ports in 2Q09, remained in first place in the DSL market on a rolling 4Q volume basis with 32 percent share, followed by Huawei (28 percent), ZTE (16 percent), Nokia Siemens Networks (5 percent), Ericsson (5 percent), and UTStarcom (3 percent).
All the regions saw double-digit sequential growth in DSL shipments, with the exception of South and Central America. In the CMTS market, Cisco dropped to 50 percent rolling 4Q market share in terms of ports shipped, followed by Arris whose share jumped to 35 percent and Motorola whose share grew to 13 percent. Downstream ports contributed to more than 50 percent of CMTS ports shipped for the first time.
“Continuing demand for downstream capacity contributed to strong growth in downstream CMTS port shipments in North America. We estimate that for the first time ever, more than half of ports shipped were downstream ports,” said Ovum Analyst Kamalini Ganguly. “Arris topped the CMTS market in volume for the first time.
2Q09 highlights
* DSLAM shipments’ increase versus 1Q09 = 10 percent
* DSLAM shipments’ decline versus 2Q08 = 19 percent
* CMTS shipments’ decline versus 1Q09 = 6 percent
* CMTS shipments’ decline versus 2Q08 = 39 percent
Alcatel-Lucent, which shipped 5.8 million DSL ports in 2Q09, remained in first place in the DSL market on a rolling 4Q volume basis with 32 percent share, followed by Huawei (28 percent), ZTE (16 percent), Nokia Siemens Networks (5 percent), Ericsson (5 percent), and UTStarcom (3 percent).
All the regions saw double-digit sequential growth in DSL shipments, with the exception of South and Central America. In the CMTS market, Cisco dropped to 50 percent rolling 4Q market share in terms of ports shipped, followed by Arris whose share jumped to 35 percent and Motorola whose share grew to 13 percent. Downstream ports contributed to more than 50 percent of CMTS ports shipped for the first time.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Emphasis shifts to fibre to the home
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA: In countries such as Korea and Japan, the rapid take-up of FTTH/B and subsequent decline of ADSL technologies is nothing new. However, this network evolution is now spreading outside of Asia, and a number of western countries will start to see a rapid increase in FTTH/B, and thus a decline in ADSL over the next couple of years.
Most notable examples are the US, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and the Netherlands. Fig. 1 depicts the ‘global residential fixed broadband access forecasts 2006-2014’.
Fig. 1: Global Residential Broadband Access Forecasts, 2006-14
Source: Ovum
Access-fibre deployment is not just confined to ‘developed countries’. A number of emerging markets such as China and Malaysia also have very ambitious FTTH/B projects. “Even if we take into account an element of government and vendor hype for these markets, Ovum still forecasts a rapid take-up of advanced broadband services in those countries,” Michael Philpott, Practice Leader of Ovum’s Consumer team.
This take-up of next-generation access technologies such as FTTH and FTTB will see traditional DSL technologies saturate at around 320 million lines in the residential market by 2014, with FTTH/B still growing fast at over 160 million lines by the end of the same year. In Asia-Pacific, the move to FTTH/B will be even more pronounced, with FTTH/B connections overtaking DSL to be the leading technology in 2014.
It’s not all bad news for DSL vendors
Although the worldwide market for at least ADSL technology will slow over the next five years, there are still significant opportunities for DSL vendors.
Not all countries have yet announced FTTH/B initiatives and so will see significant growth in DSL over Ovum’s forecast period. “Eastern Europe, South and Central America, and Middle East and Africa will still be good growth regions for DSL operators, and thus vendors, for some years to come,” adds Philpott, based in London.
Secondly, not all NGA developments are pure FTTH/B. A number, such as Japan, are actually a good mix of NGA technologies, with the advanced DSL technology VDSL2 often being used in the final few hundred meters to connect apartments and individual homes to the fibre network. Other NGA developments, such as in Belgium and the UK, will be predominantly fibre to the cabinet and then again VDSL2 in the final mile.
Such NGA deployments are actually good news for DSL-based vendors as they signify the upgrade of millions of homes from ADSL line cards located in local exchanges to VDSL line cards located in street cabinets.
Thirdly, although worldwide growth will come to a standstill, there will still be over 360 million DSL lines (including business lines) in operation in 2014, with maintenance contracts running for many years to come beyond that. In Asia-Pacific however DSL connections peak in 2011.
Mobile broadband also applies pressure
The migration to FTTH/B is not the only phenomenon to stall DSL growth. By the end of 2014 worldwide consumer fixed broadband penetration will have reached only 34 percent of households. In theory there should therefore be plenty of growth opportunity for all fixed broadband technologies including FTTH/B.
However, a large percentage of these remaining households do not have a fixed line, and whereas at one time it would have been assumed that investment in broadband would have pushed fixed lines out further, with mobile broadband devices and services becoming more readily available and affordable this will no longer be the case –- at least in the medium term.
Mobile broadband has in effect set a lower ceiling for fixed broadband than what would have been predicted only 12 months ago. Whether this ceiling is permanent or not is yet to be seen.
Although mobile broadband impacts fixed broadband in emerging markets more, it is not completely restricted to such countries. Western Europe, Austria, Finland, Italy and the Netherlands will all saturate at 65 percent of households or lower.
In Asia-Pacific, CAGR of consumer fixed broadband connections are as follows:
Most notable examples are the US, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and the Netherlands. Fig. 1 depicts the ‘global residential fixed broadband access forecasts 2006-2014’.
Fig. 1: Global Residential Broadband Access Forecasts, 2006-14
Source: Ovum Access-fibre deployment is not just confined to ‘developed countries’. A number of emerging markets such as China and Malaysia also have very ambitious FTTH/B projects. “Even if we take into account an element of government and vendor hype for these markets, Ovum still forecasts a rapid take-up of advanced broadband services in those countries,” Michael Philpott, Practice Leader of Ovum’s Consumer team.
This take-up of next-generation access technologies such as FTTH and FTTB will see traditional DSL technologies saturate at around 320 million lines in the residential market by 2014, with FTTH/B still growing fast at over 160 million lines by the end of the same year. In Asia-Pacific, the move to FTTH/B will be even more pronounced, with FTTH/B connections overtaking DSL to be the leading technology in 2014.
It’s not all bad news for DSL vendors
Although the worldwide market for at least ADSL technology will slow over the next five years, there are still significant opportunities for DSL vendors.
Not all countries have yet announced FTTH/B initiatives and so will see significant growth in DSL over Ovum’s forecast period. “Eastern Europe, South and Central America, and Middle East and Africa will still be good growth regions for DSL operators, and thus vendors, for some years to come,” adds Philpott, based in London.
Secondly, not all NGA developments are pure FTTH/B. A number, such as Japan, are actually a good mix of NGA technologies, with the advanced DSL technology VDSL2 often being used in the final few hundred meters to connect apartments and individual homes to the fibre network. Other NGA developments, such as in Belgium and the UK, will be predominantly fibre to the cabinet and then again VDSL2 in the final mile.
Such NGA deployments are actually good news for DSL-based vendors as they signify the upgrade of millions of homes from ADSL line cards located in local exchanges to VDSL line cards located in street cabinets.
Thirdly, although worldwide growth will come to a standstill, there will still be over 360 million DSL lines (including business lines) in operation in 2014, with maintenance contracts running for many years to come beyond that. In Asia-Pacific however DSL connections peak in 2011.
Mobile broadband also applies pressure
The migration to FTTH/B is not the only phenomenon to stall DSL growth. By the end of 2014 worldwide consumer fixed broadband penetration will have reached only 34 percent of households. In theory there should therefore be plenty of growth opportunity for all fixed broadband technologies including FTTH/B.
However, a large percentage of these remaining households do not have a fixed line, and whereas at one time it would have been assumed that investment in broadband would have pushed fixed lines out further, with mobile broadband devices and services becoming more readily available and affordable this will no longer be the case –- at least in the medium term.
Mobile broadband has in effect set a lower ceiling for fixed broadband than what would have been predicted only 12 months ago. Whether this ceiling is permanent or not is yet to be seen.
Although mobile broadband impacts fixed broadband in emerging markets more, it is not completely restricted to such countries. Western Europe, Austria, Finland, Italy and the Netherlands will all saturate at 65 percent of households or lower.
In Asia-Pacific, CAGR of consumer fixed broadband connections are as follows:
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
CURRENT, Qwest to integrate DSL into smart grid
GERMANTOWN & DENVER, USA: CURRENT Group, LLC and Qwest Communications International Inc. announced a new framework that allows electric utilities to integrate intelligent grid sensing with Qwest’s existing low latency, secure, high capacity DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) network to implement a Smart Grid.
This allows utilities to implement a high performance smart grid rapidly, cost-effectively and modularly with the speed, reliability and scalability of the existing Qwest network. CURRENT and Qwest already have proven the technology’s interoperability by utilizing CURRENT’s intelligent sensors and OpenGrid platform and Qwest’s DSL network as part of Xcel Energy’s SmartGridCity in Boulder, Colo.
The CURRENT Smart Grid solution converts the traditional electric grid into an intelligent network by adding sensing, low latency communications and analytic software to the electric distribution system.
Smart Grid systems have the potential to be the single largest contributor to a solution for global warming available today, as the International Energy Agency reports that electric power generation produces 41 percent of total worldwide energy related CO2 emissions.
It is estimated that a Smart Grid could reduce CO2 emissions from electric power by up to 20 percent and a recent report from The Climate Group estimated that a Smart Grid provides the largest CO2 reduction of any IT technology investment in the world.
“Working with Qwest’s robust IP network, we have further reduced the cost of a Smart Grid and today, we introduce an attractive option for utilities interested in using the stimulus funding to implement a Smart Grid and manage the two-way power flow of the future,” said Tom Casey, CEO of CURRENT. “We are committed to providing utilities the most open, cost-effective and standards-based Smart Grid with options to achieve the optimal cost and performance under various conditions.”
“Our work to date proves that Qwest’s broadband network offers a cost–effective, rapidly deployable means of transporting the intelligence of the CURRENT Smart Grid solution,” said Neil Cox, Qwest’s executive vice president of Product Development and IT. “The CURRENT/Qwest model is an inherently green and ‘smart’ approach.”
Xcel Energy’s SmartGridCity in Boulder, Colo., is the nation's first fully integrated Smart Grid community.
CURRENT and Qwest will offer similar solutions to additional utilities and municipalities.
This allows utilities to implement a high performance smart grid rapidly, cost-effectively and modularly with the speed, reliability and scalability of the existing Qwest network. CURRENT and Qwest already have proven the technology’s interoperability by utilizing CURRENT’s intelligent sensors and OpenGrid platform and Qwest’s DSL network as part of Xcel Energy’s SmartGridCity in Boulder, Colo.
The CURRENT Smart Grid solution converts the traditional electric grid into an intelligent network by adding sensing, low latency communications and analytic software to the electric distribution system.
Smart Grid systems have the potential to be the single largest contributor to a solution for global warming available today, as the International Energy Agency reports that electric power generation produces 41 percent of total worldwide energy related CO2 emissions.
It is estimated that a Smart Grid could reduce CO2 emissions from electric power by up to 20 percent and a recent report from The Climate Group estimated that a Smart Grid provides the largest CO2 reduction of any IT technology investment in the world.
“Working with Qwest’s robust IP network, we have further reduced the cost of a Smart Grid and today, we introduce an attractive option for utilities interested in using the stimulus funding to implement a Smart Grid and manage the two-way power flow of the future,” said Tom Casey, CEO of CURRENT. “We are committed to providing utilities the most open, cost-effective and standards-based Smart Grid with options to achieve the optimal cost and performance under various conditions.”
“Our work to date proves that Qwest’s broadband network offers a cost–effective, rapidly deployable means of transporting the intelligence of the CURRENT Smart Grid solution,” said Neil Cox, Qwest’s executive vice president of Product Development and IT. “The CURRENT/Qwest model is an inherently green and ‘smart’ approach.”
Xcel Energy’s SmartGridCity in Boulder, Colo., is the nation's first fully integrated Smart Grid community.
CURRENT and Qwest will offer similar solutions to additional utilities and municipalities.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Huawei takes top spot in DSL shipments, says Ovum
UK: Ovum announced its preliminary quarterly results for global 1Q09 DSL and CMTS port shipments.
"The buoyant domestic market in China has lifted Huawei to first place in quarterly DSL volume shipments for the first time ever," said Ovum Analyst Kamalini Ganguly.
"Huawei also substantially increased its shipments to the EMEA region in 1Q09. Having successfully expanded its presence in several international markets in a few short years, Huawei has exploited its market share fully, both inside and outside China. We commend Huawei on this remarkable achievement," Ganguly said.
1Q09 highlights
* DSLAM shipments’ decline versus 4Q08 = 10 percent
* DSLAM shipments’ decline versus 1Q08 = 11 percent
* CMTS shipments’ decline versus 4Q08 = 6 percent
* CMTS shipments’ decline versus 1Q08 = 10 percent
Alcatel-Lucent, shipping 25.7 million DSL ports for the 2Q08–1Q09 period, remained in first place in the DSL market on a rolling 4Q volume basis (32 percent), followed by Huawei (29 percent), ZTE (15 percent), Nokia Siemens Networks (5 percent), Ericsson (4 percent), and UT Starcom (3 percent).
In the CMTS market, North American shipments dropped to less than half of all shipments for the second time in the last six years, while all other markets grew in the single or double digits on a sequential basis. Cisco dropped to 59 percent, rolling 4Q market share in terms of ports shipped, followed by Arris (30 percent) and Motorola (10 percent).
"The buoyant domestic market in China has lifted Huawei to first place in quarterly DSL volume shipments for the first time ever," said Ovum Analyst Kamalini Ganguly.
"Huawei also substantially increased its shipments to the EMEA region in 1Q09. Having successfully expanded its presence in several international markets in a few short years, Huawei has exploited its market share fully, both inside and outside China. We commend Huawei on this remarkable achievement," Ganguly said.
1Q09 highlights
* DSLAM shipments’ decline versus 4Q08 = 10 percent
* DSLAM shipments’ decline versus 1Q08 = 11 percent
* CMTS shipments’ decline versus 4Q08 = 6 percent
* CMTS shipments’ decline versus 1Q08 = 10 percent
Alcatel-Lucent, shipping 25.7 million DSL ports for the 2Q08–1Q09 period, remained in first place in the DSL market on a rolling 4Q volume basis (32 percent), followed by Huawei (29 percent), ZTE (15 percent), Nokia Siemens Networks (5 percent), Ericsson (4 percent), and UT Starcom (3 percent).
In the CMTS market, North American shipments dropped to less than half of all shipments for the second time in the last six years, while all other markets grew in the single or double digits on a sequential basis. Cisco dropped to 59 percent, rolling 4Q market share in terms of ports shipped, followed by Arris (30 percent) and Motorola (10 percent).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
