Comcast DOCSIS 3.1: Gigabit Everywhere by 2016; 10 Gbps Built In

Comcast’s timetable for supplying gigabit connections to all of its present and potential customers is stretching out. Comcast originally had suggested it might be able to do so in 2015. Then the schedule lengthened to 2016 first quarter.

Now Comcast says it will happen “as soon as” 2018. That slipping timetable is not unusual for massive technology projects.

That might not be terribly important. Right now, “gigabit” is more a marketing platform than a core end user requirement.

Perhaps more significant: though the access network might need reinforcement, the new DOCSIS 3.1 platform Comcast is introducing is capable of supporting 10 Gbps in the downstream.

Australia’s National Broadband Network is introducing the same platform. Some question how soon cable companies really can deliver downstream speeds close to 10 Gbps without allocating more bandwidth, which would have to be taken from video services.

Some of us would argue that is coming. The large video bundles are increasingly out of favor, providing incentives for cable operators to reallocate bandwidth to high speed access, and away from video.

Internet of Things Likely Will Follow Normal Technology Adoption Curve

The Internet of Things, many believe, is the future of revenue growth for the mobile business, with a very simple logic: there are only so many locations or people to connect.

There are an order of magnitude more human beings than places to serve. And there are an order of magnitude more devices to connect, than humans to serve.

But “necessary” is not “sufficient.” Future revenue growth might hinge on IoT success. But necessity does not guarantee success, or success in a measurable business horizon, for most firms.

If Internet of Things does emerge as the new industry many predict, it would clearly qualify as an important technology innovation. And important, successful technology innovations tend to follow a maddening development path.

There normally is less progress early on than people expect. That means many firms get in too early. But then, after a longish period of quietude and disappointment, there is an inflection point, where adoption suddenly zooms beyond expectations.

That undoubtedly will be the case for IoT, as well. Commitment and patience, as well as serious effort, will be required. Internet of Things pioneers will attest to that.

Australian National Broadband Network Will Reach 9.1 Million Locations by 2018

Large and unusual (“one off”) construction or development programs are very hard to model, cost wise. So many will not be surprised that the Australian National Broadband Network plan has been revised to reduce costs from original forecasts, but upwards from the level the adjusted plan conceived.

In a new report, the cost overrun is estimated at greater than AU$10 billion.

The latest 2015-2018 corporate plan (PDF) suggests that by 2018, the NBN will require at least $9.6 billion in peak funding beyond what the government is prepared to supply in the form of equity or grants.

Put another way, the business plan is not fully funded, though few would doubt ability to secure lenders, by about 2017, to close the gap.

The maximum “peak funding” will be in the range of AU$46 billion to AU56 billion, with a median estimate of about AU$49 billion.

Over the period of the current three-year plan, the network will reach four million premises, of which 20 per cent will be served by fiber to the premises. About 72 percent of locations will use fiber to the node (FTTN) and hybrid fiber coax (HFC).

About 400,000 locations will be served by satellite connections, while 590,000 locations will be served by fixed wireless.

That assumes that by 2018, 1.67 million premises will be activated on FTTN, along with about a million HFC premises, and 1.3 million on fiber to home networks.

The wholesale-only network presently aims to provide downstream data rates of at least 25 megabits per second (25 Mbps) to all premises and at least 50 Mbps to 90 percent of fixed line premises.

AT&T Mobile Revenue Squeezed on High and Value Parts of its Market

AT&T has to compete with Verizon in the premium segment, but also T-Mobile and Sprint in value segment. That is pressuring gross revenue and profit.

https://451research.com/report-short?entityId=86453&mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRokva7NZKXonjHpfsX%2B7eksT%2Frn28M3109ad%2BrmPBy92oUEWp8na%2BqWCgseOrQ8k18JV8SsRc0Vo6U%3D

Internet of Things Venn Diagram, Sort Of

Here's a sort of Venn diagram of Internet of Things potential connected devices. Caveat: the surface areas are not strictly indicative of revenue size or installed devices base. It’s just illustrative.

But some estimate there could be 50 billion "things" connected to networks by perhaps 2025.

source: VentureBeat

Spectrum Futures, Singapore, Sept. 10-11, 2015

What will it take, who will lead, and what new opportunities will develop as part of the effort to connect a billion or more new Internet users across South Asia? That is focus of Spectrum Futures, a conference sponsored by the Pacific Telecommunications Council.

Hear from executives at Facebook, Ericsson, Qualcomm, Cisco, Ciena and other leading firms about the immense changes that will enable widespread and powerful access.

Discover from Reliance Communications and Global Cloud Xchange how mobile, access, data centers and computing architectures are now a seamless fabric, and what that means.

Learn about new backhaul platforms that will allow mobile and other ISPs to serve new customers affordably.

Understand how ISP, mobile and capacity suppliers, networks and revenue streams will evolve.

Find out how 5G, SDN, cloud computing, new backhaul networks and app promotions play a role.

Listen as innovators in spectrum and business models share their thoughts on what will drive Internet adoption.

See who wins, and why.

Those are a few of the reasons to attend the Spectrum Futures conference, to be held 10-11 September 2015 at the M Hotel in Singapore.

Attendance is strictly limited to 150 attendees, with priority for national communications regulators and their staffs. Register here.

Regulators and sponsors will gather on 9 September for dinner. The conference officially begins on 10 September with an all-day program and evening reception open to all registered attendees, and continues on 11 September with a half-day program followed by a regulators-only symposium. View the complete agenda here.

Can you afford to miss it?

India Remains Flashpoint for Zero Rating

India remains one of the hotspots where it comes to policies on zero rating. Aside from governmental action that could happen, the Internet and Mobile Association of India also is considering what public stand to take on policies that encourage sampling of Internet apps by allowing access without the requirement to buy a mobile Internet access subscription, for an introductory period.

The Indian Department of Telecom is preparing regulations on network neutrality, and some believe zero rating should be banned as part of network neutrality rules, on the grounds that zero rating does not “treat all bits, or all applications, alike.”

Both Facebook and Google believe such promotional efforts have a direct and substantial impact on mobile Internet access adoption in markets across South Asia and Southeast Asia.

Google has done zero rated deals in India, notably with Airtel (the proponent of zero rated Airtel Zero service), as well for Free Zone (free Gmail, Google Search, Google+).

Google also has offered 200 MB free data for use of Google Play apps, and no data charges for over-the-air updates on Android One handsets.

Google reportedly was planning to roll out its own Zero Rated service in India, but put plans on hold after the net neutrality protests, especially those against Airtel Zero.

Both firms appear to believe that such promotional policies are helpful tools to boost Internet access across the region--Facebook perhaps more visibly than Google--and both also have joined the Cellular Operators Association of India.

As always, valid public policy concerns and perceived private financial interests both are in play. Google and Facebook have good reasons for believing they benefit disproportionately as hundreds of millions of new Internet users are added.

Smaller app providers might have their own vested interests in seeing that Google and Facebook do not gain access to that many new potential users. For few application providers is the direct link between “number of Internet users” and “our revenues” so clear.

In that sense, there is alignment between the interests of mobile service providers and ISPs and Google and Facebook. All gain directly from each incremental user or subscriber.

That is not so true for thousands of smaller app providers, who might well believe they are better off essentially slowing Facebook and Google influence.