| :: Viewpoint – Time for Full It is becoming clear that the current multi-play broadband approach isn’t enough for the kinds of interactive, personalized online experiences users are beginning to demand and expect. For the generation that has grown up with instant messaging, video calling and picture messaging, the ability to access, create and share multimedia content from any device is a natural progression. For operators, traditional ‘Triple-play is too little pay’ and too limited for end-users as mobile broadband and converged services become reality. Instead they need a way to deliver Full Service Broadband, in which there are no boundaries between fixed and mobile networks, nor between desktop computers, laptop PCs, TVs and handheld devices. Telecom operators are in a unique and very strong position for broadband growth through two complementary, evolutionary routes. The first is to make broadband services accessible everywhere, to as many people as possible, as quickly and efficiently as possible by deploying mobile broadband services over mature HSPA technology. Laptops with embedded HSPA are already shipping, and HSPA networks today support efficient broadband at speeds that match today’s typical fixed broadband services. For operators, it is becoming critical to offer mobility as a value-added complement to current fixed broadband services. The second is to develop current broadband infrastructure to enable very high bandwidth services such as TV and video streaming. These require the deployment of high-speed fibre and copper technologies such as GPON and VDSL2, together with efficient IP transport networks and intelligent QoS and service delivery mechanisms. The intelligent packet core and multiservice transport solutions and service delivery architecture should support both fixed and mobile access. Mobile and fixed broadband Internet access complement each other very well; the challenge is to make it as intuitive and satisfying to access multimedia services from a mobile device as it is from a PC. When that happens, operators will make more money by making any application, content or media accessible from any device, over any network. This will attract new interest from, and revenue-sharing opportunities with, partners in the media and other industries. Studies from Ericsson Mobility World show that a combined service – one that is available from both fixed and mobile channels – leads to stickiness and increased service usage. For example, operators who also make a successful fixed broadband service available in the mobile channel see a 20 to 50 per cent increase in usage of the fixed service. At the same time, traffic in the mobile channel more than doubles. Full Service Broadband architecture must, therefore, provide users with service connectivity and convenience to enable them to access services seamlessly from any device or access network. And for operators, the introduction of services and additional network capacity must come at minimal additional cost. The Full Service Broadband architecture needs to support services that are both affordable for users and profitable for operators. It must minimize the cost of introducing services and access technologies, while offering the flexibility to enable the incremental addition of services and access methods. The use of open standards will drive volumes, increase competition and reduce the cost of ownership. Ericsson’s Full Service Broadband architecture in a new white paper here www.ericsson.com/technology/whitepapers/3098_Full_Service_Broadband_Arch_A.pdf . Kursten Leins |
