Service providers and terminal vendors to profit from growth

Digital video broadcasting (DVB-H), the standard used for bringing broadcast services to handheld receivers, is set to gain momentum in Europe by 2008, according to new research by Frost & Sullivan. With the full-fledged rollout of DVB-H mobile television (TV), the current role of downloaded video content (downloads and streaming) in providing access to TV and other forms of video entertainment is likely to change, says the report.

“By 2011, video services like downloading would be used as a sales channel for specific video content while DVB-H takes over as the primary channel for mobile video services,” says Frost & Sullivan Industry Analyst Pranab Mookken.

Manufacturers will launch DVB-H mobile TV on a trial basis by 2008 after dealing with ambiguities regarding spectrum allocation. Meanwhile, operators are likely to deploy stopgap solutions involving multicasting technologies in addition to using existing cellular networks and video services to introduce TV in Europe.

Notwithstanding this delay, the DVB-H standard is likely to witness high adoption rates in Europe. It was developed by the digital video broadcast (DVB) project, an industry-led consortium of over 260 professionals from over thirty-five countries. The project had already established a terrestrial transmission system for Europe in the form of DVB-T, but the industry still lacked a standard that could support handheld terminals.

The consortium developed DVB-H signals to meet the huge demand for such a standard. DVB-H currently has the ability to utilize existing DVB-T infrastructure, that is, it is backward compatible with DVB-T and its content is delivered in the form of Internet Protocol (IP) datacasts that are similar to that distributed on the Internet. This, along with the standards specification which ensure maximum conservation of handset/terminal battery power and thereby allay customer fears of running out of battery for communication purposes, will facilitate its adoption in Europe.

Moreover, mobile TV using DVB-H will be easy to use and will offer a better experience for its customers. This will automatically translate into increased viewership. Initially, companies will keep prices low, until business models, service offerings and quality levels become satisfactory. But by 2010, service providers might augment prices to anywhere between 7 Euro and 12 Euro per month.

“The DVB-H mobile TV market is set to grow at an explosive rate and touch Euro 6.80 billion in revenues by 2011,” says Mr. Mookken. “The mobile average revenue per user (ARPU) is also likely to rise as prices increase.”

The biggest beneficiaries of this development will undoubtedly be the terminal providers that will gain tremendously from the revenue influx prompted by the need for compatible handsets. Service providers, especially mobile operators, will see a rise in their ARPU through the deployment of value-added services (VASs) in the form of DVB-H mobile TV. The channel will also help in making operators’ retention and loyalty strategies more intimate and effective.

“Mobile TV using the DVB-H standard is likely to be the catalyst that will help in expanding the mobile infotainment industry,” points out Mr. Mookken. “The market will drive innovation in content creation using formats, which are flexible, easier to implement and provide growth opportunities to content owners/aggregators. In addition, this technology will create a new market for the short film industry, benefiting both large as well as boutique studios.”

Alcatel has announced that it has been awarded a contract by Jersey Telecom to deploy a new charging platform and a Short Message Service Centre (SMS-C), thus giving the incumbent operator in the Channel Island of Jersey the ability to deploy and charge for data, content and premium rate SMS.

On this occasion, Alcatel is replacing Jersey Telecom's existing SMS-C with an Alcatel solution that is capable of supporting Premium Rate SMS using the flexible rating capabilities of the OSP Rating Engine.The Alcatel solution gives Jersey Telecom the ability to offer premium rate SMS as part of their portfolio. Jersey Telecom will also gain the ability to offer subscribers a variety of new services, which could include televoting and information services, music, ringtones, games and video clip downloads.

The solution is based on the Alcatel 8690 Open Services Platform (OSP), a market proven platform widely deployed for supporting rapid development and deployment of high value end user services. The Alcatel 8690 OSP hosts all the key components of the solution, including the Alcatel 8618 Convergent Rating Engine and the Alcatel 8686 Specialised Resource Point (SRP), and provides Jersey Telecom with a single and fully integrated services platform.

The Alcatel Convergent Rating Engine can allow any subscriber to be charged for any service from a unique real time system. Critical to the deployment of new services, it also gives Jersey Telecom the differentiating ability to define the 'rating unit' upon which services will be charged. In addition, the converged rating engine will allow Jersey Telecom to offer 'service bundles' based on innovative tariff structures to charge new services and launch new commercial offers in a short time-to-market timeframe, thus allowing the creation of loyalty incentive programs based on volume discounts. Jersey Telecom will then be able to customise its service offerings in order to strengthen client's loyalty and enhance ARPU.

The Alcatel Specialised Resource Point (SRP) provides all the required announcement and IVR capabilities needed to support voice services within the Jersey Telecom network.

Commenting on the announcement, Jerry Rabaste, Technology & Planning Director of Jersey Telecom Group Ltd commented: "We are committed to providing the Channel Islands with world class telecommunications services. Today's announcement with Alcatel is the latest in a series of ongoing infrastructure investments designed to ensure that Jersey and Guernsey customers are provided with state-of-the-art telecommunications services.

"The Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey are centres of excellence in world markets," Jean-Michel Cornille, President of Alcatel's mobile solutions activities added. "Alcatel's leadership in next generation services platforms will provide Jersey Telecom with the right framework to offer quality services, innovative pricing and cost efficiency to all their customers".

Last year Alcatel enabled Wave Telecom, a wholly owned subsidiary of Jersey Telecom, to launch 3G multimedia services, like videophony, throughout Guernsey.

By the end of the second quarter 2005 the number of broadband subscribers in Europe had exceeded 50 million for the first time, according to latest research into the broadband market by Informa Telecoms & Media. DSL now accounts for more than 80% of all broadband subscriptions in Europe. But while growth in the market remains steady, incumbents in Europe‚s 10 major European markets saw their share of the retail DSL market drop towards the 50 percent mark.

In the year to the end of the June 2005, incumbents‚ market share  of the retail DSL market dropped from 64% to 57%. Over the same period the number of unbundled lines more than doubled from less than 2.5 million to over 6 million indicating a more favourable regulatory  environment across Europe and a resulting increased willingness from  alternative carriers to install equipment in the incumbent‚s exchange.
 
The largest drop in market share was experienced by the Finnish  operator TeliaSonera which saw its share of the retail DSL market drop 17 percent from 76% to 69%. Deutsche Telekom saw a similar  reduction (12%) in its retail market share. France, where low wholesale DSL rates encouraged the competition up to two years ago, saw a smaller reduction in its market share. France Telecom‚s  retail market share dropped from 48% to 47%.
 
The stats and figures contained in this release are taken from Informa Telecoms & Media  Broadband Subscriber Database (BSD). The database tracks over 160 operators in more than 50 countries, as well as tracking penetration rates and operator rankings.

mobilkom austria, the mobile subsidiary of the Telekom Austria Group, has announced the establishment of one of the first cross-operator m-payment standards worldwide jointly with ONE (the third strongest Austrian mobile operator) and the m-payment service paybox.

ONE will acquire a one sixth stake in paybox austria AG, which to date has been 100% owned by mobilkom austria. From now on paybox will be operated and further expanded by both mobile network operators. This joint m-payment platform offers considerable advantages to the customers of mobilkom austria and ONE while giving momentum to Austrian business and m-commerce.

Over 2 million contract customers of mobilkom austria and ONE will be able to use the m-commerce services of both providers, paying via mobile. Pre-paid customers, customers with company mobiles and customers of all other network operators can pay with paybox via direct debit from their bank account, as has been the case so far. For all existing paybox customers the range of possible m-payment services will broaden further on.

Hannes Ametsreiter, Chief Marketing Officer at mobilkom austria said: "As technology leader, mobilkom austria was among the first operators to get involved in m-commerce and achieved a breakthrough in m-payment solutions in cooperation with paybox. The establishment of a joint m-payment platform with ONE is a logical next step and it will further strengthen mobilkom austria’s international pioneering role in m-commerce.”

Depending on the approval time required by the European authorities for this acquisition, the first new joint offers can be expected in the second quarter of 2006. The parties have agreed on non-disclosure of the price paid.

PacketFront, leader in open access fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) technology and next generation broadband aggregation, has announced that Magnet Networks will be the first operator in the world to deploy its new BECS 3 triple-play control and provisioning system.

PacketFront conducted the implementation on behalf of leading broadband solutions provider and systems integrator Industria. It enables Magnet to provide state-of-the-art multi-play services over ADSL2+, the first time this has been done in Ireland.

Already considered one of Europe's most sophisticated broadband networks, Magnet Networks currently provides its subscribers with digital telephony, an initial offering of 65 TV channels and Ireland's fastest broadband connectivity.

Part of a EUR65 million network investment plan announced recently by the company's parent, Columbia Ventures Corporation, the ADSL2+ roll-out and deployment of BECS 3 will now enable Magnet Networks to bring its triple-play services to potential customers in areas hitherto only covered by conventional copper telephone wire.

"There really is nothing available on the market today to beat the provisioning and automation technology of PacketFront's BECS 3 system," said Ingvar Gardarsson, CEO of Magnet Networks. "By combining it with PacketFront's unique IP DSLAM technology, we are now able to roll out ADSL2+ triple play services to a much wider audience of new customers, whilst maintaining the same high performance levels we already achieve over FTTH.  Our network is one of the most sophisticated in Europe, so it stands to reason that we should be the first to deploy the most sophisticated broadband control and provisioning technology available."

"PacketFront's BECS 3 control and provisioning system plays a leading role in Industria's overall broadband BackOffice and integration software, for managing the different broadband services and the complex billing management which has been successfully deployed at Magnet Networks," says Industria CEO Gudjon Mar Gudjonsson.

The key components of Magnet's ADSL2+ network will be PacketFront's BECS 3 system and its ASR broadband routers, which provide the essential functionalities for control and provisioning of advanced services, such as carrier-class TV over IP, and enable unprecedented capacity and network scalability.  BECS 3 enables Magnet to fully automate its triple play service delivery, giving users the ability to increase capacity and self-provision services for themselves, and thus cutting out the delay of waiting for a third party to make such changes.

Furthermore, Magnet is deploying PacketFront's unique IP DSLAM technology, the IPD 1248C, purpose-built for operators providing ADSL2+ in areas where fibre is not available for the last mile access network. With a bit rate of 29 Mbit/s downsteam and 3 Mbit/s upstream, the IPD 1248C enables triple-play services at locations never before thought possible, representing the same high performance of services to the end-user, as if connected via any other broadband access technology.

"We are very pleased to be advancing our relationship with Magnet Networks and Industria through the implementation of the BECS 3 system," said Michael Engström, VP Sales, Carriers EMEA at PacketFront. "Not only does BECS 3 make triple play services available to a wider range of customers, but it also helps operators such as Magnet to significantly reduce their OPEX via advanced automation features and end user self-provisioning.  We look forward to further success with Magnet Networks and Industria in the future."

Italtel, a leading company in the development and integration of products and services for next-generation Internet Protocol (IP) networks, and Accenture will jointly develop next-generation solutions for telecommunications service providers in Europe and South America.

The two companies will work together to integrate Italtel’s products – i-UDB, i-SSW, i-PS and EMAS – which support multi-media solutions and are adapted to the Internet Multi-Media Subsystem (IMS) standard, with Accenture Communications Solutions to help service providers bring next-generation services to market more quickly. Accenture Communications Solutions is an industry suite of business solutions that provide telecommunications service providers with ready-to-use, pre-packaged components that include a robust common integration framework and are aligned with industry standards.

The co-development agreement builds on the existing relationship between Accenture and Italtel, who recently teamed to develop a converged services capability for next-generation networks solution at Telecom Italia. At the heart of Telecom Italia’s services is a unified database that Accenture and Italtel integrated to provide a fast, scalable and reliable, centralized database that helps manage high volumes of customer profiles in real-time to facilitate innovative services. This agreement will allow Italtel to address a broader complement of business challenges through synergistic co-development around Accenture’s framework for the development of next-generation services and applications.

Accenture’s Service Delivery Platform is a standardized service-delivery architecture enabling wireless, wireline and convergent operators to facilitate and accelerate the introduction of market-driven mobile and fixed applications while reducing complexity of new product launches across the different access networks.

"The agreement supports our corporate development plans of expanding our capabilities to address the needs of supporting the most innovative operators that are set on expanding their VoIP services, improving their time to market and reducing their network management costs," said Claudio Chiarenza, Executive VP, Business Unit Products of Italtel. "We have teamed successfully with Accenture on a number of different complex projects and expect this further collaboration to allow us to offer a better service to new and existing clients."

“Our challenge is to develop cost-effective solutions that give communications providers flexibility and enable them to get their products to market quickly," said Roberto Citton, a senior executive in Accenture’s Communications & High Tech operating group. "Our combined solutions will help clients to take full advantage of broadband innovation while addressing the challenges of an increasingly complex and convergent digital environment.”

Nominum, a provider of IP Address Management Solutions, has announced that Telefónica de España has selected Nominum's carrier grade DNS software. Telefónica will deploy Nominum's Foundation Caching Name Server (CNS) throughout its European data centres.

"With demand for our residential and converged business-oriented broadband services growing at a rapid pace, we required a high performing, DNS platform capable of handling the increasing amounts of Internet based traffic," said Daniel Diaz Sanz, Senior Manager, Advanced Technology Group, Telefónica de España. "Nominum was the only solution that offered the speed and scalability to meet our existing and ongoing needs."

"Along with other leading European telecom carriers, we recognise that DNS is a critical element of our network. Investing in the best IT software and support is vital, as we continue towards our goal of leadership in the digital revolution, through our aggressive broadband strategy," he continued.

"Nominum is committed to providing our customers with the industry's best solution, and unwavering service support," said Abe Ayat, VP Worldwide Sales & Channels, Nominum. "We are pleased to welcome Telefónica to our growing European customer base."

CNS is the world's fastest caching name server. It was built from the ground up to deliver superior, performance, reliability and highly scalable DNS caching services. Using CNS, service providers and global enterprises are reducing costs, providing better network responsiveness and enhanced network security while meeting the challenges of growing IP networks.

TeleCity, a European data centre and managed services company, has announced a new agreement with Timico, a leading independent provider of integrated fixed, mobile and internet services, to support the underlying network infrastructure of its new hosted VoIP service for businesses.

The addition of the Timico VoIP for Business solution to its existing service portfolio makes Timico the first company in the UK to be able to provide converged mobile, fixed, internet and VoIP services on one bill within a single customer management solution.  By taking a suite at TeleCity’s Harbour Exchange in London, Timico is building for the future, implementing a scaleable solution in a robust physical location that will cater for the anticipated growth of VoIP, which has demonstrated significant take up by businesses over the last eighteen months. 

As VoIP uses IP Networks, with services generally requiring a broadband internet connection, resilience of the network is critical, as is optimum connectivity and UPS to ensure high quality and reliable voice communications.  TeleCity delivers on all these requirements, facilitated by 24/7 support from highly-skilled engineers and security in a carrier-neutral data centre environment. This guarantees that IP and telecoms services are always available to Timico.

“The high quality design and build of TeleCity’s data centre suite in the Docklands was a critical factor in our decision to select them as our outsourcing partner. We know they can deliver on power, resilience and connectivity, which is imperative to the success of internet telephony,” said Julian Rose, Technical Director of Timico.  “We will be able to continue growing our business knowing that our infrastructure is in the best possible location with built-in scalability and round-the-clock engineering support.”

“TeleCity is the logical infrastructure hosting location for VoIP operators who are serious about their commitment to high levels of service quality and availability,” said Rick Hudson, CEO, TeleCity.  “We offer unrivalled choices and levels of connectivity with multiple Tier 1 national and international carriers, 24/7 engineering support and years of experience in dealing with these technologies.  VoIP represents the future of telephony, and we are very pleased that a dynamic company such as Timico has chosen us as its network infrastructure partner.”