Broadband Everywhere

VISION

Broadband has become a natural part of our daily lives and routines. It’s an integral aspect of business and an enormous opportunity for the converging communications industry. Today, the main driver of broadband is the Internet. Over a billion users access the Internet daily. 'Broadband Everywhere' is now on the verge of becoming the fundamental enabler of a whole range of new revenue-generating services for network operators, communication service providers and others. Governments and regulatory agencies are also driving the expansion of broadband use. Many countries are sponsoring new initiatives that increase national productivity, save resources and realize strategic advantages. In turn, these initiatives encourage even further penetration and new initiatives.

Broadband everywhere enables richer communication between people no matter where they are. The Internet has become our doctor, lawyer, banker and government official. It provides us with a direct channel to government authorities, health services and local communities, channels we want available all the time and everywhere. And the Internet is rapidly becoming our entertainment channel of choice with an unparalleled selection of music, movies, TV shows and news. Even a country’s communication maturity and economic development will increasingly be determined by its broadband penetration and its seamless availability. It is widely accepted that an extended broadband network positively impacts a country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Enterprise and consumer broadband subscriptions have already proven to be one of the fastest service adoptions in history – even exceeding the growth rate of mobile telephony. The convenience and benefits of “always on” broadband Internet access are so apparent and appealing that its widespread rollout is continuing at record pace. As world economies continue to improve, the demand for broadband access is accelerating. Broadband already reaches 350 million subscribers. By 2012, this figure is projected to explode to over 1.8 billion with most of them using mobile devices.

As with most services that started in fixed networks, broadband has migrated into the mobile world. With over 70 million subscribers worldwide at present, mobile broadband will make up an increasingly larger part of the future growth in Broadband expected to reach an estimated 1.2 billion in 2012.

TAKE THE OPPORTUNITY

Broadband is rapidly becoming a basic necessity in today's information society. Consumers want to be broadband connected wherever they are, in the most convenient way. In addition to an Internet connection, broadband is also an important enabler for many current and future revenue-generating communication and media services. Imagine talking on the phone during your drive home, then walking into your house, sitting down on the sofa and seamlessly transferring the call to a video-conference on your TV. This scenario is demonstrable today with existing infrastructure and technology. In the near future, such broadband services will be delivered into homes everywhere.
Broadband in fixed networks has already proven to be one of the fastest-growing services in history, reaching over 300 million subscriptions. Its growth rate even surpasses that of mobile telephony. In 1998, broadband was provided over cable to about 2 million subscribers. Analysts predict that by 2012, this number will have exploded to 1.8 billion subscriptions using both fixed and mobile technologies. By choosing a partner like Ericsson – that has a thorough understanding of customer behavior – operators can ensure their share of this market.
Speed and reliability
People are becoming increasing impatient and don’t like to be kept waiting. They’re increasingly accustomed to getting what they want, when and where they want it. And slow Internet services just don’t sell. As broadband increasingly becomes the norm, services will have to include music, gaming, information updates, news, sports, weather, multimedia messaging combining images, video and voice as well as global positioning services that locate friends, a taxi stand or a nearby restaurant and the information must be instantaneous.
At the same time, many countries are developing e-government offerings that reduce paperwork and application times. They include official information, tax returns and, in some instances, voting and elections. As these services continue to expand, the need to ensure that entire populations have Internet access is essential. This has made speedy and reliable Internet access a measure of effective democracy and an issue of national productivity
Low cost and large volumes
People who use broadband say it quickly becomes a basic necessity – like electricity. The use of broadband is an irreversible process: once you’ve started, you’ll never want to turn back. But with so many access sources, affordable pricing will be the rule as broadband matures. Though profit margins may narrow, increased business volumes will compensate. Competitors seeking a share of consumer spending will have many revenue streams to consider.



MAKE IT HAPPEN

Understanding consumer needs, technology leadership and end-to-end multi-service capabilities will be keys to your success. Not to mention choosing the right partner.
Mobile and fixed
Historically broadband access has been supplied by fixed telecommunications and cable operators delivering services over a range of digital subscriber lines (DSL), cable and fiber technologies. Then utilities, municipalities and even private contractors came on the scene and built fiber access network connections into housing and development projects providing broadband services. And now, mobile broadband technologies are becoming widely available delivering similar types of services.
Creating a mobile broadband mass market – and ensuring the benefits of a digital society – means having full local and global coverage, not just disconnected islands of hotspots. Although a variety of technologies are currently competing to deliver commercial mobile broadband services, 3G networks based on the established WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) and HSPA (High Speed Packet Access) technologies are the best solution in terms of global acceptance, interoperability and spectrum efficiency.
WCDMA/HSPA offers worldwide roaming and economies of scale. This not only facilitates a consumer’s desire for broadband, but it also encourages industrial growth and research advances. This in turn enables a sustainable growth for operators by allowing them to leverage their existing assets such as their network infrastructure, operation and management systems, staff and their subscriber base and its management system.
Different starting points
There’s a battle going on between different players trying to gain a larger share of consumer spending. And fixed and mobile operators have different assets at their starting point in their evolution to broadband service providers.
Fixed operators will very high capabilities and offer more bundled services like TV and broadband Internet access together with basic telephony. Some of these operators will also offer mobility through partnerships or as virtual mobile operators.
Mobile operators with third generation (3G) licenses will add mobile broadband to their existing services. Mobile broadband includes many multi-service capabilities such as mobile TV and leverage the coverage and mobility aspects inherent in a mobile network.

Bundling means business
Most legacy broadband networks were optimized for best effort Internet surfing from a PC. This service will remain an important driver for broadband, but a transition to bundled offerings is changing the competitive landscape.
Bundled services offer consumers the convenience of one bill and often have a lower total cost when compared to buying separate services from different providers. Bundled services typically include mobile and fixed telephony, broadband Internet access and broadcast TV. For operators, bundles can reduce churn while simultaneously increasing the number of subscribers and the average revenue per subscriber. For example France, the price of broadband packages have remained relatively constant by bundling services and adding services to their offering, offering more for the same amount of money.

IP Throughout
At the heart of multi-service networks is the ongoing evolution towards all-IP networks. Robust, telecom-quality solutions in areas including Softswitching and the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) enable network owners to cost-efficiently modernize their existing assets using open standards based components. An IP-based packet core and backbone network collects feeds from many sources including cable, xDSL, WCDMA/HSDPA or LTE and then aggregates that traffic and efficiently transmits routes and delivers it.
Incremental investments can release cost-effective, reliable capacity that’s paced to growth in demand and revenues, enabling multimedia services and additional revenue streams and provide the least total cost of ownership considering an operator's core assets and business plans. Many operators are discovering how their network infrastructure and customer bases can provide them with unique competitive advantages in an always on, broadband world.
Those operators and network owners that can best develop and leverage these assets will be best positioned to prosper in the Broadband Everywhere landscape.

http://www.ericsson.com/drivingthemarket/broadbandeverywhere/index.shtml