Alaska Communications uses XGS-PON, FWA, DSL in ~5K homes including Fairbanks and North Pole

Alaska Communications says it used a variety of tools to bring broadband service and increase speeds to nearly 5,000 homes last year in the state’s largely isolated Interior region. The network operator used technologies such as XGS-PON, fixed wireless and DSL to reach towns such as Fairbanks and North Pole.  A total of 1,200 homes in those communities now have access to the offering, which as the spokesperson confirmed, is based on XGS-PON fiber broadband.Some other people in Fairbanks and North Pole also have new options in broadband, but at considerably lower speeds. Alaska Communications expanded service to 2,400 locations in those markets and in several others using a mix of DSL and fixed wireless supporting speeds up to 50 Mbps.

That build was funded, in part, through the Connect America Fund II (CAF II) program.

“While we consider fiber to be the gold standard, Alaska’s vast geography, weather conditions and existing middle mile network infrastructure make it hard to deploy a one-size-fits all technology,” the spokesperson said in the email.

Fixed wireless also underlies a project completed in 2022 that made gigabit service available to more than 1,200 homes at Fort Wainwright.

“Our network upgrades on Fort Wainwright use fiber-fed mesh wireless as the last mile delivery,” the spokesperson explained. “Our mesh networks use fiber and radios to create a redundant mesh of connectivity around the customer. We selected mesh because it’s fast to deploy, gives the customer a fiber-like experience and allows rapid deployment on military installations.”

The backhaul infrastructure underlying the Alaska Communications network expansion also used a wide spectrum of technologies.

On one end of the spectrum, the XGS-PON deployment is supported by the company’s core packet switched and optical transport networks. At the other end of the spectrum for lower-speed deployments, the company in “minimal cases” uses bonded copper for backhaul, the spokesperson said. For some of those lower-speed deployments, the company also relies on a combination of fixed wireless and fiber.

Interestingly, Alaska Communications fiber installations use a combination of aerial and buried cable. The use of buried cable is a bit of a surprise, recognizing that the ground in Alaska is frozen solid for a considerable portion of the year.

The company plans further expansion into the Interior in 2023 and beyond, according to a press release about the broadband expansion.

Fort Wainwright family housing equipped with an Alaska Communications receiver. Mesh networks use fiber and radios to create a redundant mesh of connectivity around the customer. (Photo: Business Wire)

Contact:

Heather Marron, Manager, Corporate Communications
[email protected]

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References:

 

DZS Inc: 2023 Telecom Trends & Applications Changing the Broadband Industry

by Geoff Burke, DZS Inc. (a global provider of access networking infrastructure, service assurance and consumer experience software solutions).  Edited by Alan J Weissberger

There are a handful of significant trends that will emerge over the next several months as service providers navigate their transformation and seek to find their Competitive EDGE.  This post will focus on the increasing shift to multi-gigabit services, the growing importance of the network edge and how service providers are being transformed into “experience providers..

  • Multi-Gigabit Broadband Services are Becoming the New Standard – The shift to gigabit services was both widespread and well suited for Gigabit Passive Optical Networking (GPON) However, new advanced applications will require symmetrical multi-gigabit speeds. The proliferation of multiple devices using these bandwidth-hungry apps is pushing service providers to begin to think 10 gig services and beyond for both business and residential services. The emergence of the metaverse, with Ultra High Definition (UHD) Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality/Extended Reality (AR/VR/XR) and gaming applications will continue push these boundaries.
  • The Network Edge Continues to Rise as a Strategic Location – The rise of 10 Gigabit Symmetrical (XGS)-PON and multi-gigabit services that support the above mentioned applications and more is creating new challenges in the network – especially as these apps require symmetrical bandwidth. Service providers realize that they must push equipment as close to the subscriber as possible to optimize traffic management, but also to minimize latency, which is becoming increasingly important in the world of the metaverse and AR/VR/XR apps. Additionally, leveraging intelligence at the edge moves it closer to where data is actually created and consumed and where the subscriber experience is defined giving service providers increased agility in monitoring, managing and optimizing performance.
  • Service Providers are Rapidly Transforming into Experience Providers – As the network becomes increasingly software defined and intelligent equipment is deployed closer to the edge, the ability for carriers to both gather meaningful information that can reflect and provide actionable insights into user experience grows dramatically. As a result, the concept of a true “experience provider” is emerging where subscriber problems can be anticipated and proactively addressed, and user needs can be addressed remotely and immediately in an extraordinarily personalized manner. This transformation is proving to have profound impacts on carrier performance, with dramatically reduced churn, faster responsiveness, better performance, and higher Average Revenue Per User (ARPU).

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DZS Inc says these Applications are Changing the Broadband Industry:

  • Connected Home: WiFi everywhere
  • Connected Business: Passive Optical LAN
  • MDUs: delivering multi-gigabit services
  • Multi-gigabit services: they are becoming a major source of differentiation for service providers

References:

https://dzsi.com/resources/blog/the-broadband-trends-that-will-define-2023-part-1/

Applications

MoffettNathanson: 87.4% of available U.S. homes have broadband; Leichtman Research: 90% of U.S. homes have internet

When the FCC announced the November 18th release date for their long-awaited broadband mapping update, reflecting location-specific broadband availability as of June 2022, analysts at MoffettNathanson  thought it would contain information on how many of  U.S. homes have access to broadband and how many are too rural and are therefore unserved.  However, that FCC release didn’t offer the numbers they needed, and the market research fim didn’t
have the necessary information to calculate it themselves.

In the underlying FCC datasets, which are provided for public download, each location served by a given technology or provider is a separate entry. One location is equivalent to one street address. But many street addresses in the U.S. correspond to multiple living units, and the number of units per location is not publicly available (the location fabric used by the FCC was contracted to a third party, CostQuest Associates, and that fabric is provided only to the FCC, broadband providers, state/local government entities, and select other interested parties). With approximately 31% of residences in multifamily homes, according to a 2019 survey by the Census Bureau, the number of units per location was, as of the November 18th release, a crucial missing piece for any meaningful coverage analysis we could do on our own.

Principal Analyst Craig Moffett wrote:

The FCC’s new maps of broadband availability can tell us coverage for residential locations or business locations, but not the combined total. The companies we cover sometimes break out residential and commercial, but not always. [As an aside, about half of small businesses in the U.S. are actually operated out of peoples’ homes, but hopefully this, at least, doesn’t introduce further distortion, since we are presumably still seeing just one subscription for one location]. So we’ll do our best to make sure we’re matching numerator and denominator by specifying whether we’re looking at all locations or residential locations only.

The FCC’s coverage data also doesn’t distinguish between occupied and vacant units. For our calculation of penetration, we’d want to exclude most vacant units, since vacant units don’t need broadband. Excluding all vacant units likely understates the denominator, though; for example, some second homes (which are treated as vacant) may have year-round broadband subscriptions. The best we can do is assume the coverage of total units is the same as the coverage of occupied units, and that vacant units with broadband subscriptions are negligible.

The FCC does report service coverage for satellite and fixed wireless. But some of those FWA subscribers are in areas where there’s no access to wired broadband, while others are in areas where wired broadband is available. Naturally, the companies won’t tell us how many of each there are. So we’ll just have to leave them all out. We’ll focus just on the availability of wired broadband.

Editor’s Note:  The FCC broadband map for my address show a Licensed Fixed Wireless operator serves my condo. It’s California Internet with symmetrical 1G upstream/1G downstream.  Also, there are two Satellite providers – Hughes Network Systems, LLC 25M/3M and Space X 350M/40M.  Wired internet is available from AT&T and Comcast.

We’d really want to know how many DSL subscribers are in each of those different cohorts. But the
companies we cover don’t report how many of their DSL subscribers are in areas where there is
also a cable or fiber operator, and how many are in areas where DSL is the only option. The first
group is at risk. The second group is not. So, we’ll just have to include all DSL.

According to the FCC’s current estimates, wired broadband (defined as anything over 200 kbps downstream and 200 kbps upstream) was available to 93.7% of residential units in America as of June 30, 2022. Again, we don’t know the percentage of occupied housing units with wired broadband available, but let’s assume it’s the same. And we don’t know the number of residential units in the location fabric, so we’ll use the Census Bureau’s estimate of 128.1M occupied housing units in the U.S. Given these assumptions, we estimate wired broadband was available to around 120.0M occupied housing units as of June 30, 2022. With, by our count, an estimated 104.9M residential wired broadband subscriptions in America in Q2 2022 – again, including DSL, and sometimes including commercial as well as residential subscribers – that translates into penetration of 87.4% of broadband-available homes.  We estimate that 81.5% of all households subscribe to wired broadband.

Craig’s Conclusions:

The goal for the FCC is to create maps that are not frozen in time but instead become living and breathing reflections of a dynamic marketplace. The new maps are subject to a public challenge process, enabling interested parties, including operators, local governments, and even individual would-be subscribers, to dispute reported availability. Challenges will eventually be part of a routine updating process. Indeed, the maps released in November were the product of what had already been a months-long initial challenge process. The maps are, again, a critical input to distribution of $42.5 billion of funds earmarked for rural broadband by the JOBS/Infrastructure Act. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is required by law to use the FCC’s new map to distribute those funds in what is referred to as the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program, something they have committed to do by June 2023. They are likely to begin that process almost immediately, based on the number of unserved locations in each state, although NTIA chief Alan Davidson has said they will wait for the FCC to release the second version of its coverage map, later this year, before they actually begin to disburse those funds.

The network operators themselves, including the cable operators in particular, will in our view be major participants in the BEAD process, bidding aggressively to bring broadband to unserved census blocks on the periphery of their current franchise areas.

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Meanwhile,  Leichtman Research Group indicates that 90 per cent of U.S. households get an Internet service at home, compared to 84 per cent in 2017, and 74 per cent in 2007. Broadband accounts for 99 per cent of households with an Internet service at home, and 89 per cent of all households get a broadband Internet service – an increase from 82 per cent in 2017, and 53 per cent in 2007.

These findings are based on a survey of 1,910 households from throughout the United States and are part of a new LRG study, Broadband Internet in the U.S. 2022.  This is LRG’s twentieth annual study on this topic.

Other related findings include:

  • Individuals ages 65+ account for 34% of those that do not get an Internet service at home
  • 56% of broadband subscribers are very satisfied (8-10 on a 1-10 scale) with their Internet service at home, while 6% are not satisfied (1-3).
  • 44% of broadband subscribers do not know the download speed of their service – compared to 60% in 2017
  • 61% reporting Internet speeds of >100 Mbps are very satisfied with their service, compared to 41% with speeds <50 Mbps, and 57% that do not know their speed
  • 40% of broadband households get a bundle of services from a single provider – compared to 64% in 2017, and 78% in 2012
  • 59% of adults with an Internet service at home watch video online daily – compared to 59% in 2020, 43% in 2017, and 17% in 2012

“The percentage of households getting an Internet service at home, including high-speed broadband, is higher than in any previous year,” said Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for Leichtman Research Group, Inc.  “Computer usage and knowledge remain the foundation for Internet services in the home.  Among those that do not get an Internet service at home, 58% also do not use a computer at home..”

References:

https://broadbandmap.fcc.gov/home

https://www.leichtmanresearch.com/90-of-u-s-households-get-an-internet-service-at-home/

Ookla Ranks Internet Performance in the World’s Largest Cities: China is #1

Internet connectivity benchmarking firm Ookla, which maintains the popular Speedtest.net service, has updated their ranking of broadband performance in countries around the world to include internet speed rankings for some of the “world’s largest cities.”  Ookla’s new list ranks median internet download speeds in nearly 200 cities all over the world.

Overall, China topped the list with Shanghai as the fastest city on their list for mobile broadband with a median download speed of 158.63Mbps (24.32Mbps upload and 17ms latency), while Beijing was fastest for fixed broadband during September 2022 at 238.86Mbps (37.75Mbps upload and 7ms latency).

Beijing (China) and Valparaiso (Chile) were ranked highest in the fixed broadband category, with average speeds of 239 Mbps and 223 Mbps, respectively, followed by Shanghai (222 Mbps), New York (218 Mbps), Bangkok (217 Mbps) and Madrid (197 Mbps).

Fastest Broadband Speeds for the World’s Largest Cities 2022

Fastest Cities for Mobile (Mbps) Fastest Cities for Fixed Broadband (Mbps)
Shanghai, China 158.63 Beijing, China 238.86
Copenhagen, Denmark 157.54 Valparaíso, Chile 222.67
Oslo, Norway 155.19 Shanghai, China 221.85
Busan, South Korea 147.55 New York, United States 218.04
Beijing, China 145.76 Bangkok, Thailand 217.19
Sofia, Bulgaria 145.28 Madrid, Spain 196.7
Ar-Rayyan, Qatar 140.69 Bucharest, Romania 195.6
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates 137.48 Lyon, France 193.34
Dubai, United Arab Emirates 135.52 Chon Buri, Thailand 188.25
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia 133.65 Tokyo, Japan 185.04
Stockholm, Sweden 126.4 Los Angeles, United States 184.15
Antwerp, Belgium 121.33 Geneva, Switzerland 182.84
Gothenburg, Sweden 120.71 Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates 178.17
Doha, Qatar 114 Zürich, Switzerland 177.6
Seoul, South Korea 113.36 Santiago, Chile 176.58
Melbourne (Greater), Australia 111.78 Copenhagen, Denmark 175.31
Sydney, Australia 108.04 Barcelona, Spain 173.71
New York, United States 106.57 Osaka, Japan 169.18
Rotterdam, Netherlands 100.85 Toronto, Canada 164.93
Skopje, North Macedonia 99.02 Paris, France 155.24
Toronto, Canada 98.29 Auckland, New Zealand 149.22
Amsterdam, Netherlands 96.79 Budapest, Hungary 147.82
Los Angeles, United States 95.4 Taipei, Taiwan 144.35
Zürich, Switzerland 89.17 Kraków, Poland 138.75
Montreal, Canada 84.25 Warsaw, Poland 138.64
Helsinki, Finland 83.57 São Paulo, Brazil 124.05
Zagreb, Croatia 82.36 Dubai, United Arab Emirates 118.99
Muscat, Oman 79.66 New Taipei, Taiwan 115.36
Auckland, New Zealand 77.91 Gothenburg, Sweden 111.29
Lisbon, Portugal 76.23 Porto, Portugal 110.91
Manama, Bahrain 72.72 Stockholm, Sweden 109.59
Kuwait City, Kuwait 72.61 Haifa, Israel 108.46
Porto, Portugal 72.16 Seoul, South Korea 106.48
Paris, France 72.12 Chisinau, Moldova 105.05
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia 71.92 Panama City, Panama 104.25
Geneva, Switzerland 70.88 Oslo, Norway 102.76
Berlin, Germany 70.02 Montevideo, Uruguay 102.57
Vilnius, Lithuania 67.7 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 100.49
Manchester, United Kingdom 67.07 Amsterdam, Netherlands 99.66
London, United Kingdom 66.36 Milan, Italy 98.57
Taipei, Taiwan 65.18 Rotterdam, Netherlands 95.39
Vienna, Austria 65.08 Kuwait City, Kuwait 94.65
New Taipei, Taiwan 64.69 Medellín, Colombia 94.48
Brussels, Belgium 58.78 Busan, South Korea 94.43
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 58.64 Bogotá, Colombia 94.38
Athens, Greece 57.23 Vilnius, Lithuania 94.28
Hamburg, Germany 56.77 Ar-Rayyan, Qatar 94.16
São Paulo, Brazil 56.58 Riyadh, Saudi Arabia 93.71
Thessaloniki, Greece 56.57 Lisbon, Portugal 93.13
Lyon, France 56.08 Dublin, Ireland 91.63
Prague, Czechia 55.25 Moscow, Russia 91.26
Belgrade, Serbia 53.27 Riga, Latvia 91.14
Bucharest, Romania 52.03 Montreal, Canada 90.06
Osaka, Japan 51.53 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 89.38
Milan, Italy 51.27 Vienna, Austria 88.05
Budapest, Hungary 49.88 Belgrade, Serbia 87.88
Tokyo, Japan 49.86 Antwerp, Belgium 87.17
Riga, Latvia 45.88 Berlin, Germany 86.65
Kraków, Poland 44.42 Doha, Qatar 86.62
Warsaw, Poland 43.48 Hamburg, Germany 85.35
Barcelona, Spain 42.88 Johor Bahru, Malaysia 85.03
Rabat, Morocco 41.98 Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel 84.96
Madrid, Spain 40.78 Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam 84.32
Johannesburg, South Africa 40.38 Helsinki, Finland 84.11
Hanoi, Vietnam 40.01 Saint Petersburg, Russia 83.33
Rome, Italy 40 Amman, Jordan 80.37
Dublin, Ireland 39.96 Kiev, Ukraine 77.42
Bangkok, Thailand 39.3 Jeddah, Saudi Arabia 76.81
Haifa, Israel 39.05 Davao City, Philippines 75.23
Chon Buri, Thailand 39.03 Asuncion, Paraguay 74.18
Baku, Azerbaijan 37.12 London, United Kingdom 73.93
Tbilisi, Georgia 37.08 Hanoi, Vietnam 73.67
Chisinau, Moldova 36.3 Sofia, Bulgaria 73.66
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam 36.09 Manila, Philippines 73.47
Johor Bahru, Malaysia 35.67 Manchester, United Kingdom 73.43
Cape Town, South Africa 35.42 Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago 73.2
Ankara, Turkey 35.27 Brussels, Belgium 71.71
Montevideo, Uruguay 34.82 Buenos Aires, Argentina 71.41
Istanbul, Turkey 34.7 Muscat, Oman 69.46
Tehran, Iran 34.24 Az-Zarqa, Jordan 67.53
Guadalajara, Mexico 32.77 Kharkiv, Ukraine 67.05
Mashhad, Iran 32.71 Rome, Italy 64.92
Beirut, Lebanon 32.35 Zagreb, Croatia 63.92
Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel 31.69 Delhi, India 63.2
Kharkiv, Ukraine 31.06 San José, Costa Rica 61.44
Yangon, Myanmar (Burma) 30.98 Prague, Czechia 60.67
Casablanca, Morocco 30.84 Mexico City, Mexico 59.56
Mosul, Iraq 30.77 Minsk, Belarus 59.14
Sfax, Tunisia 30.74 Maracaibo, Venezuela 57.31
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 30.1 Guadalajara, Mexico 55.63
Kingston, Jamaica 29.89 Lima, Peru 53.68
Moscow, Russia 29.74 Sydney, Australia 53.64
Baghdad, Iraq 29.62 Melbourne (Greater), Australia 53.45
Mexico City, Mexico 28.28 Arequipa, Peru 53.4
Mandalay, Myanmar (Burma) 28.21 Gomel, Belarus 52.91
Samarkand, Uzbekistan 28.2 Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia 52.79
Vientiane, Laos 28.15 Kathmandu, Nepal 52.68
Kiev, Ukraine 28.15 Guayaquil, Ecuador 51.87
Guatemala City, Guatemala 27.89 Johannesburg, South Africa 51.79
Buenos Aires, Argentina 26.49 Córdoba, Argentina 51.67
Almaty, Kazakhstan 26.44 Alexandria, Egypt 51.07
Manila, Philippines 26.16 Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan 50.05
Tunis, Tunisia 25.87 Skopje, North Macedonia 48.09
Córdoba, Argentina 25.3 Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan 47.85
Valparaíso, Chile 24.16 Manama, Bahrain 47.69
Yerevan, Armenia 23.98 Quito, Ecuador 47.36
Tegucigalpa, Honduras 23.93 Almaty, Kazakhstan 47.21
Luanda, Angola 23.93 Tashkent, Uzbekistan 46.27
San Pedro Sula, Honduras 23.83 Kingston, Jamaica 45.75
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic 23.81 Thessaloniki, Greece 44.35
Santiago De Los Caballeros, Dominican Republic 23.64 Mumbai, India 43.56
Saint Petersburg, Russia 21.19 Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso 43.14
San Salvador, El Salvador 20.58 Managua, Nicaragua 42.68
Alexandria, Egypt 20.46 Dhaka, Bangladesh 40.38
Cairo, Egypt 20.43 Yerevan, Armenia 40.34
Az-Zarqa, Jordan 20.4 Athens, Greece 40
Davao City, Philippines 20.35 Cape Town, South Africa 39.5
Amman, Jordan 20.13 Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire 38.44
Kampala, Uganda 20.01 Ankara, Turkey 37.42
Santiago, Chile 19.87 Istanbul, Turkey 36.75
Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan 19.79 Libreville, Gabon 36.13
Phnom Penh, Cambodia 18.94 Tegucigalpa, Honduras 33.55
Quito, Ecuador 18.89 Antananarivo, Madagascar 33.34
Lagos, Nigeria 18.85 Chittagong, Bangladesh 33.02
Managua, Nicaragua 18.64 Lome, Togo 31.97
Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan 18.37 Samarkand, Uzbekistan 31.58
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 17.29 San Pedro Sula, Honduras 31.53
Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire 17.22 San Salvador, El Salvador 31.36
San José, Costa Rica 17.21 Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic 30.87
Nairobi, Kenya 17.09 Pointe-Noire, Congo 30.11
Colombo, Sri Lanka 16.95 Guatemala City, Guatemala 29.53
Tashkent, Uzbekistan 16.69 Vientiane, Laos 29.04
Guayaquil, Ecuador 16.6 Accra, Ghana 28.71
Bekasi, Indonesia 16.47 Baku, Azerbaijan 28.69
Misrata, Libya 16.46 Brazzaville, Congo 27.55
South Jakarta, Indonesia 16.14 Bekasi, Indonesia 27.04
Dakar, Senegal 16.13 South Jakarta, Indonesia 27
Asuncion, Paraguay 15.93 Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia 26.28
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia 15.8 Tbilisi, Georgia 26.12
Panama City, Panama 15.75 Bamako, Mali 24.37
Oran, Algeria 15.57 Dakar, Senegal 23.41
Lahore, Pakistan 15.01 La Paz, Bolivia 23.25
Delhi, India 14.99 Cairo, Egypt 22.42
Dhaka, Bangladesh 14.98 Nouakchott, Mauritania 21.75
Kathmandu, Nepal 14.94 Baghdad, Iraq 21.58
Lima, Peru 14.65 Casablanca, Morocco 20.23
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania 14.51 Phnom Penh, Cambodia 19.78
Arequipa, Peru 13.5 Dushanbe, Tajikistan 19.61
Algiers, Algeria 13.49 Mandalay, Myanmar (Burma) 19.37
Damascus, Syria 12.83 Yangon, Myanmar (Burma) 19.03
Tripoli, Libya 12.36 Rabat, Morocco 17.57
Mumbai, India 12.29 Colombo, Sri Lanka 16.65
Bogotá, Colombia 11.99 Cotonou, Benin 15.97
Karachi, Pakistan 11.92 Karachi, Pakistan 14.82
Minsk, Belarus 11.33 Port-au-Prince, Haiti 14.7
La Paz, Bolivia 10.76 Luanda, Angola 14.18
Khartoum, Sudan 10.66 Mombasa, Kenya 14.08
Medellín, Colombia 10.4 Dar es Salaam, Tanzania 13.74
Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia 10.07 Mosul, Iraq 12.43
Sana’a, Yemen 9.96 Lagos, Nigeria 12.22
Aleppo, Syria 9.18 Oran, Algeria 12.09
Chittagong, Bangladesh 8.84 Tehran, Iran 11.9
Dushanbe, Tajikistan 8.83 Algiers, Algeria 11.87
Gomel, Belarus 8.72 Santiago De Los Caballeros, Dominican Republic 11.71
Maracaibo, Venezuela 7.75 Lahore, Pakistan 10.88
Caracas, Venezuela 7.16 Kampala, Uganda 10.6
Accra, Ghana 6.41 Kigali, Rwanda 9.65
Kabul, Afghanistan 5.15 Nairobi, Kenya 9.58
Port-au-Prince, Haiti 4.82 Lusaka, Zambia 9.12
Havana, Cuba 4.51 Tunis, Tunisia 8.54

 

North America

  • United States: T-Mobile was the fastest mobile operator with a median download speed of 116.14 Mbps. Spectrum was fastest for fixed broadband at 211.66 Mbps.
  • Canada: TELUS was the fastest mobile operator in Canada with a median download speed of 76.03 Mbps. Rogers was fastest for fixed broadband (223.89 Mbps).
  • Mexico: Telcel had the fastest median download speed over mobile at 36.07 Mbps. Totalplay was fastest for fixed broadband at 74.64 Mbps.

 

Europe

 

  • Albania: Vodafone was the fastest mobile operator with a median download speed of 46.75 Mbps. Digicom was fastest for fixed broadband at 77.83 Mbps.
  • Belgium: Telenet had the fastest median download speed over fixed broadband at 126.79 Mbps.
  • Denmark: YouSee was the fastest mobile operator in Denmark with a median download speed of 118.32 Mbps. Fastspeed was fastest for fixed broadband at 270.80 Mbps.
  • Estonia: The fastest operator in Estonia was Telia with a median download speed of 72.95 Mbps. Elisa was fastest over fixed broadband at 84.09 Mbps.
  • Finland: DNA had the fastest median download speed over mobile at 74.65 Mbps. Lounea was fastest for fixed broadband at 103.79 Mbps.
  • Germany: Telekom was the fastest mobile operator in Germany with a median download speed of 78.85 Mbps. Vodafone was fastest for fixed broadband at 112.58 Mbps.
  • Latvia: LMT had the fastest median download speed over mobile at 63.59 Mbps. Balticom was fastest for fixed broadband at 203.31 Mbps.
  • Lithuania: The operator with the fastest median download speed was Telia with 102.09 Mbps. Cgates was fastest for fixed broadband at 131.63 Mbps.
  • Poland: Orange had the fastest median download speed over mobile at 43.02 Mbps. UPC was fastest for fixed broadband at 206.22 Mbps.
  • Turkey: Turkcell was the fastest mobile operator in Turkey with a median download speed of 51.92 Mbps. TurkNet was fastest for fixed broadband at 50.94 Mbps.

References:

https://www.ookla.com/articles/global-index-cities-announcement

UK Struggles in Ranking of World’s Fastest Cities for Broadband

 

Point Topic: Global Broadband Tariff Benchmark Report- 2Q-2022

In the twelve months to the close of Q2 2022, global residential fixed line broadband subscribers saw their average monthly charges decrease by 4% on copper, cable and fiber-based tariffs. Across the three technologies the average bandwidth increased by 22% year-on-year (y-o-y), due to the increased innovation and proliferation of fiber-based networks globally. Business subscribers continued to struggle with rising monthly charges, with the average monthly charge increasing by 12% and the average downstream speed standing at 426 Mbps compared to residential tariff averages of 464 Mbps.

The Asia-Pacific region retained its dominant bandwidth position with average speeds of 1,146 Mbps, up from 1,355 Mbps in Q4 2021 and 1,135 Mbps y-o-y, followed by North America, Western Europe, and Southeast Asia with the three regions reaching a combined average of around 465 Mbps.

Qatar, Switzerland and Southeast Asian countries still remain at the top of the league by average bandwidth along Italy, France and Bulgaria; these countries all rank in the top ten cheapest for residential broadband in terms of average cost per Mbps being less than $0.10 PPP.

In Q2 2022, the combined average download bandwidth grew by 20% compared to Q2 2021 and stood at 426 Mbps. This was caused by the boost in the average speed over cable and especially fibre, 14% and 22% respectively. Copper maintained largely the same average download speed compared to the previous quarter. However, the overall global average monthly cost across the three technologies has increased by just over 12% from $217 PPP to $244 PPP at the close of Q2 2022

References:

Global Broadband Tariff Benchmark Report, Q2 2022 (point-topic.com)

 

USTelecom Broadband Pricing Index (BPI): substantial price reductions for broadband access

While U.S. inflation in 2022 has soared to a 40+ year high (at 8.6% YoY), the price of broadband internet access is still falling and consumers are getting even more for less.

USTelecom’s latest analysis of the broadband marketplace: 2022 Broadband Pricing Index (BPI). This year’s report finds pricing for the most popular and highest-speed broadband internet services continues to decline while value continues to increase. The research compares prices over two time periods: the year-over-year price difference from 2021-2022; and a longer-term view of price changes between 2015 and 2022.

The third installment of the USTelecom Broadband Pricing Index (BPI) reveals continued substantial price reductions for both the most popular and highest-speed broadband internet services.

As in previous years, the BPI uses FCC and other public data sources to assess recent trends in residential fixed broadband pricing in the United States. The 2022 edition of the BPI compares prices over two time intervals:

  1. The price difference from 2021-2022
  2. A longer-term view in price changes between 2015 and 2022

In both cases, as in the past, the BPI creates an index that allows comparisons between the most popular speed tiers in each year (BPI-Consumer Choice) and the highest speed tiers in each year (BPI-Speed).

Key Findings of the Report:

Broadband Pricing Ran Counter to Significant Overall Inflation in the Past Year

  • Real BPI-Consumer Choice broadband prices dropped by 14.7% from 2021-2022
  • Real BPI-Speed broadband prices dropped by 11.6% from 2021-2022
  • In contrast, the cost of overall goods and services rose by 8% from 2021-2022

Historical Broadband Pricing Analysis Shows Real Broadband Prices Have Been Cut in Half from Seven Years Ago

  • Real BPI-Consumer Choice tier prices dropped by 44.6% from 2015-2022
  • Real BPI-Speed tier prices dropped by 52.7% from 2015-2022

The Consumer Value of Broadband Service Has Never Been Higher

  • Providers have increased the speeds of their broadband offerings.  When combined with the price drops for that service, the overall value to customers (measured on a dollars/megabit basis) shows a dramatic improvement over the past seven years.
  • The real cost per megabit of both the most popular and fastest service offerings have dropped by around 75% since 2015. This gives the consumers a boost in their wallet and in their daily online performance.

DOWNLOAD THE REPORT HERE

References:

2022 Broadband Pricing Index

https://ustelecom.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/USTelecom-Broadband-Pricing-Report2022.pdf

 

Intelsat and PCCW Global combine networks; Intelsat achieves MEF 3.0 Carrier Ethernet (CE) Certification

Intelsat and PCCW Global Combine Networks:

Satellite communications specialist Intelsat and Hong Kong based PCCW Global have announced a new collaboration to extend the reach, resiliency, and quick delivery of on-demand enterprise connectivity offerings.

The integration of Intelsat’s FlexEnterprise global connectivity fabric with PCCW Global’s Console Connect Software Defined Interconnection® platform enables organizations to deliver enterprise connectivity to locations around the globe while leveraging an easy-to-use platform underpinned by one of the world’s largest private MPLS networks.

The combined solution addresses two key obstacles to delivering reliable, agile services across all of an enterprise’s locations: limited local telecom infrastructure that can challenge traditional network deployments in developing or hard-to-reach places, and lengthy lead times typically associated with creating high-performance networks and services. The collaboration brings together FlexEnterprise’s reach and reduced network deployment speed and Console Connect’s real-time quoting, ordering and provisioning of high-performance connectivity.

Mr. Frederick Chui, Chief Commercial Officer, PCCW Global, said, “The collaboration with Intelsat brings together the latest innovations in fixed network and satellite network technologies to deliver more flexible enterprise connectivity solutions. By integrating Intelsat’s FlexEnterprise solution with the Console Connect digital platform, our global customers can access satellite connected locations wherever they need to and effortlessly turn up services across all sites.”

FlexEnterprise leverages the world’s largest and most advanced integrated satellite fleet and ground infrastructure to enable service providers to integrate the reach and reliability of Intelsat services without the need to manage wholesale satellite capacity. The connectivity-as-a-service solution offers packaged service that makes it quicker and more cost-effective to add resiliency to existing sites and extend the reach of enterprise networks to even the most remote areas.

The Console Connect digital platform puts users in control of one of the world’s largest MPLS and Tier 1 IP networks, providing them with private, on-demand connections between over 750 data centres across more than 50 countries worldwide. Console Connect is home to a growing ecosystem of cloud, SaaS, IX, IoT, carrier and enterprise partners, which are directly interconnected by the platform’s private high-performance network, delivering higher levels of network performance, speed, and security. Through the platform’s MeetingPlace feature, users can also directly order and provision partner services, such as remote peering, colocation and business applications, as well as access native services from Console Connect.

Mr. Brian Jakins, General Manager and Vice President of Networks, Intelsat, said, “Our Sales and Product teams work closely with the telecom ecosystem to make satellite services more relevant and easier to adopt for a broader set of customers. With the integration into the Console Connect platform, Intelsat is able to more easily meet customers anywhere on the PCCW Global network, while enterprises leverage the platform to extend applications and services to their most remote users and outposts.”

Intelsat’s Global Network is First to Achieve MEF 3.0 Carrier Ethernet Certification for New Performance Tier:

Intelsat has become the first satellite operator to achieve MEF 3.0 Carrier Ethernet (CE) Certification for services delivered through its integrated space and global terrestrial network. Intelsat’s achievement means that customers can dependably integrate Intelsat’s global network solutions into their network solutions with assurance of performance and security. This also represents continued progress towards Intelsat’s Unified Network vision to enable seamless, end-to-end orchestrated services, driven by our integration of 5G and other open standards.

“Intelsat’s achievement of MEF 3.0 certification ensures that customers can rely on Intelsat to provide Ethernet services that meet the demands of enterprise, government and wholesale use cases with key performance indicators that define the industry standard for high-quality,” said Lance Hassan, Director of Terrestrial Network Innovation at Intelsat. “This achievement also demonstrates Intelsat’s leadership as a satellite communications company and global provider of network solutions.

MEF service definitions help telecom service providers accelerate product development and service implementations, with definitive measures to ensure consistency of the quality of the services they provide. As part of Intelsat’s continued efforts to drive open standards development and adoption across the satellite industry, the company worked with MEF member companies to amend MEF 23 with a new Performance Tier (PT5) that defines new Class of Service performance objectives for satellite-based networks.

“Intelsat, in achieving our industry’s first MEF 3.0 certification for GEO satellite-based Carrier Ethernet services, is adding a dimension to MEF’s important work that will benefit users no matter where they stand on the globe,” said Bob Mandeville, president and founder of Iometrix, MEF’s testing partner for carrier ethernet certifications.

“Companies in the satellite community are crucially important in enabling accessibility of carrier ethernet services anywhere on the planet,” said Kevin Vachon, chief operating officer, MEF. “Achieving MEF 3.0 certification facilitates interoperability with terrestrial networks and lays the groundwork to ultimately achieve service automation with MEF’s Lifecycle Service Orchestration (LSO) framework and APIs. We congratulate Intelsat on their certification achievements.”

Intelsat services are provided by the company’s integrated satellite and terrestrial network. For more information and to check availability, click here.

References:

https://www.pccwglobal.com/company/news-and-events/news/intelsat-and-pccw-global-collaborate-to-deliver-on-demand-enterprise-connectivity-solutions/

https://www.intelsat.com/newsroom/intelsats-global-network-is-first-to-achieve-mef-3-0-carrier-ethernet-certification-for-new-performance-tier/

New Study: Internet and Mobile Services were less affordable in 2021

Internet connectivity became less affordable worldwide in 2021, according to new data from the ITU-D and the Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI).

The new study shows an increase in fixed and mobile broadband costs during the pandemic. Relative prices of fixed broadband services increased to 3.5 percent of gross national income (GNI) per capita worldwide in 2021, from 2.9 percent in 2020. The relative price of mobile broadband services worldwide increased from 1.9 percent to 2 percent of GNI per capita.

It shows that many people have sacrificed other services and goods to start connected during the pandemic, with those who can staying largely connected, even at relatively higher prices. The report shows that fewer economies worldwide meet the UN Broadband Commission’s affordable cost target of 2 percent of monthly GNI per capita for entry-level broadband.

The policy brief analyzes the prices of five baskets: mobile broadband, fixed broadband, mobile data and voice low-usage, mobile data and voice high-usage and mobile cellular low usage.  The figure below provides a simplified overview of the each of the five baskets used in the 2021 data collection.

 

References:

https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Pages/ICTprices/default.aspx

https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Documents/publications/prices2021/ITU_A4AI_Price_Brief_2021.pdf

 

Omdia: Big increase in Gig internet subscribers in 2022; Top 25 countries ranked by Cable

Global gigabit internet subscriptions are expected to increase to 50 million in 2022, more than doubling from 24 million at the end of 2020, according to a new report from market research firm Omdia (owned by Informa).

The Omdia report states that accelerated fiber deployments are helping to drive an increase in gigabit connectivity.

“Demand for reliable broadband is set to drive growth in gigabit services, with fiber playing a key role,” said Peter Boyland, principal analyst, broadband at Omdia.

“There were fewer than 620 million fiber subscriptions globally at the end of 2020, but we expect these to grow to 719 million in 2022, or 62% of total subscriptions.”  The majority of fiber internet subscribers are expected to be in China.

However, Omdia warns that service providers must “carefully consider market demand” for their gigabit strategies and make targeted investments in fiber.

“Service providers need to carefully plan and execute gigabit network rollout, analyzing a number of factors, including infrastructure challenges, market competition, and expected demand,” writes Omdia. “But this does not stop with network rollout – operators need to continually monitor potential competitors and constantly innovate, refresh, and build service offerings so they stay ahead of rivals.”

The analysts also point out the opportunity for vendors in the market who can help service providers build “future proof” networks. “Vendors can offer long-term solutions such as monitoring and automation tools to extend the operator/vendor relationship beyond network rollouts,” the report recommends.

Of course,  what matters most to consumers is reliable service. According to Omdia’s Digital Consumer Insights survey, 36% of respondents said they were more reliant on broadband services during COVID-19, and 55% of respondents said reliability ranked top among the most important home broadband features.

All of this gigabit and fiber growth will impact broadband speeds for years to come. According to Omdia:

“In 2020, just 2% of broadband subscriptions were more than 1Gbps, but this is expected to double to 4% in 2022.”

–>See table below for the 25 countries with the fastest AVERAGE internet speeds, ranked by Cable.  Note that none of them is close to 1Gbps.

The report says that subscribers with access to 500 Mbit/s-1 Gbit/s will increase from 15% in 2020 to 21% in 202, with 17% of broadband subscriptions projected to reach speeds over 1 Gbit/s by 2026.

While high-bandwidth entertainment like augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) and gaming were thought to be the main drivers for ever-faster home broadband speeds in pre-pandemic times, Omdia’s report doesn’t think they are significantly important for gigabit Internet growth, referring to them just once as “other drivers.”

……………………………………………………………………………………………

Internet comparison site Cable has ranked the countries with the fastest broadband internet in the world based on over 1.1 billion speed tests across 224 countries and territories.

“The acceleration of the fastest countries in the world has finally plateaued this year as they reach FTTP pure fibre saturation. Increases in speed among the elite performers, then, can be attributed in greater part to uptake in many cases than to network upgrades. Meanwhile, though the countries occupying the bottom end of the table still suffer from extremely poor speeds, 2021’s figures do indicate that the situation is improving,”  said Dan Howdle of Cable.

Here are the 25 countries with the fastest download speeds:

1 Jersey JE WESTERN EUROPE 274.27
2 Liechtenstein LI WESTERN EUROPE 211.26
3 Iceland IS WESTERN EUROPE 191.83
4 Andorra AD WESTERN EUROPE 164.66
5 Gibraltar GI WESTERN EUROPE 151.34
6 Monaco MC WESTERN EUROPE 144.29
7 Macau MO ASIA (EX. NEAR EAST) 128.56
8 Luxembourg LU WESTERN EUROPE 107.94
9 Netherlands NL WESTERN EUROPE 107.30
10 Hungary HU EASTERN EUROPE 104.07
11 Singapore SG ASIA (EX. NEAR EAST) 97.61
12 Bermuda BM NORTHERN AMERICA 96.54
13 Japan JP ASIA (EX. NEAR EAST) 96.36
14 United States US NORTHERN AMERICA 92.42
15 Hong Kong HK ASIA (EX. NEAR EAST) 91.04
16 Spain ES WESTERN EUROPE 89.59
17 Sweden SE WESTERN EUROPE 88.98
18 Norway NO WESTERN EUROPE 88.67
19 France FR WESTERN EUROPE 85.96
20 New Zealand NZ OCEANIA 85.95
21 Malta MT WESTERN EUROPE 85.20
22 Estonia EE BALTICS 84.72
23 Aland Islands AX WESTERN EUROPE 81.31
24 Canada CA NORTHERN AMERICA 79.96
25 Belgium BE WESTERN EUROPE 78.46

It is the fourth year of the assessment and the latest ranking uses data collected in the 12 months up to 30th June 2021 to evaluate internet speed by country.

 

References:

https://www.lightreading.com/optical-ip/fttx/gigabit-subscriptions-set-for-big-increase-next-year—omdia/a/d-id/774291

Ranked: countries with the fastest internet in the world

https://www.cable.co.uk/broadband/speed/worldwide-speed-league/

 

Leichtman Research Group: U.S. broadband growth returns to pre-pandemic levels in Q3-2021

Leichtman Research Group, Inc. (LRG) found that the largest cable and wireline phone providers in the U.S. – representing about 96% of the market – acquired about 630,000 net additional broadband Internet subscribers in 3Q 2021, compared to a pro forma gain of about 1,525,000 subscribers in 3Q 2020, about 615,000 in 3Q 2019, and about 600,000 in 3Q 2018.

These top broadband providers now account for about 107.9 million subscribers, with top cable companies having about 75.2 million broadband subscribers, and top wireline phone companies having about 32.7 million subscribers.

Findings for the 3rd /quarter include:

  • Overall, broadband additions in 3Q 2021 were 41% of those in 3Q 2020
  • The top cable companies added about 590,000 subscribers in 3Q 2021 – 45% of the net additions for the top cable companies in 3Q 2020
  • The top wireline phone companies added about 40,000 total broadband subscribers in 3Q 2021 – compared to about 200,000 net adds in 3Q 2020.  Telcos had about 475,000 net adds via fiber in 3Q 2021, and about 435,000 non-fiber net losses

“Broadband additions returned to pre-pandemic levels in the third quarter of 2021,” said Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for Leichtman Research Group, Inc. “The top broadband providers added significantly fewer subscribers than in last year’s third quarter, but had a similar number of net adds as in 3Q 2019 and 3Q 2018.”

Broadband Providers/ Subscribers at end of 3Q 2021// Net Adds in 3Q 2021/
Cable Companies
Comcast 31,688,000 300,000
Charter 29,899,000 265,000
Cox* 5,510,000 25,000
Altice 4,388,100 (13,200)
Mediacom 1,466,000 (2,000)
Cable One 1,030,000 13,000
Atlantic Broadband^ 717,000 3,000
WOW (WideOpenWest)^ 509,500 1,600
Total Top Cable 75,207,600 592,400
Wireline Phone Companies
AT&T 15,510,000 29,000
Verizon^^ 7,337,000 74,000
CenturyLink/Lumen 4,589,000 (77,000)
Frontier 2,789,000 (9,000)
Windstream 1,147,000 15,200
TDS 522,800 9,200
Cincinnati Bell* 439,000 1,200
Consolidated 390,661 (2,819)
Total Top Telco    32,724,461 39,781

References:

About 630,000 Added Broadband in 3Q 2021

 

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