Broadband technology trends and their potential in Central and South East Europe

 

Kovacikova, Tatiana

There are several background trends, in particular deregulation and the introduction of competition, development of new services, evolution in the use of the access network and the arrival of broadband which have brought about a progressive convergence of traditional telecommunication, data, computer and mobile networks towards converged networks - with more and more popular name "Next Generation Network (NGN)". This has been the subject of major debate in the standards organizations such as the ITU, ETSI, 3GPP and the various forums, despite the unfavorable economic circumstances in the industry and the cautiousness of the operators in terms of investment. The connection between future converged communication networks and the existing fixed and mobile networks will be decided as from now. This will condition the future economic models as well as the service access modes.

Today there are several superimposed architectures corresponding to the different telecommunications networks (Switched Telephone Network, low and high speed internet access, IP backbones, mobile network). Certain intelligent network elements and transmission links could possibly be mutualized. NGN (for which there is still no single definition) can be characterized by : a shared core network for all access and service types, open standardized interfaces between the different network layers (transport, control and services), support for user adaptable interfaces as well as variable access network capacity and type.

Even if it appears inevitable, the migration to the new networks may be quite long and rather complicated due co-existence requirements with traditional architectures. This migration has already started in some cases and raises a number of issues depending on the type of operator, i.e., incumbents versus new entrants, fixed and/or mobile networks. Over and above the advantages of multimedia services, the players are also taking into account the state of the existing infrastructure as well as acquisition and operational cost benefits; all within the constraints of rapid return on investment.

In this new situation, role sharing between different players in a telecommunication market is changing. Terminals adapt themselves to the new service medium and include new functionality which authorizes dialogue with the service platforms or other terminals of the same type. This transformation is closely linked to that of the network given that the trend in distributed services architecture is to move the service intelligence to the terminals.

Certain software publishers (and in particular those supplying operating systems) plan to take advantage of this so that they can play a major role in the service offering. The redistribution of the intelligence to the terminal will mean that these new networks will cause a major transformation in the relationships between the players and in particular between the operators and the service providers where, amongst other things, control of the customer base determines the revenue possibilities. The customer base, which has been historically an asset of telecommunications operators, will become multi-dimensional and will be the means by which certain players (software, service and content providers) will seek to legitimately position themselves.

Role sharing and revenue redistribution between players will determine the success of next generation networks and the service evolution. In view of this, the operators will seek control over the data flows so that they can segment their offer and not be reduced to the status of "common" pipe suppliers. This observation highlights the issues surrounding the definition of the interfaces between the network operators and the service providers (control/service interfaces). There presently appear to be two opposing alternatives in the discussions related to NGN. The first effectively announces standardized interfaces between network operators and service providers prefiguring increasing competition in this area. The second, which is being promoted primarily by a software player, puts the terminal at the center of the service offering, with the network becoming transparent in nature. In these circumstances, the role of organizations such as the ITU or ETSI would appear to be essential to coordinate the different initiatives, encourage interoperability and define the tools which will allow the value to be shared between the players.

In the proposed presentation, we will try to discuss the following issues:

- What are the latest trends in telecom markets (fixed, mobile, internet, broadband)?
- Where do these trends lead with respect to evolution of technology and economy?
- What are the latest trends in broadband technologies, networks and services and where do they lead?
- How will these trends impact the West Europe countries and what is their potential in Central and South-East Europe?