Episode 5: the In-Home Broadband Excellence Committee


Maarten Egmond, Chair of the In-Home Broadband Excellence Committee of the FTTH Council Europe, offers his view on the critical business of in-home connectivity. As the industry is very much focused on bringing fibre to the end-users' premises, it its equally important to look at the quality of the domestic network, and to make sure it does not become a bottleneck. In this interview, Maarten illustrates the best strategies for CSPs to make in-home broadband excellence a successful business case, and much more:

  1. Why is In-Home Broadband Excellence strategically relevant for CSPs, and how does it relate to fibre network deployment strategies in the European Union?
  2. You recently launched a revamped edition of the In-Home Broadband Excellence Guide: could you tell us a bit more about this asset, and what changes from the previous issue?
  3. In such a rapidly evolving time for our industry, what are the main trends that CSPs should look at, and how could these contribute to a successful business?
  4. You certainly started the preparations for the next FTTH Conference: what should we expect from the IBE Committee in Berlin?

Read the full interview below to get the answers to these questions.

 

Why is In-Home Broadband Excellence strategically relevant for CSPs, and how does it relate to fibre network deployment strategies in the European Union?

For many years, focus for CSPs has been on rolling out fibre to keep up with consumer demand for better broadband connectivity (and lately to help reduce carbon footprint as well). However, with focus on fibre deployment, the in-home network has become underserved and is now almost always the bottleneck to deliver good quality service.

Many events in our industry have recently come together to require a change in approach. Not only have we reached 50%+ homes passed, but as Thomas Miller of the Investors committee said in the last episode, the investment landscape has changed significantly. We also see costs of deployment going up and labour continuing to be an issue. Therefore it’s important to focus on take-up rate instead of (only) homes-passed.

The In-home broadband network is critical for this, as end-users will not see the value of fiber if they don’t get great Wi-Fi as well. Moreover, a good in-home broadband network can provide the basis for adding new services to the CSP offering, which can provide great opportunity for much needed ARPU increase and retention as well.

In the picture above, an attentive audience during the In-Home Broadband Excellence workshop at the FTTH Conference 2023 in Madrid.
 

In such a rapidly evolving time for our industry, what are the main trends that CSPs should look at, and how could these contribute to a successful business?

On the in-home network side, there is a lot of buzz about Wi-Fi 7, of course. While it’s certainly a trend to keep a close eye on, at the same time, such new technology will take time to get adopted, and have a high premium that certain consumer enthusiasts are prepared to pay at the start, but the diverse CSP consumer base may not be ready for, for a while.

A second trend that I would highlight is that of IoT and the Smart Home. While this is something that has been talked about for more than a decade, there are now finally signals that technology is becoming mature enough to deploy by CSPs and instead of just bringing cost and complexity may actually start to increase ARPU. New standards such as Matter and Thread are well positioned to finally break through, even if much work still needs to be done on interop in the field instead of just on paper.

 

You recently launched a revamped edition of the In-Home Broadband Excellence Guide: could you tell us a bit more about this asset, and what changes from the previous issue?

The IBE Guide is a great source of information for CSPs to stay up to speed on the in-home network. Technology evolves quickly, but even more so in the home environment, with Wi-Fi and consumer technology changing almost daily. Home infrastructure, management and new services are all key topics that are addressed from CSP perspective in the Guide, and the IBE Committee works hard to provide updated and added content in every edition.

There are few, if any, resources where these aspects are all coming together in a compact but comprehensive form. CSPs that read the Guide will get more understanding of the state of technology, how it can be applied in a CSP business environment, and perhaps most importantly: where to be critical of vendor stories, balance the pros with the cons, and enable CPSs to ask the right questions to drive their specific business needs.

 

 

You certainly started the preparations for the next FTTH Conference: what should we expect from the IBE Committee in Berlin?

Yes, preparations are in full swing. Besides releasing a new edition of the IBE Guide, we have planned a workshop where we address the topic of new services and increasing ARPU. We will bring several examples of services to the table, but would especially like to discuss the state of Matter and Thread. Both as example of a new service, but also to look at the underlying technology of Containerisation. Containerisation is a very interesting topic, because on the one hand it may not be clear to CSPs why it’s such an essential part of bringing new services to market quickly and cost effectively, while on the other hand the underlying technology offers many ways to implement it, each with their pros and cons. So understanding this topic will be essential for CSPs moving ahead, and the workshop will be an ideal place for us to help them. We look forward to a fruitful discussion at the next FTTH Conference in Berlin!

 

More about Maarten Egmond


 

 

Maarten Egmond finished university with a double BSc in IT as well as applied physics and started his career in R&D of optical components, followed by embedded software development work for high-end X-ray machines. After this, he moved into the FTTH industry where he has been contributing to technology and product development for more than 15 years, currently serving as CTO of Genexis, and since 2021 as Committee Chair of In-Home Broadband Excellence for the FTTH Council Europe.

Unlocking a greener Europe with energy-efficiency labelling of broadband equipment

Nov 29, 2022
Company type: | Vendor/Reseller (Products) |

Member company: S&T Isktratel
Country or geographical scope: Global
Period: 2022 and beyond
Company type: Vendor/Reseller
Product/service category involved: All broadband equipment

Abstract

To make environmentally responsible decisions, network operators need credible figures about power consumption of the broadband equipment they procure and use.

The introduction of energy-efficiency labels allows them to make well informed decisions and reduce their carbon footprint. The labels state a product's power consumption and the level of compliance with the Code of Conduct on Energy Consumption of Broadband Equipment as a framework for providing credible and comparable data.

S&T Iskratel believes that the whole broadband industry needs to join the initiative, help operators effectively reduce the environmental impact, and take a positive step towards a greener Europe.

Context

With the explosion of data traffic and the energy consumption of data transmissions increasing, undertaking steps to reduce the carbon footprint is the responsibility of the entire telecoms industry. In their effort to reach net zero emission targets, operators' attention has rightly shifted to utilising solutions that are more energy efficient: switching from copper to fibre [1][2], and selecting PON over P2P [3][4].

To make environmentally responsible decisions, operators need credible and comparable figures about power consumption of the broadband equipment they procure and use. At present, however, they have no tools to compare the products – they can receive data from equipment vendors, but there is nothing to help them compare the power-consumption figures. Even worse, they get exposed to misleading information and greenwashing.

Greater levels of transparency are needed.

The task for the entire telecommunications industry – and equipment vendors in particular – is to provide credible and comparable data about power consumption, and facilitate well-informed decisions that will help operators reduce their carbon footprint and environmental impact.

Solutions

The broadband industry already has the framework for credible and comparable power consumption figures in place: The Code of Conduct on Energy Consumption of Broadband Equipment [5] published by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre.

Specifically, the Code of Conduct (CoC) sets the limits of power consumption of broadband equipment, and specifies the test methodology. All (voluntary) signatories commit themselves to achieving the power consumption targets, and to publicly disclosing power consumption of their broadband equipment.

After having signed the Code of Conduct in early 2022, S&T Iskratel has fully committed itself to ensuring that its broadband-access equipment complies with the limits on power consumption imposed by the code, and to providing full disclosure and transparency to customers, users and general public.

For the operators, credible power-consumption figures are the first piece in the puzzle. S&T Iskratel has decided to make a step forward and provide also the “missing piece of the jigsaw” to unlocking a greener Europe and reducing operators’ carbon footprints, and introduce energy-efficiency labels.

In addition to power consumption (which is measured following test methods in the CoC), the labels state the product's level of CoC compliance, provided as a percentage of the limit set by the CoC. Similar in design to those used for energy classes of domestic appliances, the labels are easy to read and understand for operators and end-users alike.

The two labels below provide examples for labels of a compact OLT and of a home gateway.

S&T Iskratel is committed to label all its new broadband equipment; specifically, Iskratel Lumia optical line terminals and Iskratel Innbox customer-premises equipment. The labelling improves credibility and comparability, and allows operators to make well informed decisions when selecting products to put into their network.

S&T Iskratel believes that undertaking the steps to reduce the global warming is the responsibility of the entire telecommunications industry, and that everyone in the value chain – vendors, operators, end users, regulators and authorities – must participate in reducing the carbon footprint of their activities.

S&T Iskratel repeatedly calls on the whole industry to join the initiative and take a positive step towards a greener Europe with industry-wide adoption of energy-efficiency labelling. This will help operators and end users correctly estimate the contribution of electricity generation to their overall carbon footprint, and effectively reduce their negative impact on the environment.

Results

Since spring 2022 when the initiative was first presented, S&T Iskratel received impressively positive feedback from European operators. Their interest has proven that they understand their responsibility in contributing to limiting the global warming, and that they understand the role of their equipment vendors in the supply chain.

Besides lower carbon footprint as a result of deploying lower-consumption equipment, operators benefit from lower electricity costs. As a standout example, an established and rapidly growing full-fibre operator has realised that the investment in switching to S&T Iskratel's OLTs with record-low power consumption returns in 3-5 years, solely thanks to the energy savings. The operator's investment decision was based (also) on credibility of figures on the product's energy-efficiency label.

Conclusions

While operators understand that switching from copper to fibre (and to PON in particular) can reduce their energy consumption and the related carbon footprint by orders of magnitude, they still lack the tools to compare various vendors' products. Widespread, industry-wide adoption of energy-efficiency labelling will address the need, allowing operators to follow their sustainability strategy, avoid the traps of greenwashing and base decisions exclusively on credible and comparable data.

Further reading

[1] Whitepaper "Telecom Environmental Sustainability", https://www.iskratel.com/en/resources/white-papers-and-articles/telecom-environmental-sustainability

[2] Blog "Environmental sustainability: Are you a part of the solution?", https://www.iskratel.com/en/resources/industry-insights/y2020/m04/1159-Environmental-sustainability-Are-you-a-part-of-the-solution

[3] Whitepaper "FTTH: A Catalyst for Sustainable Action", https://www.iskratel.com/en/resources/white-papers-and-articles/ftth-a-catalyst-for-sustainable-action

[4] Blog "Deploying the right fibre-access technology to unlock a more sustainable future", https://www.iskratel.com/en/resources/industry-insights/y2021/m11/1312-Deploying-the-right-fibre-access-technology-to-unlock-a-more-sustainable-future

[5] Code of Conduct on Energy Consumption of Broadband Equipment, https://e3p.jrc.ec.europa.eu/publications/eu-code-conduct-energy-consumption-broadband-equipment-version-80-current-version-valid

Contact

Tomo Bogataj, Head of Broadband Marketing, S&T Iskratel
t.bogataj@snt-iskratel.si

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