Broadband

Anything that uses or touches broadband

NTL Announces $6 Billion Telewest Buy Out
Britain’s biggest cable operator, NTL, has agreed to shell out an eye-watering $6 billion (~£3.42bn, ~€5bn) for Telewest Global.
This new uber cable company should provide more effective competition with BT and create a powerful rival for pay-TV leader Rupert Murdoch’s BSkyB, which currently has more television customers in the U.K. than the two cable providers combined.
At the end of March this year, BSkyB had 7.70 million television subscribers compared with NTL’s 3.19 million and Telewest’s 1.82 million.
According to a statement – which ends three years of speculation about the merger – Simon Duffy, NTL’s chief executive, will lead the combined company.
“While the combined entity could potentially pose a longer-term competitive threat to BSkyB, the merger of the two companies could give BSkyB a short-term competitive boost in that it may distract the cable companies from external growth as they merge their networks,” said UBS AG analyst Aryeh Bourkoff.
Both sides are currently keeping Mum about the mixture of cash or shares involved, although a large cash component is believed to be involved.
The Daily Telegraph is reporting that executives at Telewest are set to rake in obscene amounts of filthy lucre for their stock options and other options if the NTL deal goes ahead.
Chairman Cob Stenham can expect his bank balance to increase to the tune of $20m (~£11.4m, ~€16.77m) while chief executive Barry Ellison will no doubt cackle wildly with joy as $17m (~£9.7m, ~€14.25m) rolls into his coffers.
And there’s more, with finance director Neil Smith scooping $3.5m, CEO Eric Tveter getting $9m (~£5.13m, ~€7.54m) and seven non-executive Telewest directors holding 230,000 shares receiving a total of $36.4m (~£20.75m, ~€30.5m) in total from selling their stakes as part of the takeover.
Good work if you can get it, eh?
Telewest
NTL
3 October, 2005
BT’s IPTV To Launch Summer 2006
BT will roll out IPTV in ‘late summer 2006’, according to Andrew Burke, CEO, BT Entertainment, (pictured right) speaking at the Enhanced TV Show in London today.
Developed in partnership with Microsoft, BT’s new set-top box technology will combine a digital terrestrial television receiver with a broadband receiver, allowing the viewer to move seamlessly between the two signals.
BT’s revenue will come from enhanced services, such as a VOIP facility to dial up friends while watching a football match, or the ability to build your own personal schedules.
Burke didn’t reveal whether the set top box would be entirely new, or an add-on to existing Freeview boxes, nor would he say whether BT aims to first convert existing DTT customers or target its marketing efforts elsewhere.
Elena Branet, Senior Marketing Manager at Microsoft TV, (pictured left) said IPTV would allow viewers to use picture in picture channel surfing, see caller ID on their TV sets, or watch TV while messaging a virtual community of friends and family. She said that basic IPTV would be possible with a minimum connection speed of just 1.5 MB.
Branet fought off a suggestion from fellow speaker, BSkyB’s Jim Harrison, that the new IPTV platform would not be interoperable across devices; assuring that it would be open to another operator’s instant messaging system, for example.
Also at the show, David Bainbridge, MD of Yes, Yoo Media, (pictured right) said trials of a new product, ‘Broadband TV’ would start on ntl in October. Not to be confused with IPTV, this is a solution to help content creators repurpose content across platforms – working with cable TV, IPTV and 3.
Enhanced TV Show & Mobile TV Forum
BT
Microsoft TV
Yoomedia
28 September, 2005
BSkyB Get Into Mobile TV and VOD later
The Times have covered Richard Freudenstein, COO of BSkyB, speech at the RTS Cambridge Convention
Sky will be delivering video to mobile phones, as we’d predicted when we reported that NDS had signed a deal with Frontier Silicon.
We understand that it will include Sky Movies, Sky News and Sky Sports (which is bound to get some excited).
They also plan to let their Sky+ subscribers programme their PVR using their mobile phones.
The other biggy in Freudenstein talk was him confirming that that Sky will be offering VOD (Video On Demand) which will run over Ethernet – ie delivered over broadband. They’re not confirming dates.
Sky has been muttering about this behind closed doors to those who would listen for at least 18 months, but it’s the first time they’ve said it publicly.
Expected Sky and BT to strengthen their current cuddling relation, to a full on snog, as BT’s 21CN comes more into reality. this will provide additional bandwidth and an Ethernet port into every home in the UK, as they’re trailing in Cardiff, Wales.
The poor things at The Times have got a little bit confused between memory and storage of Sky’s PVR, Sky+, ‘newest Sky+ boxes have extra memory that is currently not used.’ Ah, isn’t it sweet. You’d have thought that two companies within the News International group would be able to understand each other business.
BSkyB
16 September, 2005
France Telecom Announces Ultra Fast VDSL2 Broadband
After demonstrating that high-definition television over copper was achievable through networks with increased bandwidth capabilities and compression techniques, France Telecom is looking to develop the technology and is currently testing VDSL2 transmission systems in its R&D Laboratories.
The technology is based on DMT modulation, like ADSL and ADSL2+, and was dreamt up in the quest to enable data transmission speeds of up to 100 Mbps using standard telephone cables.
These super fast speeds were achieved by extending the frequency band to 30MHz.
In their quest to bring super fast connections into the home, France Telecom has been working with international DSL standardisation bodies and after evaluating various technologies, they have managed to successfully test VDSL technology.
The company is now conducting lab tests of VDSL2, based on the xDSL family.
The explanation for how this works is way too hard for my hungover head to work out, so I’m sure you’ll excuse me if I quote from the press announcement instead:
“VDSL technology, which is an offspring of the xDSL family, features the possibility of supplying, through a fiber optic connection, the sub-cross-connected equipment with high transmission rates, which are then distributed to customers using cross-connect specific DSLAM equipment and the copper pair.”
All clear on that, now?
The current testing is also intended to evaluate the feasibility of future services for home and business use, and a demonstration scheduled for today will showcase some of the initial applications for this technology.
This will include the simultaneous delivery of two high-definition television streams, i.e. (MPEG-4) and one simple definition stream (MPEG-2), a high definition videophone and an FTP file transfer at the scorchio rate of 40 Mbps.
That FTP transfer rate works out at twice as fast as is possible using currently deployed DSL technologies, and would make it possible for someone to download a 90 minute film in just three minutes.
We should point out that France Telecom were at pains to say that the 90 minute film in question would only be downloaded from “a legally authorised Website” because, as they are compelled to remind us, “Piracy has a damaging effect on artistic creation.”
The company will be presenting this new technology to the media today, at the France Telecom Jardins de l’Innovation at Issy-les-Moulineaux.
13 September, 2005
UK Online and Be Unlimited Ready 24Mbps Broadband Services
UK Online have officially joined the 24Mbps broadband party by announcing the October launch of their own broadband ADSL2+ based product.
The Easynet-owned company joins fellow 24Mbit Broadband providers Be Unlimited in ramping up the pressure on BT with their soon-come cutting-edge ADSL2+ services to be offered in urban areas
UK Online
The ADSL2+ UK Online service will enable lucky surfers to hurtle around the Internet at nigh-on reckless speeds of 24Mbps downstream and 1Mbps upstream – compare that to BT’s current broadband offering which chugs along at a snail-like maximum plod of 2Mbps.
BT has announced that it is trialing speeds of up to 8Mbps, which is rather like someone offering you a thimbleful of Kalibur when there’s a yard of Old Ferret Stripper Ale in the offing elsewhere.
UK Online has been conducting technical trials of its ADSL2+ service since March of this year and their 24Mb broadband service should be available in October for under £30 (~$55 ~€43) a month.
Chris Stening, General Manager at UK Online, purred, “We’ve been pushing the current ADSL technology to its limits with 8Mb broadband since late last year. This is yet another innovation for UK Online.”
Consumers will be able to register their interest in UK Online’s service via www.ukonline.net
Be Unlimited
Be Unlimited have already started public tests for their ADSL2+ service with the company expected to offer its super fast service from exchanges in the London area, with out-of-towners following in the next couple of months.
Businesses signing up for the service will be able to enjoy the service for nowt until the end of September this year, after which they’ll pay £70 (~$128 ~€102) per month.
Individual punters can also cash in on the freebie until the end of September, after which they will be charged £20 (~$36 ~€29) per month.
Temptingly, there’s no connection fee for new users with a free Wi-Fi-enabled modem lobbed in for no charge (the company will be using DSLAMs from Alcatel, and a Thompson 716g V5 wireless modem, optimised for VoIP and video-streaming applications.)
“This pilot would be fantastic for small businesses, but we’re not setting up for time-critical businesses such as city traders,” warned a Be spokesperson (in other words, “it’s a pilot scheme – so expect some glitches!”).
Be Unlimited
2 September, 2005
NTL To Give 10Mb Broadband, Eventually
After a period of speculation, a press release on UK cable company NTL’s Web site makes it official that they intend to move their customers to broadband connection “up to 10Mb as standard.”
Don’t get too excited yet. Clearly that could mean anything, even 2,400 baud fits into that category.
NTL tell us that they will be first upgrading their current 3Mb customers to the 10Mb service, while expanding these customer download restirctions form 30Gb/month to 75Gb.
We at Digital-Lifestyles hate a limit on traffic – we see it as another way to extract cash from punters when they start to have their TV/video content delivered via their broadband – an extra reason for a cable TV company to restrict you.
Well, when this all going to happen? It’s pretty unclear, but according to NTL, ‘by the end of 2006, the roll out of this new product portfolio will be complete,’ which gives them a lot of leeway doesn’t it?
We think it may be some time before this actually gets to the customers, as NTL are also talking of introducing an interim service, ‘The Turbo Button,’ which will burst a connection to higher speeds, when customers are downloading bandwidth heavy content like video.
NTL and their broadband service have for a very long time been damned by many of their subscribers, past and present. They were recently voted the very worst broadband provider in the UK in a poll of member by the consumers organisation, Which?
Such dreadful service lead one particular subscriber, Bryan Stevens, to take action online four years ago, forming ntl:hell, a news and discussion board that was solely focused on how bad NTL’s service was. Its membership expanded at a frightening rate … up to the point were NTL offered Mr Stevens a job running the board for ‘the good of NTL subscribers’. A look at the discussion board today give a clear indication of how effective embarassing your harshest critics works.
Many of you will already know that the person who was managing director and chief operation officer at NTL during the time ntl:hell was born – Stephen Carter. He now runs the UK super regulator OfCom.
NTL’s PR
ntl:hell
9 August, 2005
Easynet Offers Services To Onetel
Like Popeye with a mouthful of spinach, broadband providers Easynet have barged BT out of the way to claim a lucrative three-year deal to supply wholesale broadband services to Onetel, Centrica’s telecommunications division.
Reflecting the highly competitive LLU market, Easynet’s deal is claimed to have undercut BT Wholesale’s offering and persuaded Onetel to use Easynet’s local loop to supply broadband services to its customer base.
Easynet’s LLUStream will enable Onetel to immediately provide 8Mb broadband to customers within LLU (Local Loop Unbundling) areas, with the company perfectly placed to roll out super-fast speeds of up to 24mbps after Easynet’s ADSL2+ trials are completed later this year.
Resisting the urge to ring up BT’s head honchos and scream, “loooosers!”, David Rowe, CEO of Easynet, said: “This is an important milestone for the company. Onetel is a key player in the UK telecommunications market and the selection of Easynet is an endorsement of our Local Loop strategy.”
Ian El-Mokadem, Managing Director, Onetel sounded chuffed with the deal: “The partnership with Easynet will allow us to deploy next generation broadband services and benefit from Local Loop Unbundling economics. The market is set to evolve rapidly and we wanted a partner that could demonstrate experience in the local loop, and a willingness to work in a true partnership.
Easynet’s network is one of the largest fibre networks in the UK and has been built around British Waterways’ canal system.
The company boasts 240 “unbundled” exchanges, giving them coverage of around 4.4m homes and 700,000 businesses.
Last month, Easynet announced plans to further extend this program with another 100 exchanges across the UK, providing coverage for 6m homes.
Easynet
Onetel
2 August, 2005
UK Digital TV Trial Results In – It Went Well
The long-awaited results from the Welsh Digital TV trial were published today.
The trial ran in the carefully chosen sites of Ferryside and Llansteffan, two Welsh villages either side of the River Towy (Google map, Geograph photo). The main reasons, it’s cut off as it’s surrounded by mountains and the sea.
The project started back in May 2004 with a roadshow that alerted the local residents to the intentions of the trial and to show them the range of equipment that they could choose.
Following the positive acceptance of the trial, the equipment was selected and installed and setup by residents. They were offered one of five Set Top Boxes and 2 PVR’s as replacements for their video recorders. The big difference between this trial and the full UK rollout, was that the equipment was supplied to them free of charge – something the UK government has refused to consider for the country at large.
The TV transmitter sat on the Ferryside of the River Towy serving the 475 homes and 1,200 residents that lived in both locations. The population was more elderly, retired and ill that the average UK population. Nearly 30% of the population of Ferryside were over 60.
The digital signal was switched on in November 2004, running simultaneously with current analogue for three month.
The big day of tension was on 30 March 2005 when the analogue signal was switched off. Digital-Lifestyles spoke to key members of the team during this time and learnt that it had gone remarkably smoothly, much to everyone’s delight.
The summary of the results from the 64 page document are as follows.
Transmission and Coverage – No one lost their TV service during the trial. Only three homes, which were previously in poor reception areas, could not receive the digital service and these were given a digital satellite service. Broadband was introduced during the trial and is seen as an alternative form of delivery to satellite.
Consumer Experience – Not everyone was able to install the equipment themselves but the majority of those who had trouble were able to fix problems with guidance over the phone.
Remote Control – The elderly hit problems handling additional remotes, especially those with many buttons – their preference being remotes with three functions – on/off, volume and channel change.
Aerials and Connectivity – This is where the majority of problems occurred. Digital TV needs a quality signal to work and nearly a quarter (22%) of the household had problems. Set-Top aerials (Do they still exist?) had problems, which wasn’t really a surprise.
Content – Having an EPG went down well with the residents, particular when they used it to record programs on their PVR. The trialists also enthused about the ability to receive extra TV channels – after all the major benefit to consumer if the expanded choice they will be given.
The total cost of the trial was a little short of 1 million pounds. The UK Government put up £565,000 and the broadcasters the rest, £300,000.
Many organisation worked hard to bring the trial to a successful outcome including Intellect, the trade association for the UK IT, Telecommunications and Electronics industries in the UK.
There’s going to be a lot of people letting out a sign of relief that this trial went well, and not just in the UK. Those involved feel there have been some real lessons learnt here. The harsh reality is that there a world of difference between a controlled trial in two villages in the Wales and a full scale rollout over the UK.
Digital Switchover Technical Trial at Ferryside and Llansteffan Report PDF (1.68mb)
Intellect
21 July, 2005
Superfast Broadband Access Via TV Cables
TV cables could provide broadband Internet access speeds up to a trouser-flapping 100 megabits per second as early as next year according to Finnish broadband equipment maker Teleste.
The technology is claimed to provide punters with access 50 times faster than the average broadband speeds now offered to cable TV homes.
Although similarly nippy data transmission speeds are possible over fibre networks, these would cost a lot more for operators to build.
“This is a cost-efficient technology, as we use the cable TV networks which are already in place,” Teleste’s CEO Jukka Rinnevaara told Reuters.
Teleste has said that it will bring its Ethernet-to-the-home product to the market early next year, giving consumers access to speeds of up to 100mbps.
The company manages to achieve the Billy Whizz speeds by fitting Ethernet – your everyday, cheapo technology for shifting Internet data over broadband networks – into cable television networks.
Teleste reckons it’s way ahead of the market, predicting that rival technologies won’t emerge until the second quarter of 2007 at the earliest.
The foxy Finns are currently running field trials with cable TV service provider Essent in the Netherlands, but are yet to reach the top speeds they predicts will be available to most homes in a few years time.
“Based on our research, 30 megabits per second is the absolute minimum in future homes,” Pekka Rissanen, a Teleste exec informed a news conference. “Just one TV programme would take 10 to 20 megabits per second of this alone. So, very fast we would reach a need for 30 megabits, and also for 50 megabits per second.”
Rissanen calculated the cost of connecting a home to the high speed ethernet-to-the-home technology could range from US$60.30 (~£35, ~€50) and US$241 (~£140, ~€200).
For some inexplicable reason, the company has splashed out a fortune for a bizarre, near feature-length futuristic 3D-tastic cartoon fronted by a talking monkey to explain their new service.
We’re not quite sure what the connection with the service is, but it sure beats listening to some swivel action suit blathering on via Power Point.
Teleste
21 July, 2005
Champions League Broadcasters To Simulcast Matches On T’Web
Armchair football fans around Europe will soon be able to enjoy live Champion’s League matches over the Internet and mobile phones.
The European Commission has declared its intent to promote the beautiful game over a range of platforms in an attempt to mollify European commission competition authorities who want to see rights owners promoting mobile phone and Internet usage.
A spokesman at football bosses UEFA confirmed that all broadcasters showing games live would be “obliged” to screen them online simultaneously.
By linking live television rights to the Internet package, UEFA hopes to calms the fears of broadcasters who suspect that a separate online deal would cut deeply into their audience figures.
Champions League coverage in the UK is provided by BSkyB and ITV (both of whom look likely to retain their current rights), and the Internet simulcasts could provide a honey pot for new revenue streams with advertising and betting partners.
This may cause some friction with the big clubs like Man Utd and Arsenal who may be planning their own lucrative online propositions.
With media regulator Ofcom reporting that more than 8.1 million UK households now boast broadband connectivity, Internet television on demand is set to become, well, a household name.
BSkyB has already announced its commitment to IPTV – programming delivered over broadband PCs or TV sets – and from later this year, premium package subscribers will be able to access content via a Sky Sports and Sky Movies broadband service.
The service will offer 200 on-demand movies with sports junkies being able to access news, interviews and highlights (like wonderful Cardiff City goals) through the online sports channel
From 2006 the service could be offering Champions League games live, ensuring that only Sky Sports subscribers are able to log on, with non-subscribers having to fork out a pay-per-view premium.
Sky Sports
20 July, 2005