According to a new research report from the analyst firm Berg Insight, the installed base of smart electricity meters in Europe will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 17.9 percent between 2009 and 2015 to reach 111.4 million at the end of the period. Providing consumers with detailed information about their electricity consumption the new generation of meters give customers control over energy costs and create financial incentives for energy savings. Moreover smart meters constitute the core building blocks in future smart grids that will incorporate a wide range of technologies related to renewable generation, distribution network optimisation and energy conservation.

The report identifies France, Spain and the UK as the next countries in Europe where smart metering will become introduced, following major rollouts in Italy and the Nordic region. “In the past year, EDF, Endesa and Iberdrola – three of the absolutely largest electricity network operators in Europe – have launched large-scale pilots in France and Spain, respectively. Next year, these deployments will evolve into nationwide rollouts in these countries”, said Tobias Ryberg, Senior Analyst, Berg Insight. “On top of that, the UK’s largest electricity and gas retailer British Gas has launched the first major smart metering project for residential customers in the country. These developments in combination with rollouts in several other European countries will drive strong market growth over the next five years.”

Telefonica has announced the rollout of a mobile VoIP international call service in Europe based on Jajah, the VoIP start-up it acquired six months ago. The service will begin at Telefonica’s German subsidiary (O2 Germany) with a product called ‘O2 Global Friends,’ which will give customers in Germany the ability to make international calls by dialling a local number. O2 customers can choose five friends who are abroad and O2 Global Friends will assign a local number for each of them, which they can call anytime. Further Jajah-powered services will be launched across the Telefonica Europe businesses in the coming months, and will be supported by a major mainstream marketing and advertising campaign, claimed to be the first of its kind for an IP calling solution anywhere in the world. The operator has 54 million mobile customers in Europe in total.

"The power of an innovative Silicon Valley start-up joining forces with a major telecommunications company highlights the benefits of combining innovation with scale,” said Jajah CEO Trevor Healy. “Telefónica's global reach, huge customer base and marketing muscle will bring once-niche services to millions of mainstream customers, taking Jajah-powered services to a whole new level.” Meanwhile, Gartner analyst Charlotte Patrick noted that "the introduction of an IP-based calling service by a mainstream carrier shows the maturity of this market and we can expect other telcos to follow with similar services." Telefonica’s tie up with Jajah is further evidence that major operators that had previously seen mobile VoIP as a threat to their voice revenues are beginning to embrace the technology. A similar deal was struck in February between US operator Verizon Wireless and Skype.

According to a new research report from the analyst firm Berg Insight, HSPA/LTE accounted for 17.3 percent of the total number of broadband connections in Europe at the end of 2009. The number of HSPA/LTE mobile broadband subscribers (connected PCs) grew by 71 percent year-on-year in 2009 to reach 25.0 million and is forecasted to continue to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.6 percent to 81 million by 2015. The North American market has so far evolved at a slower pace, with mobile broadband accounting for just 7.1 percent of the total number of connections. Between 2009 and 2015, the North American market is forecasted to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 34.8 percent to reach 42 million subscribers at the end of the period.

The levels of adoption of mobile broadband vary significantly across Europe. “Austria is the most advanced market with a penetration rate of over 15 percent, corresponding to 40 percent of all broadband connections in the country. Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Ireland and Portugal have also penetration rates above 10 percent. Belgium, Netherlands and Greece have on the other hand penetration rates of less than 3 percent”, said Marcus Persson, Telecom Analyst, Berg Insight. He predicts that mobile broadband connectivity will eventually become a standard feature in portable PCs which will have integrated wireless modems, enabling them to connect to the best available network. “The attach rate of embedded mobile broadband in notebooks was less than 5 percent in both Europe and North America last year. This will change as prices for the embedded modules decrease and an attach rate of almost 45 percent is expected already in 5 years”, Marcus concludes.

Huawei has established itself as the world’s largest supplier of mobile broadband terminals holding a market share of 53 percent and has a particularly strong foothold in Europe. ZTE is the second largest vendor with clear margins capturing a market share of 30 percent. Berg Insight estimates the total global number of shipped external mobile broadband devices in 2009 to 66 million, with Europe and North America accounting for 24.3 million units and 5.6 million units respectively.

Broadcast Network Operators from 20 European countries have come together to create an association representing their industry’s interest vis-à-vis EU policy makers and stakeholders.

Recognizing consumer demand for Digital Terrestrial Television and convinced of the need for a coordinated approach to support future developments, Broadcast Network Operators across Europe have joined to create Broadcast Networks Europe. The association aims to ensure that European citizens continue to have universal access to a broad range of TV and radio programs and content as well as other over-the-air services.

Broadcast Networks Europe currently gathers twelve founding members: Abertis (Spain), Arqiva (United Kingdom), Broadcast Services Denmark (Denmark), Elettronica Industriale (Italy), Norkring (Norway), OIV (Croatia), ORS (Austria), Radiocom (Romania), Rai Way (Italy), Swisscom Broadcast (Switzerland), TDF Group (France) and Teracom (Sweden). Media Broadcast (Germany), Digita (Finland), Levira (Estonia), Antenna Hungaria (Hungary), Norkring België (Belgium), Norkring d.o.o (Slovenia) amongst others are also represented via their parent companies (forming part of the founding members).

Dedicated to maintaining an efficient and fair regulatory and operational environment for Terrestrial Broadcast Network Operators, the association will provide a framework for member companies to exchange views on policy matters and develop joint positions. “Working together to maintain competitiveness of the terrestrial platforms is essential,” says Lars Backlund (Teracom) Vice Chairman of the association. “We expect that operators from several other countries will join the association in the course of the next few months giving our sector an even more important and representative voice,” he adds.

Broadcast Networks Europe has set up three working groups focusing on policy setting, commercial aspects, and technical and spectrum availability matters. These will be respectively chaired by Josep Ventosa (Abertis), Dr Peter D. Couch (Arqiva) and Marco Marcovina (Elettronica Industriale).

Broadcast Networks Europe is an international non-profit making association registered in Brussels. Its operations are managed by Interel Association Management located nearby the European Institutions. Broadcast Networks Europe has participated in discussions at the recent Spectrum Summit and will hold its launch event on 2nd June in Brussels.

The FTTH Council Europe initiated its first investors’ road show to present the advantages and development potential of fibre access to an investor audience.
Throughout the day, several Frankfurt-based investment companies such as Frankfurt Trust, COMINVEST, Union Investment, DWS Investment and DEKA Investment had one-on-one meetings with FTTH Council Europe representatives Hartwig Tauber, Director General, and Karel Helsen, President. The meetings were organised by WestLB, a major European commercial bank with investment banking activities, and focused on the market development of FTTH in Europe and the business case for fibre roll-out. They were joined by Jan Davids, Director of Wholesales of Reggefiber, a major FTTH operator in The Netherlands, who was invited by the Council to share his practical experiences of several years’ successful FTTH deployment.

The investors’ feedback was extremely positive as they acknowledged that fibre access could herald the next wave of growth in high technology telecommunications. Many of them agreed that investing in FTTH deployment is a low risk, secure long-term investment.

Considering the economic, environmental and social impact of FTTH and its current development potential, investors expressed concern that some telecom operators may be missing the turning point. They believe that further delay in investing in FTTH technology could lead to loss of market share. These concerns were specifically raised about some incumbent operators that are still very hesitant to decide to go for FTTH networks while other market players continue to roll out fibre and connect an increasing number of consumers to their truly next generation networks.

“This road show was an important step forward to convince the investors community that the best point in time to invest in fibre is today”, says Karel Helsen, President of the FTTH Council Europe, “It is a good sign that the investors see FTTH deployments as secure long-term investments. Now that investment experts have accepted that FTTH represents the only future-proof wired broadband solution while all kinds of new wireless technologies are seen as important but complementary offerings, we feel strongly supported in our continuous efforts towards FTTH mass roll-out.”

Based on the feedback and requests of the participating investors, the FTTH Council Europe plans to organise another similar information tour again next year.

The FTTH Council Europe is urging world leaders to consider the potential of fibre-to-the-home in reducing carbon emissions at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 15) to be held in Copenhagen, 7-18 December.
More than 180 countries will gather at this event to negotiate a new international treaty to tackle climate change. As noted by The Copenhagen Communiqué on Climate Change, an international organization representing business leaders: “The one thing we do not have is time.” That is why the FTTH Council Europe is stressing the fact that fibre-to-the-home is a future-proof technology that is ready to be deployed today, which has huge potential for reducing carbon emissions.

In 2008 the FTTH Council Europe commissioned a comprehensive study on the environmental impact of fibre-to-the-home deployment. The research, which was carried out by life-cycle assessment experts PricewaterhouseCoopers/Ecobilan, found conclusive evidence that fibre-to-the-home is a highly sustainable broadband technology with a lifetime of at least 30 years.

Savings could even be higher in many regions where roads and railways are overloaded and where municipalities are considering heavy, costly and environmentally unfriendly extensions of these facilities. Instead investment in FTTH facilities could be addressed: 1 million fibre-to-the-home users would lead to 30,000 fewer people commuting to work each day on average. Road works, hence CO2 emissions, could also be avoided. This is not taken into account in the studies.

The environmental benefits of fibre go beyond carbon emissions. The research also indicated that fibre deployment would have a positive impact on depletion of stratospheric ozone, atrophication of water resources, and a reduction in other forms of greenhouse gas emissions.
Simultaneously, many countries around the world are formulating strategies to boost their economies through universal access to high-speed broadband. The FTTH Council Europe believes that fibre-to-the-home can serve a double purpose: delivering a future-proof broadband infrastructure, while also helping nations, regions, municipalities, and operators to meet their carbon reduction objectives.

To find out more about the work of the FTTH Council Europe’s Sustainable Development Committee (SUDEFIB), and assess the environmental impact of fibre access networks using the web-based “FTTH Configurator”, visit www.sudefib.eu.