Ariane 5 Launches Two Communications Satellites

Arianespace launched two communications satellites using its heavy-lift Ariane 5 rocket: Intelsat 17 and HYLAS 1.


Intelsat 17 is a 5,500-kg. satellite built by Space Systems/Loral and carrying 25 Ku-band and 24 C-band transponders. The satellite will be positioned at an orbital slot of 66 deg. East, delivering a range of communications services for Europe, Africa, the Middle East and India. It will replace the Intelsat 702 satellite.


HYLAS 1 is the first satellite lofted by Arianespace for Avanti Communications of the UK. HYLAS 1 carries 8 Ka-band beam transponders for delivering high speed, two-way data services across Europe. The satellite will be positioned at 33.5 deg. West. The Ka-band earth stations for HYLAS 1 are located at Goonhilly and Lands End, Cornwall UK. HYLAS also offers a Ku-band broadcast capability. HYLAS 1 was designed and built by EADS Astrium in partnership with the Indian Space Research Organisation. Avanti's second satellite called HYLAS 2 is fully funded and will launch in Q2 2012. It will extend Avanti's coverage to Africa and the Middle East. HYLAS 3 is currently in design.


This launch was the 54th mission for the Ariane 5 vehicle and the 198th flight of an Ariane family launcher.
http://www.arianespace.com
http://www.avantiplc.com

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Hong Kong's CSL Launches LTE/DC-HSPA+ Network

Hong Kong's CSL Limited (CSL), which is a subsidiary of Telstra, launched commercial services over its new LTE/DC-HSPA+ network. Business services are initially being offered while consumer services will be launched in Q1 2011. CSL said its network is capable of peak downlink speeds of 100 Mbps with low latency and full coverage across Hong Kong. ZTE is a key partner for the rollout.


For corporate and professional services, the LTE/DC-HSPA+ network will deliver mobile office, mobile HD video conferencing, mobile real-time monitoring, mobile interactive marketing and advertising, and mobile real-time imaging for tele-healthcare. The company also expects its LTE/DC-HSPA+ network will unleash the power of cloud computing.


"CSL is proud to be the pioneer of the world's first LTE/DC-HSPA+ network, which will ensure we continue to go beyond expectations, delivering the best coverage and user experience in Hong Kong while meeting the rapidly increasing demand for mobile data driven by the proliferation of smartphone and tablet devices," said Joseph O'Konek, Chief Executive Officer, CSL Limited. "This revolutionary technology represents a quantum leap into a whole new era of mobile broadband for business and entertainment, putting Hong Kong at the forefront of global
telecommunications innovation," he added.


"We are very proud of the work we have done together with CSL to be here today for the successful launch of the world‟s first LTE/DC-HSPA+ network in Hong Kong. As CSL's strategic partner, ZTE has proudly supported CSL in developing and deploying LTE and HSPA+ wireless technologies. Hong Kong‟s unique density and geography have made it one of the world's most challenging environments in which to deploy a large-scale wireless network. ZTE‟s extensive experience and leading R&D capabilities allowed us to provide CSL a solution that delivers exceptional network performance to all its customers," said Weigui Hou, Chairman of ZTE Corporation.
http://www.hkcsl.com

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Australia's NBN Co Publishes Business Case Analysis

Australia's NBN Co published a 36-page business case document that sets out its key objectives and priorities over the next three years. The paper, which is based on detailed engineering, financial and business analysis conducted over the past 12 months, examines the process of designing, building and operating the National Broadband Network (‘NBN') and achieving the Government's objective of providing affordable superfast broadband to all Australians through structural reform in the Australian telecommunications industry.


NBN Co's charter is to build the next gen access network and then to provide Layer 2 wholesale services only. Larger retail service providers are expected to acquire Layer 2 products from NBN Co and use their own infrastructure to provide retail services to their customers. The fixed network will be supplemented by wireless and satellite technologies capable of delivering 12 Mbps or better to remote parts of Australia.


In its paper, NBN Co sets out the following four objectives:


1. The network should be designed to provide an open access, wholesale only, national network, covering all premises;


2. The technologies utilised should be fibre to 93 percent of premises (including Greenfields developments), fixed wireless to 4 percent of premises (delivering at least 12Mbps), and satellite to 3 percent of premises;


3. The pricing principles to be employed should ensure uniform, national wholesale pricing accessible on non-discriminatory terms; and


4. The network expected rate of return should be in excess of current public debt rates.


NBN Co. expects its total capital spending for the rollout will be AUS 35.7 billion.


Based on take up and speed usage growth assumptions, NBN Co. anticipates being able to reduce real prices for all products and nominal prices for all products, except the basic service offering, while maintaining an internal rate of return above the Government long-term bond rate.


In December, NBN Co. is hoping to finalise negotiations with on Telstra on the decommissioning of copper and hybrid fibre coaxial (HFC) networks and its infrastructure usage plans. Then in April 2011, NBN Co. anticipates launching its first customer trial on the mainland with a retail service provider partner.
http://www.nbnco.com.au

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Portugal Telecom Tests 100 Gbps with Alcatel-Lucent

Portugal Telecom has tested a 100 Gbps connection, between Lisbon and Oporto, demonstrating end-to-end optical/IP 100G connectivity across an existing active DWDM link covering over 400 km.


The tests used optical transmission and switching and routing IP/MPLS equipment from Alcatel-Lucent, including its 1626 Light Manager enhanced with 100G next-generation coherent technology and the Alcatel-Lucent 7750 Service Router, equipped with 100GE cards for IP/MPLS routing and services.


Portugal Telecom recently reaffirmed its commitment to invest in its Optical Fiber network to the customer home with the objective of covering another 600,000 houses in addition to the over one million homes already serviced by the network. Once complete, PT's fiber network will reach over 50% of homes in Portugal.


"The upgrading of service provider networks to 100G will be a major focus and business area for several years to come and these speeds will become the new currency of IP and optical networks," said Adolfo Hernandez, president of Alcatel-Lucent's activities in EMEA. "This demonstration brings to light the years of investment PT has made on future proof optical and IP infrastructure which is compatible with today's 100G technology. In seizing today's opportunity with PT, Alcatel-Lucent shows it is in a unique and enviable position bringing together the most tightly integrated, broadest range of high speed solutions across optics and IP in the industry."http://www.alcatel-lucent.com
http://www.telecom.pt

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Indonesia's AXIS Outsources Mobile Net Management to Ericsson

AXIS awarded a four-year contract to Ericsson to manage its handle network operations, field maintenance, and support services for its network serving greater Jakarta and Northern Sumatra, Indonesia. Ericsson will support more than 3,000 radio base stations and approximately 8 million AXIS subscribers.


Mats Otterstedt, President of Ericsson Indonesia, says: "Indonesia is an important market for us. Our presence here dates back to 1907 and has played a significant role in the development of the country's telecommunications industry. In 2008, we entered a partnership with AXIS to build, operate and manage its new 3G/WCDMA network in Greater Jakarta. By extending and expanding this deal, we can continue to support AXIS in this rapidly growing market."http://www.ericsson.com
http://www.axisworld.co.id

• AXIS is backed by two prominent operators in Asia, Saudi Telecom Company (STC) and Maxis Communications Berhad (Maxis), the leading mobile communications service provider in Malaysia.

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EU: Growth in Fixed Line Broadband Slows as Mobile Takes Off

Growth in the number of fixed broadband lines across Europe is declining while the number of mobile broadband connections, especially in countries such as Finland, is accelerating, according to a new report from the European Commission with data from mid-year. Broadband take up continues to grow in the EU with 25.6 subscriptions for every 100 citizens (23.9 one year earlier). Between July 2009 and July 2010, the number of broadband lines throughout the EU grew by 8%, compared to an 11% growth of a year before. As of July 2010 there were around 128 million fixed broadband lines in the EU, with 9 million new lines added since July 2009. There are approximately 220 million households in the EU. The growth rates are slowing as the markets mature and reach saturation. The report also notes an early trend in fixed-to-mobile broadband substitution in countries such as Finland and Sweden.


Annual growth in mobile broadband is remarkable at 45%, with 6 mobile broadband dedicated access devices (usb-keys or dongles) per 100 citizens.


Neelie Kroes, Commission Vice-President for the Digital Agenda, said "Fast broadband is digital oxygen, essential for Europe's prosperity and well-being. Take up and available speeds are improving, but we need to do more to reach our very fast broadband targets. In particular, we need urgent agreement on our proposal to ensure radio spectrum is available for mobile broadband, for which demand is growing very fast."


Some highlights of the report:


The average speed of broadband connections is improving. In July 2010, 29% of EU broadband lines had speeds of at least 10 Mbps (up from 15% one year earlier). About 5% of lines in the EU have average speeds at or above 30 Mbps (only 0.5% at or above 100 Mbps).


Nine EU countries (Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Sweden and UK) have levels of broadband take up above the United States (US levels are 26.4 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants, according to OECD May 2010 statistics). Greece and the Czech Republic made the best progress in the last year (measured by per capita growth).


DSL remains the most common technology to access broadband in Europe with 100 million lines, but its market share is declining in favour of higher-speed fibre architectures and cable with Docsis 3.0 . Total DSL coverage increased from 92.7% of population in December 2008 to 94% in December 2009, while rural coverage reached 80% of rural population by end 2009 as opposed to 76.6% a year ago. Only six member states have DSL coverage below 90%.


FTTH grew by 40% between July 2009 and July 2010, but currently only represents 1.7% of the total lines in Europe as it is present only in a handful of countries (notably Sweden, where 24% of broadband lines are FTTH). The biggest FTTH growth took place in Portugal (+154% in this period) followed by Latvia (+108%).


Mobile broadband access (e.g. dongles for laptops) is taking off in a number of Member States, in particular Finland (21.5 mobile broadband dedicated access lines through usb-keys/datacards/dongles per 100 citizens), Austria (16.7), Sweden (14), Denmark (13.4) and Portugal (12.1). Current mobile broadband penetration in Europe stands at 6%, a 45% increase since July 2009.


The average market share of incumbent telecoms operators in the EU fell slightly to around 44% (highest at 76% in Cyprus, 68% in Finland and 66% in Luxembourg; and lowest at 28% in Romania and the UK and 32% in Bulgaria).


The report finds that incumbent domination of broadband markets (including resale of wholesale lines) is structurally in decline to the benefit of infrastructure-based competition (basically through local loop unbundling that enables access to the network by third parties). Fully unbundled local loops and shared access lines represent 74.8% of the alternative operators' DSL, up from 71.4% one year ago. Growth in the number of unbundled local loops, although slower than last year, takes place at the expenses of resale, a type of low-investment access for new entrants, which has shrunk from 10.6% to 8.9% of DSL lines since 2009. New entrants to telecoms markets appear to have invested progressively which has helped create a more competitive broadband market.http://europa.eu

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