Global broadband numbers up, fixed wireless down in 2016

Point Topic reports there were 856 million fixed broadband subscribers worldwide at the end of 2016. That’s up from 778 million a year earlier. Market penetration is now at around 35 percent in Europe, 33 percent in North America and 30 percent in Oceania. 

The number of fixed wireless broadband connections around the world fell with customers moving to 4G LTE-based mobile broadband. Point Topic says: “In fact, it is offered as one of the ways to get broadband at home in several countries and regions, for example Scandinavia and Eastern Europe.”

Both New Zealand and Australia reported a more than 20 percent increase in FTTP connections during the year. China added 92 million fibre-to-the-home connections over the same period. 

Broadband connection growth slowing

The UK-based research company says the rate of growth in the number of broadband connections has slowed to around 1.5 percent each quarter. 

Fibre’s share of connections is up everywhere around the world. The share of cable-based subscriptions dropped slightly in Asia and Oceania as subscribers moved from legacy cable networks to either FTTP or VDSL connections. 

The global number of copper lines fell by 10 percent in 2016 while fibre-to-the-home connections were up 56 percent. The report says copper to fibre substitution is a prominent trend.

Vodafone-Sky merger gets nod from Overseas Investment Office 

The Commerce Commission may have turned down the proposed $3.5 billion merger of Vodafone and Sky TV, but the Overseas Investment Office is fine with the plan. On Friday the OIO granted consent for the transactions needed for the merger. 

In a statement to investors Sky TV says: "Sky and Vodafone are continuing to assess the Commerce Commission's recently released reasons for its decision not to clear the proposed merger so that they can determine their future steps in relation to the proposed merger.” 

The Commerce Commission has previously said it fears the merged business could use Sky's near monopoly on sports broadcasting rights as leverage in telecommunications markets. That would make it possible to create a vertically integrated operation leaving competitors struggling to match its value proposition. 

Convergence between telecommunications and media companies is happening elsewhere in the world, but Sky TV’s iron grip is greater than that found in similar overseas organisations. 

There have been some reports that the two companies may go ahead with the merger despite regulatory approval. 

Refrigerated digital lockers ease online grocery ordering 

Farro, the supermarket chain, is offering its online shoppers a refrigerated digital locker that they can use at any time of day or night. When shoppers order online they get a digital code allowing them to pick up their food order from the self-service lockers.

The digital lockers are in the supermarket’s central Auckland stores so customers can pick up their shopping on the way home from work. 

According to Farro company director James Draper, this changes the way people shop online for food. He says in the past one of the barriers has been worrying about perishable products being kept at the right temperature. 

He says: “The digital locker model has been added recently by online retailers such as Amazon. They help resolve some of the traditional pain points that can occur when buying food online such as needing a secure place to store the package when you aren’t there to sign for it or, the growing resistance from some employers to the volume of personal parcels arriving at work.”

As a result, Farro has seen the size of the average online order increase. Customers ordering online typically buy twice as much as in-store customers. 

Reannz upgrades to 20 Gbps

Reannz says it now offers 20Gbps throughout the country from Auckland to Dunedin. The research network operator says this represents a doubling of capacity

To get there required an 18-month upgrade process and the replacement of ten routers and switches. It now uses Juniper Networks MX Series 3D Universal Edge routers. The upgrade brings the deployment of Juniper’s Junos operating system which looks after routing, switching and security. 

Reannz chief executive, Nicole Ferguson, says: “The decision to implement the upgrade primarily came down to the benefits it would have for our members. Our network must be ready to support emerging research and education traffic needs before they happen, so that we stay ahead of the curve.” 

 Spark invests in property website 

Spark had its own telecommunications-media play this week buying a minority stake in a website that gives details about property sales, valuation and other information used by home buyers and sellers. It uses the data to provided estimated values for houses. 

The deal with homes.co.nz was reported in the New Zealand Herald. Which says the online business has annualised revenue of more than $1 million.

Spark Ventures chief executive Ed Hyde told the New Zealand Herald that the purchase was made for several reasons. He says: "They are well placed to make an even bigger mark in the rapidly growing area of digital services for the home.”

300Mbps G.Fast rolling out in Sydney, Melbourne 

Comvergence, an Australian service provider, is providing symmetrical broadband speeds of up to 300Mbps over copper. It says it can provide gigabit speeds if required. The company is using Calix Axos G.fast technology in Sydney and Melbourne inside multi-tenant buildings. G.fast is up to 12 times faster than NBN broadband. Because it uses a software defined network activation process, it can be installed much faster.