By MKPE ABANG
The leading global information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider, Huawei, and the International Telecommunication Union have released a white paper detailing roadmap for broadband in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region.
Titled ‘Broadband in the APAC Context,’ the White Paper strongly endorses the position that Information and communications technology (ICT) has had and will continue to have a profound impact on economies and societies throughout the world.
Rapid advances in telecommunications technology, computing, storage and audio-visual systems have allowed countries to leverage existing areas of comparative advantage as well as to establish new industries, develop new skills, drive productivity and competitiveness, and produce new products for consumers.
Aside from its economic contribution, ICT has the potential to create a more inclusive society by creating better access to information and learning resources, access to government, health and financial services, and better-connected communities. Investment in ICT is seen by governments as being essential to improving people’s lives, in addition to its economic role in improving growth and productivity. One of the core themes on this paper is the in-scope countries, Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam (the APAC 8) face an enormous opportunity to improve their economic performance and social outcomes via improve telecommunication service and, in particular, through better broadband. The APAC region can learn much from the extensive broadband deployments that have occurred in more advanced nations. But the APAC context is different and the broadband development strategy needs to reflect this.
One of the central narratives of telecommunications and broadband development in the region has been ‘telecommunications leapfrogging’ – simply put, that later developing countries could avoid the huge cost of landline deployments and use wireless technologies to leapfrog the landline paradigm. This White Paper argues that the ‘leapfrogging era’ is drawing to a close. While wireless technologies are undergoing tremendous improvements, they will not be enough alone to be the communications drivers of APAC growth.
The economies of the region are growing rapidly and developing more sophisticated services and technology businesses as well as more advanced educational institutions. Wireless alone will not be enough. High speed fibre connections are required for sophisticate enterprises, educational institutions and governments.
In addition, in areas where wireless will continue to carry the broadband load into the foreseeable future, the base stations that serve wireless users will need to support the very high traffic enabled by 4G and, soon, 5G technologies.
the advantages of coming later to wired broadband
Coming later to broadband deployment – especially optical fibre rollout – provides an excellent opportunity for many Asia-Pacific countries (especially the APAC8). With rapid growth comes many Greenfields developments which should be fibre from the ground up, to leapfrog ahead and deploy fibre solutions which should provide a degree of technology future proofing especially if done properly in terms of ducts and other infrastructure.
The need to upgrade the infrastructure of rapidly growing cities provides an opportunity tightly coordinate road, electricity and water reticulation with broadband deployment. Fibre technologies are also improving rapidly. By coming later to fibre deployments, APAC can benefit from cheaper and better technology and from the lessons learned in earlier deployments. This is not a message of complacency, the time to develop clear, effective broadband strategy is now and this White Paper is intended to provide the appropriate guidance.
Recommendations
In this context, this White Paper considers that for many Asia-Pacific markets and especially the APAC8 which have been the subject of special study in this paper, an 8 point action plan is needed, namely:
Recommendation 1: while wireless broadband is excellent, fixed broadband is the critical infrastructure to digital economy. Wireless broadband while excellent and getting better, cheaper and faster is, by itself, insufficient for a modern nation and to underpin a digital economy.
Recommendation 2: optical fibre networks are necessary to support growing data traffic. High speed broadband services, namely delivered through optical fibre are necessary as a minimum for (i) enterprises and Government and (ii) are required for backhaul transmission to support the growing traffic volumes (including especially video content) being delivered over wireless networks now and into the future.
Recommendation 3: optimal approach to drive broadband penetration is to concurrently facilitate both fixed and wireless services. The optimal approach to delivering national broadband services is multi-mode competition. Under this approach the wireless mobile industry which has been very successful in underpinning regional and national economic growth would be strongly supported by Government policy while concurrently steps would be taken to accelerate fixed broadband infrastructure.
Recommendation 4: developing a supportive regulatory framework would facilitate broadband rollout. Significant effort now needs to be directed by Asia-Pacific Governments and regional institutions like ASEAN and the SAARC to draft regulatory and legal frameworks based on global and regional exemplars to facilitate efficient and optimal fixed broadband deployment which, in part, will support 5G services. This includes inter alia enhanced rights of way (ROW) access, a new telecommunications code for low impact facilities, establish one-stop centres, and ‘dig once’ policies. Such measures will materially reduce the costs of optical fibre deployment and hence shorten the investment payback periods.
Recommendation 5: strategic policy interventions would enable efficient deployment and more affordable broadband. Recommended detailed policy interventions are also needed in Asia-Pacific (including the APAC8 markets) including policies and rules to share essential infrastructure between operators, actively promote infrastructure sharing and re-use of Government assets based on global exemplars, co-ordinate infrastructure construction and formulate standards and rules for fibre deployment, development of greenfields estates and substantially improve international connectivity.
Recommendation 6: strengthening and reform of incumbent operators is necessary or if required, new competitors should be licensed. It is critical to strengthen and reform incumbent operators (who for the main part continue to remain Government owned especially in the APAC8) in order to secure viable and properly scaled optical fibre deployments.
This includes allowing them to more effectively compete by inter alia the relaxation of any restrictions, removal of subsidies, strengthen management etc. In the APAC8, Vietnam, and Thailand (in progress) have already taken steps to make their incumbent operator globally competitive, domestically strong and financially viable.
Should those incumbent operators not be able to perform this role then new licensees should be provided with an opportunity to make the requisite investments. Consideration should also be given, if sufficient funds exist, for national broadband network project given the success of such projects globally and regionally.
Recommendation 7: make available spectrum for wireless broadband services at affordable prices. Ensure the availability of technology neutral IMT spectrum for wireless broadband services including for 4G/LTE, LTE-A and 5G services at reasonable prices. It continues to support the wireless mobile industry which has been very successful story and have helped underpin regional and national economic growth. This is even more important in the shorter term as longer lead time to address the fixed network deployment issues means that wireless networks will continue to do the ‘heavy lifting’ for some time to come.
Recommendation 8: stimulate the development and utilisation of local content/applications. Formulate programs and policies which will stimulate the development of domestic content and app relevant for Asia-Pacific markets including in local languages.
If the above eight steps are done then it will underpin world class multi-mode broadband competition which will lay the foundation for increased economic growth, social inclusion, and a greater integration of Asia-Pacific markets and its citizens.
It would also facilitate the successful transition of the APAC8 into a globally connected world and promote their participation in the global app economy. Such an approach minimises country risk, and starts to address significant deficiencies in the availability of high-speed broadband infrastructure found in many APAC8 markets.
Broadband in Digital Societies
Broadband: A Work In Progress
Broadband appears to be, always and everywhere, a work in progress. Improving broadband access and connectivity is turning out to be a task that is never finished irrespective of the level of a country’s economic development. The white paper explores the state of play in broadband in the Asia-Pacific region with a specific focus on Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.
It examines best practice in strategy, policy and regulation to encourage deployment of broadband infrastructure and increase broadband adoption levels in households and businesses. It has been especially prepared as part of ITU Telecom World 2016 held in Bangkok, Thailand in November 2016. Even before the end of the 1990s, at least in developed economies, it was already conventional wisdom that broadband would evolve to be regarded as another utility supplied continuously and reliably like water, electricity and gas. Broadband, however, has turned out to be unlike these older utilities in significant ways.
The demand for bandwidth continues to grow rapidly even in the most economically advanced nations. For example, audiences are shifting from terrestrial broadcast television to streaming video while video resolution moves from high-definition to 4K and onto 8K greatly increasing the demand for higher bandwidth.
On the wireless front, which is currently the major and preferred form of access for high-resolution video contents on affordable handheld smartphones is expanding more rapidly than initially expected.
New technologies associated with virtual and augmented reality, the Internet of things and autonomous vehicles will create new sources of demand for bandwidth. It appears that, as soon as broadband capacity expands, industry and consumers adapt, fully internalise new possibilities and begin to test the bandwidth limits of the latest technologies and infrastructure.
At the same time the bandwidth demand increases, the technologies for delivering it also change. Landline technologies, such as FTTx and xDSL variations, are being extended and improved while private infrastructure companies and government contend with the high cost of the civil works associated with major upgrade to FTTH and even FTTN particularly in the context of reduced economic growth and associated decreased capacity for government funding of fibre and related infrastructure.
On the wireless front solutions continue to evolve rapidly with 4G/LTE and LTE-A now becoming common with soon-to-be-deployed 5G solutions offering speed even beyond many wireline access solutions. The APAC8 countries that are the focus of this paper have levels of broadband adoption that are well-below world average levels.
As is now well-understood, later—developing economies will not follow in the footsteps of developed countries when it comes to their own historical paths for broadband infrastructure and adoption.
While it was thought that these countries may not develop the level of ‘passive infrastructure’ (telecommunications ducts and other telecommunications-related civil works for ‘plain old telephone services’ (“POTS”) infrastructure) that exists in advanced economies this needs to be revisited. It may appear that wireless broadband, while essential, can only go so far in underpinning the app economy and fibre deployments are critical especially for inter alia enterprises, for backhaul and for high-end users.
As we will describe below, this means that while there should be a wireless first strategy fixed broadband infrastructure cannot be ignored.
Driven by responsible operations, on-going innovation, and open collaboration, Huawei has established a competitive ICT portfolio of end-to-end solutions in telecom and enterprise networks, devices, and cloud computing.
The company’s ICT solutions, products, and services are used in more than 170 countries and regions, serving over one-third of the world’s population. And with more than 170,000 employees, Huawei says it is committed to enabling the future information society, and building a Better Connected World.
ITU on its part, as the United Nations specialised agency for information and communication technologies, allocates global radio spectrum and satellite orbits, develops the technical standards that ensure networks and technologies seamlessly interconnect, and strives to improve access to ICTs to underserved communities worldwide.
And, in what would seem like a win-win alliance, ITU says it is committed to “connecting all the world’s people – wherever they live and whatever their means. Through our work, we protect and support everyone’s fundamental right to communicate.”