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BT: One Converged Network Puts Consumers First BT has joined the ranks of service providers publicly moving toward one unified network to support multiple services, such as residential, enterprise and mobile. Also, the British operator unveiled its new Consumer Business unit of BT Group. Comprising BT, EE and Plusnet, the consumer division will bring together all products and services of interest to individual and residential subscribers, including broadband, mobile and WiFi networks, BT said. "We're beginning our journey to create one converged, smart network built on our world-leading fixed and mobile networks -- going beyond 4G, 5G, WiFi and ultrafast broadband to seamlessly connect our customers wherever they are to the things that matter most to them," said Marc Allera, CEO of BT's consumer business, in a statement. The consumer network -- which BT expects to finish deploying by 2022 -- will deliver speeds of up to 314Mbit/s to more than the 1 million BT customers eligible for high-speed broadband today, the provider said. Mobile customers will garner more time on 4G networks and BT plans to be first to market with 5G -- a promise that, no doubt, competitors will combat through their own initiatives. Finally, BT stated it will expand its WiFi hotspot presence from its existing footprint of 12,000-plus locations. Dubbed BT Plus, the service will charge consumers under one monthly bill for all services. And if customers have problems with their residential broadband, BT's "Keep Connected Promise" provides subscribers with unlimited data on their mobile plans and a 4G WiFi Mini Hub with unlimited data so consumers can remain online during broadband outages, it said. For its part, EE will debut high-speed broadband plans via fixed access and 4G, using the same type of backup plan as BT to ensure ongoing connectivity for home users. And, beginning June 1, EE is expanding its smart home services by partnering with Hive and Nest, along with an array of Internet of Things (IoT) device vendors, platforms and operating systems. Related posts:
— Alison Diana, Editor, Broadband World News. Follow us on Twitter or @alisoncdiana. |
In a flurry of activity throughout the week, Donald (DJ) LaVoy, Deputy Under Secretary for Rural Development at the US Department of Agriculture, and his team spent about $145.8 million in the non-urban or suburban areas of seven states.
Calix reported revenue of $120.19 million – up 4% – in Q4 2019, putting a bounce in the step of company president and CEO Carl Russo and a shine to Calix's ongoing transition from hardware vendor to a provider of platforms enabled by cloud, APIs and subscriber experience.
Looking to curtail e-waste and improve the bottom line, BT will require customers to return routers and set-top boxes, although subscribers will not have to pay a fee when they receive regular broadband equipment.
The industry standards organization is looking to ease operator pain from residential WiFi, while it also sees initiatives in connected home and other projects bear fruit.
Deploying DOCSIS 3.1 across its entire footprint gave Rogers Communications the ability to offer speeds of up to 1 Gbit/s,
contributing to a broadband segement that generated about 60% of the Canadian operator's $3.05 billion (US) in Q4 cable earnings.
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