HomePNA Blog

Broadband Services – Is it the Turning Point

By Rich Nesin, General Manager and Resident Philosopher, HomePNA

I recommend you check out “Broadband Services: The Turning Point”, a new (and free) whitepaper from Parks Associates. Like some of their other papers, this one is rich with direct customer data (of course the questions, analysis, and conclusions are Parks’). One interesting item that doesn’t surprise me is that bundles correlate to higher customer satisfaction. HomePNA is all about enabling bundled services and we see the interest from service providers every day.  It also states that a higher percentage of fiber broadband customers subscribe to bundles than cable or DSL customers – and that fiber broadband customers are the most satisfied. I guess you have to buy the complete paper to see why but we can guess.

The paper also holds that half of the US broadband households are not aware of the broadband speed they are receiving.  Not too surprising to a Speedtest  addict like me -- you measure a blazing 16 Mbps downstream rate and then see videos downloading at 300Kbps.

And I’m betting these trends will continue -- especially as service providers like AT&T start to leverage their bundles (AT&T announced last week that it is offering its first discounted wireless-U-Verse bundle ). And, as we’ve seen before, a highly satisfied customer is much more likely to stay than a satisfied customer; while a highly dissatisfied customer is much more likely to leave than a merely dissatisfied one.

As the market shakes out and service providers achieve the high quality “core services” and bundles they need to compete, Parks (and I) think the focus will move to the value add services. This is where they will really be able to differentiate – and by doing a lot more than allowing a few over-the –top applications.

Major Indian Cable TV Provider DigiCable joins AT&T, Telefonica and others at HomePNA Summit

By Rich Nesin, General Manager and Resident Philosopher, HomePNA

The HomePNA Summit has just added another major speaker to its’ service provider line-up. DigiCable, one of India largest cable TV suppliers, joins leading international, national and regional telcos AT&T , Telefonica, TELUS, and Bell Aliant , and Satellite service providers Tata Sky  and YES as speakers at the event.

The Summit, which also features major equipment suppliers and system integrators such as Cisco and Motorola, showcases the momentum and appeal of HomePNA technology to service providers of all sizes and types all over the world.

The HomePNA Summit, which is especially drawing service providers to it’s audience in addition to equipment manufacturers and system integrators interested in learning about these companies’ experience with HomePNA, will be held September 30 to October 1, 2008 in Houston, TX co-located with the FTTH conference and expo .

Telus reports results. To Speak at HomePNA Summit

By Rich Nesin, General Manager and Resident Philosopher, HomePNA

Hope you saw the announcement of the first HomePNA Technology Summit last week. The Summit features a lot of speakers from service providers such as TELUS's Ann Slevinsky, Manager of TELUS TV Development. Very timely since TELUS is serious about offering TV services especially to offset the declines from, you guessed it, their traditional voice service.

In their 2Q results announcement last Friday, TELUS reported over 100,000 TELUS TV (IPTV) customers --  which was reported by TeleGeography to be a 125% jump in subscribers. In the words of Darren Entwistle, TELUS president and CEO, “We continue to improve our competitive offering for our customers and enjoyed continued strong subscriptions to TELUS TV this quarter.” Together with the launch of their new satellite service across B.C. and Alberta last July, TELUS claims they can now offer bundled entertainment services to more than 90% of households.

It should be interesting to hear what Ann has to say about their experience deploying HomePNA in those TV homes.

HomePNA Announces First Technology Summit

August 4, 2009 – The HomePNA Alliance today announces its first Technology Summit to be held September 30 and October 1, 2009 in Houston Texas.  The Summit, which is also being promoted by the FTTH Council, will be co-located with the 2009 FTTH Conference & Expo. The Summit will focus on technical and business insights surrounding HomePNA technology and its role in enabling an advanced digital home experience for end users.

The Summit will feature speakers from among the world’s largest service providers, including AT&T, Telefonica, YES, TELUS, Tata Sky and Bell Aliant who will discuss HomePNA’s role in creating compelling and competitive home networking and IPTV product portfolios for their respective companies.  At the Technology Summit, Cisco, Motorola, CopperGate Communications and other leaders will also give their perspectives on the technology that so many service providers have adopted due to its fast performance and rich features desired by service providers.

Maximizing profits in the evolving IPTV marketplace

“Service providers of all types and sizes across the globe are focused on the great opportunities provided by triple play, digital entertainment and interactivity – all applications enabled by a robust home network,” said Bill Simmelink, HomePNA president.  “The most effective approach to providing a high-performance home network uses existing wires, and the

Summit will explore why the HomePNA standard provides the best path and opportunities for maximizing the benefits of this huge new opportunity.”

“Service providers learn best from other service providers. The HomePNA Summit will offer a truly global service provider perspective on this important and evolving trend,” said Bernie Arnason of Pivot Media, a co-producer of the event.

 

HomePNA technology is the highest-performing home network standard today, delivering a quality video experience for viewers while enabling service providers to reduce installation costs, utilize remote management and diagnostics to reduce operational expenses, and even reduce end-user costs through unified billing.  Over 10 million HomePNA chipsets have been shipped.  Each week, 30,000 homes add HomePNA-based networks worldwide - with over 40 service providers.