HomePNA Blog

U-verse Doing It's Part For AT&T

By Rich Nesin, General Manager and Resident Philosopher, HomePNA

It’s nice to see good news such as “AT&T’s profits soar on wireless, U-verse revenues” about a member, especially when it involves your technology and increases other members’ shipments.

“But according to Ralph de la Vega, AT&T’s president and CEO of Mobility and Consumer Markets, it wasn’t just the iPhone that helped drive AT&T’s success this quarter. De la Vega said that the carrier’s shrinking churn rate was due in part to the company’s IP-based U-verse service and subsequent triple- and quad-plays offerings, which seem to have been successful in driving revenue per household and customer retention.” Good news and something that shouldn’t go away when the iPhone exclusivity ends.

And, speaking of quad play …. If you weren’t aware, I’m a fan of TelcoTV. I live in PA so naturally I called Verizon to see if FIOS was available yet (I know they use MOCA and not HomePNA but nobody’s perfect). A very pleasant and helpful Verizon customer service representative searched for, but unfortunately couldn’t find, my house -- even though they have been providing my wireless service for years. Oh well, maybe someday. (While driving the other day I saw a billboard for CenturyLink near my house - and they use HomePNA for their TV service).

HomePNA Gets (even more) Real

By Rich Nesin, General Manager and Resident Philosopher, HomePNA

It’s been a busy week. The first half was spent staffing the HomePNA demo in the Fiber To The Home (FTTH) conference. Good demo, great interest, and some interesting applications and products I’ll write about soon.

Thursday was the HomePNA Summit. We had over 100 attendees, half from service providers, and some really great sessions. I’m a marketing type so I don’t get insulted when you don’t believe every piece of earnest hyperbole that I pound into my keyboard, but nothing cuts through the hype like respected telcos and satellite TV providers such as CenturyLink, Bell Aliant, AT&T, TELUS, Telefonica, Tata Sky and yes talking about their own real life experiences with home networking technology – getting the install times down and customer satisfaction up. No really, don’t take my word for it. Read Carol Wilson’s article “HED: HomePNA driving down install times”  in Telephony Magazine. She quotes real numbers, real times and actionable advice.

And please read the HomePNA PR about the Summit. Service providers are joining HomePNA as we continue to gain momentum in triple play home networking. And not just in North America; it’s being adopted worldwide thanks to robust operation over both coax and phone wires.

And while you’re at it, don't miss Jim Barthold article in CED magazine “Beyond the Triple Play” that ran yesterday. Jim describes Bell Aliant’s experience establishing leading triple play services and their plans for the future. Good reading.

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.

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.

AT&T 2Q U-verse Results Just In

By Rich Nesin, General Manager and Resident Philosopher, HomePNA

AT&T's second-quarter results - just in - reported “continued strong growth in AT&T U-verse TV subscribers with a net increase of 248,000 to reach 1.6 million in service.”  The release also reports that more than 75% of the U-verse TV subscribers choose a triple (with broadband and voice) or quad-play (with broadband, voice and mobile) option.

Since a HomePNA network is installed in each of those houses it's not only great for AT&T but for HomePNA members.  It also provides continuing validation for the case we have been making about the value of bundled services. 

And while we are on the subject of bundled residential services, Kurt Scherf from Parks Associates has released a new free whitepaper, IPTV and the Digital Home,  that discusses the success of TelcoTV. Parks forecasts the number of Telco/IPTV subscribers to grow from around two million households in 2005 to over 35 million by the end of 2009 and addresses the question of why consumers might choose TelcoTV over more traditional video-centric offerings such as cable or satellite.

I like Parks' whitepapers. They focus on residential technologies and combine quantitative and qualitative data from all sides: consumers, manufacturers and service providers. “What has spurred this growth? The lesson from the significant increase in telco/IPTV subscribers over the past few years is that consumers choose to switch service providers for a variety of reasons and not necessarily to get that one “killer application”. When asked why they plan to switch providers for television services (among other services), consumers show a variety of churn triggers. They are about as likely to indicate that they’ve grown disenchanted with their current provider, that they’re expecting a significant up-front pricing deal, or that they expect better customer service as they are to indicate a desire for new features not available from their current provider.”

The accompanying chart shows money as a major but certainly not only motivator. “There are a variety of service features that, when implemented, could entice consumers to pick one provider over another. IPTV/telco service providers have a head start in offering some of these elements, which go beyond traditional TV”.  Customer service is on the chart and "Telcos find themselves in the unique position of having a comparatively better reputation than their competitors for their customer support practices".  HomePNA's remote management and diagnostic capabilities certainly play to that strength and promise enhanced capabilities for service providers that utilize them. The list, which includes other soon gotta-haves, goes on...

Global IPTV Growth Reported and U-verse adds features

By Rich Nesin, General Manager and Resident Philosopher, HomePNA

Check out the latest press release on the Broadband Forum’s website announcing the results of a new market study. Predictably the report, which was prepared for the Forum by Point Topic, shows great growth in broadband worldwide in the midst of a severe economic downturn. What thrilled (but didn’t surprise) us was the even greater growth of IPTV with North America number two behind Western Europe in total IPTV deployments but growing twice as fast – is it that compelling IPTV value proposition?

And don’t forget, IPTV is young and the technology is evolving daily. Industry groups like the Broadband Forum continue to develop and refine guidelines which leverage home networking technology to allow service providers to offer IPTV. We like the Broadband Forum and their standards. Any technology that simplifies, standardizes, or enhances a service provider’s ability to provide broadband and IPTV services is good for our members.

In related news (note the smooth segue), our favorite son AT&T announced enhancements to its U-verse services. Chief among those is a new DVR feature “the company believes is unique: the ability to schedule and manage recordings from any U-verse receiver in a multi-room DVR installation (instead of from the DVR receiver room only)”. The new feature is a software upgrade that will be enabled while you sleep. In the words of Jeff Weber, vice president of video services for AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets, “with AT&T U-verse, you’re getting DVR capabilities you can’t find from any cable providers … we’re giving you an advanced entertainment experience, and this is still only the beginning.”

Nearly 10 million HomePNA Chipsets Shipped

By Rich Nesin, General Manager and Resident Philosopher, HomePNA

I hope you didn't miss the recent article "HomePNA chipsets enable smart home entertainment networking” by Eran Gureshnik, product line manager of HomePNA products at our favorite-son home networking chip supplier CopperGate Communications.

The article discusses how HomePNA 3.1 has improved business opportunities for service providers and entertainment options for end users. “These days, the answer to “What’s new on TV?” is far more than a list of sitcoms, dramas, and reality shows. Interactive bidirectional TV is elevating the viewing experience with offerings like AT&T’s U-verse, an IPTV service featuring video on demand, Voice over IP (VoIP), Total Home DVR, and more. A recent report from ABI Research states that demand for IPTV service will increase by an estimated 32 percent annually over the next six years to nearly 79 million global subscribers by the end of 2014.[1]”. Further, “Today, four out of the five largest IPTV-deploying telcos in North America have selected HomePNA and are installing it at a rate of 120,000 homes per month. CopperGate Communications has shipped nearly 10 million HomePNA chipsets”.

It also discusses the technical challenges involved in delivering triple-play broadband services and the way HomePNA 3.1, an ITU standard and the first multi-wire home networking standard, has paved the way for significant progress in IPTV with chips that reliably stream data, voice, and video over existing coax and phone wires. Included are features such as Limited Automatic Repeat reQuest (LARQ), a technique first used by the HomePNA SIG in the HomePNA 2 standard to compensate for high impulse noise which is known to cause frequent frame damage.

Old Dogs Really Hate New Tricks!

By Michelle Gamble-Risley, director, HomePNA Marketing and PR

We’re apparently a bit stubborn when it comes to giving up our old television sets or at least getting them digital-ready by June 22, the digital-transition date. Apparently 3.5 million U.S. households still are classified as “completely unready” for the transition, according to Nielsen’s National People Meter research. These stubborn traditional television lovers either hold out for the sake of some endurance trick or pure procrastination – either way June 22 will come round and what will they do when the “snow” starts to fall? Scream and bang on ancient TV set. Of course, in our world where our loyal following has already embraced digital television long before the government set forth the “new rule,” we’ll all happily watch our digital TV, eat a few kernels of popcorn, and ruefully laugh at our stubborn neighbors, as the old set crashes through their windows. “Stupid TV!” Oh yeah…

Network-Connected Device Market – The Place to Be “Working” It

By Michelle Gamble-Risley, director, HomePNA Marketing and PR

Strong revenue reports coming out of the network-connected media device market bode well for the overall home networking marketplace this year despite the worldwide recession. You can get excited about ABI Research’s  new report forecasting that total revenues from network-connected devices will rise from $74 billion this year to over $94 billion in 2010. “Network connected media devices such as game consoles, TVs, and set-top boxes offer an opportunity for ‘core networking’ companies to reorient themselves away from a declining market,” says ABI Senior Analyst Jason Blackwell.

This news comes on the heels of AT&T’s recent announcement (which we faithfully bragged about last week) that their U-Verse subscriber rates grew at a nice clip last quarter. News out of these sectors indicates that the home networking market in general is not suffering at the hands of a bad economy – and since some news analysts suggest the economy may bottom out soon – the future continues to look bright. Members of HomePNA that provide home-networked connected devices have something to smile about. If you haven’t become a member and your company isn’t thriving right now, look at the opportunity – it’s absolutely where the market is growing.

U-Verse – Something to Brag About in this Economy!

By Michelle Gamble-Risley, director, HomePNA Marketing and PR

 

The numbers just in (well, last week but we’re on top of it anyway). AT&T announces its U-verse fiber network passed nearly 18 million living units. Nearly 50 percent of AT&T U-verse TV subscribers takes one of the two largest video packages. More than 90 percent of U-verse TV customers bundle with high-speed Internet. More than 75 percent of U-verse TV customers have a triple- or quad-play. U-verse voice services are now available in 80 markets. Fantastic news in a time when the non-stop bad news pours out of Wall Street like an endless faucet. If you are considering joining HomePNA now is clearly the time. Come be a part of our ecosystem and enjoy the rewards of a rapidly growing IPTV marketplace that shows no sign of a slowdown.