12704_SCTE_Broadband_Nov2016_COMPLETE_lowres

products

Telecommunications service providers are responding to the trend by acquiring streamable content to attract the growing base of online viewers. We are also seeing increased mergers, acquisitions and deals with media companies in an effort to capture market share. BT and AT&T are two marquee examples of companies shifting from connectivity provider to digital entertainment provider. In a record-breaking deal last year, BT bought the rights to screen a portion of Premier League football games in the United Kingdom. 3 And more recently, one of the biggest acquisitions of all time was just announced in the United States with AT&T acquiring Time Warner – including all of its well-known brands such as HBO, CNN and Warner Bros. 4 In France, SFR purchased NextRadioTV, which includes brands such as BFMTV and RMC, to gain access to content and to capture new customers through the established programmes. 5 Many other companies across other countries have followed suit by making moves into the media world. Recipe for success With all this competition in a new digital arena, an operator’s success relies on its ability to attract new customers, reduce customer churn and increase Average Revenue Per User (ARPU). In an effort to differentiate themselves, many operators are offering bundled services that include faster upload capabilities and better-quality content.

With incumbent service providers delivering Fibre-To-The- Home (FTTH) services complete with entertainment bundles, Multiple Service Operators (MSOs) and cable operators need to continuously provide customers with the most advanced services and remain competitive. Multi-channel TV, broadband and telecommunications services are already delivered to customers over Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) networks. Network upgrades are needed to meet customer demand for the latest interactive cable television, advanced voice services and super-fast broadband internet access. MSOs need to provide new services as efficiently as possible with the highest reliability and minimum disruption to customers. Many therefore look to migrate their networks from HFC or Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) to FTTH and Gigabit passive optical networks. What’s clear from a government policy perspective is that there’s a push for service providers to build faster broadband networks to replace older infrastructure. The latest strategy adopted by the European Union sets an objective for an internet download speed of at least 100 Megabits per second for all households by 2025 with a call for funding to build these faster networks. 6 To meet this target, governments across the European Union will be working over the next decade to increase internet connection speeds and to address under-served areas with low population densities that have slow (or non-existent) internet access today.

3 10 February 2015, BBC News, Premier League in record £5.14bn TV rights deal, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-31379128 4 25 October 2016, The Guardian, What will AT&T's acquisition of Time Warner mean for customers? https://www.theguardian.com/busi- ness/2016/oct/25/att-time-warner-acquisition-customer-service-impact 5 27 April 2016, SFR, SFR becomes France’s leading content operator, http://www.sfr.com/nous-connaitre/discover-sfr/press-releases/sfr- press-release/04272016-0821-sfr-becomes-frances-leading-content-operator 6 18 July 2016, Financial Times, Brussels to propose 100 Mbps broadband access across EU https://www.ft.com/content/268f85da- 4ce7-11e6-8172-e39ecd3b86fc

77

Vol. 38 No. 4 - November 2016 Issue