Akamai Examines Ultra HD Streaming Readiness

In its Q1 2014 "State of the Internet" report (here), Akamai Technologies examines the Internet's 4K video readiness:

"Given the growing interest in the streaming delivery of 4K (“Ultra HD”) video, we thought it would be interesting to begin tracking a “4K readiness” metric in the State of the Internet Report. 

With 4K adaptive bitrate streams generally requiring between 10 – 20 Mbps of bandwidth, starting with this issue of the report, we’ll be providing insight into the percentage of connections to Akamai from a given country/region with an average connection speed above 15 Mbps, similar to the high broadband (>10 Mbps) and broadband (>4 Mbps) rankings that we have published for the last several years. 

Globally, just 11% of connections to Akamai in the first quarter were at speeds of 15 Mbps or above, as illustrated in Figure 18. This average is significantly lower than those seen across the top 10 countries/regions. Unsurprisingly, South Korea led the list with 60% 4K readiness, a level almost twice that of Japan, which had 32% of its connections at that level in the first quarter. The Czech Republic had the lowest level of 4K readiness among the top 10, coming in at 17%. 

Not surprisingly, the makeup of the top 10 list for this metric is very similar to the global high broadband rankings, with seven countries/regions appearing on both lists. Sweden, Norway, and Finland appear within the top 10 for this metric, while they are absent from the top high broadband countries list, with the United States, Denmark, and Belgium appearing on that list in their stead. 

Overall, only 47 countries/regions qualified for inclusion in this metric. Of those, 23 countries/regions had 4K readiness rates above 10%, while just six had rates below 1%. The lowest readiness rates in the first quarter were found in India and China, which had just 0.3% and 0.2% (respectively) of their connections to Akamai at speeds above 15 Mbps

See "Akamai Releases First Quarter 2014 'State of the Internet' Report" - here.

PeerApp Deployed by 3 out of the top 4 Korean Network Operators

   

PeerApp announced that ".. The company has been winning new network operator customers around the globe by enabling them to deliver the best performance to their customers. The largest operators in countries like South Korea, Taiwan and Israel -- all known for their high-speed broadband and mobile services -- have deployed PeerApp UltraBand. In South Korea, the country reported to have the world's fastest broadband speeds, three out of the top four network operators have deployed PeerApp UltraBand".

See also - "[F&S]: 'PeerApp is the clear current market leader in the transparent caching industry'" - here and "PeerApp Won 3 Tier1 Global Operators; Has 350 Deployments" - here.

See "PeerApp Enables the World's Fastest Internet Services" - here.

[ABI]: VoLTE Triggers Re-assigning 2/3G Spectrum to LTE

Ying Kang Tan [pictured], research associate, ABI Research reports that "Spectrum repurposing is gaining momentum. The launch of Voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) services  [see "[ABI]:VoLTE will Help MNOs Fight OTT Voice and Messaging" - here] by major carriers first in South Korea and soon in the United States is part of the effort to move voice calls from the circuit switched 2G and 3G networks to the packet switched LTE networks. To achieve this, operators have built extensive LTE networks, which also serve as a marketing tool to stay in competition".

“For CDMA operators such as Verizon, aggressive LTE deployment is necessary because a VoLTE call cannot fall back to the circuit switched domain. Even for WCDMA operators like AT&T, it makes sense to do likewise because LTE is much more spectral efficient than WCDMA .. by the end of next year, when VoLTE has gained more momentum, ABI Research expects more than 93% of the North American population to have access to LTE".

Related post - "[Guest Post]: Circuit Switched Fallback: In Danger of crippling 3G and leaving LTE underused" - here.

The following Infographic by Alcatel-Lucent:

See "Telecom Regulators and Mobile Carriers Stepping Up Efforts to Repurpose 2G and 3G Spectrum for LTE" - here.

[Pyramid]: 802M LTE Subscribers by 2017; US, Japan and South Korea Lead

 
A new research by Pyramid Research forecasts much higher growth for LTE adoption than previously forecasted.

The report concludes that "LTE subscriptions globally increased more than fourteen fold, to 11.4m, and Pyramid Research expects that figure to reach 54 million by year-end 2012, representing less than 1% of total subscriptions. By 2017, Pyramid expects the number of LTE subscriptions to reach 802.2 million, a 72% CAGR over 2012 levels, growing to almost 10 percent of global mobile subscriptions"

Previous reports were more modest - see "[Juniper Research]: 430M LTE Subscribers by 2016" - here.

"Although LTE subscription penetration in the Asia-Pacific region will remain lower than the global average, two countries in the region — Japan and South Korea — are leaders in LTE adoption, surpassed only by the US in current and expected new subscriptions in the next three years. By 2017 China and Indonesia will be important growth markets. Latin America will also continue to show lower LTE penetration than the global average. We expect almost 7% of mobile subscriptions in Brazil to be LTE by 2017, making the regional giant an important driver of global growth in LTE, despite lower than average adoption". 

See "LTE Opportunities Revealed in New Research Series" - here.

Korea's Net No-Neutrality: MNOs may Surcharge for OTT VoIP and Messaging

KaKao Talks

When KPN tried to do it, Netherlands become the first European county with Net Neutrality legislation (here). However, it is a different play for the South Korean mobile operators - SK Telecom, KT and LG U+.

First there were some complaints against SK Telecom and KT about blocking VoIP over mobile (here);  Then KT CEO said that "OTT Providers should Pay or will see a big data blackout" (here). Last month SK Telecom's Head of SKT’s Technology Strategy Office said that "Korean mobile carriers are experiencing difficulties, including decreased SMS revenues and increased network investment cost to accommodate surging traffic, caused by the popularity of various free messaging services ..KaKao Talk, a mobile messaging service used by 37 million Koreans (46 million subscribers globally as of May 2012), is fast becoming a threat to mobile operators as it has recently launched a mVOIP service".

And the result of the campaign?

Yewon Kang reports to IT World that ".. the Korea Communications Commission said last week that it will let three local mobile operators, SK Telecom, KT and LG U+, charge users extra fees for VOIP applications or block their use entirely .. SK Telecom and KT currently offer unlimited data plans, which allow users to freely download apps on their networks, whereas LG U+ used to block over-the-top programs entirely .. The companies have not yet released specific information on their new rates .. Unofficially, the KCC has already permitted telecoms to enact policies of their choice regarding third-party apps, experts say".

See "South Korean telcos get OK to charge extra for mobile VOIP apps" - here.

KT: OTT Providers should Pay or "will see a big data blackout"

Korea's KT joins the trend we saw in the past in Europe (here) of demeaning that large Over the Top content providers will pay for network usage, and asks for the regulator to act.

Kim Yoo-chul reports to Korea Times that "KT Chief Executive Lee Suk-chae (pictured) has urged the government and the nation’s leading technology companies LG and Samsung Electronics to pay for using its networks .. Network traffic increased 153 times since smartphones came to Korea three years ago.. Huge burdens over network investments are weighing on consumers as KT has no option but to collect money from customers to secure cash for the networks".

"If the current situation continues, then Korea will see a big data blackout. This is an expected scenario. There’s no free lunch. It doesn’t make sense to ride free on networks".

Dylan Bushell-Embling adds in telecomasis that "KT has already started exploring measures to ease the cost burden of over-the-top content. In February, the company briefly blocked OTT content for Samsung's internet-enabled TVs, and threatened to do the same for LG unless it trump up carriage costs. But when regulator KCC objected, KT lifted the ban after just four days" (here).

Related post from November '11 - "Complaint against SK Telecom & KT for Blocking VoIP over 3G (Using DPI)" - here.

See "KT CEO blasts big firms for 'free riding' " - here.