Sky Italy Uses Akamai's Managed CDN for VoD

Akamai Technologies announced that "Sky Italia has selected Akamai's Aura Managed Content Delivery Network (MCDN) solution to achieve maximum control and the highest quality of service of its online content including live and on-demand video. With the Aura MCDN, which provides Sky with dedicated CDN capabilities that are maintained by Akamai, Sky can flexibly scale to support its capacity needs of 100's Gbps and beyond. The new content delivery architecture has allowed Sky to also improve download speed by 25 percent and reduce bandwidth cost by 10 percent.

With the biggest over-the-top video audience in Italy, Sky Go (2.35 million users) and Sky on Demand (1.4million) are included with Sky's subscription services. Because of the growing importance of its online channel, Sky adopted an architecture based on multiple Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) to obtain maximum control over its delivery capabilities at all times, even during high on-line traffic peaks, such as major sports events.

Integrated with Akamai's Media Delivery Services, the Aura MCDN provides Sky the architectural infrastructure it sought. Because the Aura MCDN delivers more than 30 percent of traffic on behalf of Sky, the company is able to manage traffic peaks that have reached up to 250Gbps. At the same time, Sky has noticed a 25 percent average improvement in the download speed of its content. This translates into a higher quality of service for its subscribers. In addition, Sky has reduced its bandwidth costs by 10 percent because of the ability to direct portions of its traffic to less expensive telecommunication networks".

See "Akamai, Sky Italia Address Rising Consumer Expectations for Online Video" - here

[UK]: Cable Service is Faster than Fiber!

According to a new research by the UK regulator, Ofcom, the "average broadband speed delivered by cable services is now faster than that of fibre - In the six months to May 2014, the average speed delivered by cable broadband reached 43.3Mbit/s, overtaking the average speed for fibre connections for the first time (42.0Mbit/s)"

Average broadband speeds for fixed broadband connections,
all connections including ‘up to’ 2Mbit/s and less, by technology
Source: Ofcom

Key findings from Ofcom's research show that between November 2013 and May 2014:

• the average actual UK broadband speed increased by 5% (0.9Mbit/s) to 18.7Mbit/s;

Average UK broadband speed:
May 2014 Source: Ofcom

• take-up of superfast services (those with a headline speed of 30Mbit/s and above) increased from 24% to 28% of connections, while average superfast speeds remained stable at 47Mbit/s;
   
• the extent to which speeds were maintained during peak evening times varied significantly between broadband packages, ranging from 76% to 96% of maximum speeds"

Finding regarding providers:

• "Virgin Media's ‘up to' 152Mbit/s cable service, which launched in February 2014, achieved the fastest download speed over a 24 hour period, averaging 141.9Mbit/s
   
• This was followed by BT's ‘up to' 76Mbit/s fibre package, which delivered an average download speed of 62.0Mbit/s
   
• EE's ‘up to' 38Mbit/s package experienced the greatest degradation in speeds during peak times. The average speed for this type of connection between 8pm and 10pm was 27.2Mbit/s - 76% of the maximum speed (35.8Mbit/s). Five per cent of consumers on this package received average peak-time speeds that exceeded 90% of their maximum speed
   
• In comparison, customers on Sky's 'up to' 38Mbit/s package saw the least degradation in average speeds. Speeds achieved during evening peak-time (34.5Mbit/s) were 96% of the average maximum speed (35.9Mbit/s)"

See "Average cable broadband speed overtakes fibre" - here.

UK: How do ISPs Implement Network Based Parental Control Service?

Ofcom has "published a report for Government outlining measures the UK's largest internet service providers have put in place to help parents protect children from harmful content online. This follows an agreement between the Government and BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media, the four largest fixed line internet service providers (ISPs), announced in July 2013 [see "UK to Enforce Opt Out Network Based Web Filtering on All ISPs" - here]. Each ISP committed to offer new customers 'family-friendly network-level filtering' by the end of December 2013 [see "UK ISPs for Safer Internet" - here]" 

"The report finds that the four ISPs now have a network level family friendly filtering service .. There are a number of filtering categories common to all four ISPs. Suicide and self-harm, pornography, file sharing, crime, drugs, violence and hate are covered by each provider's classification systems .. All of the ISPs offer some additional services alongside the network family-friendly filters, some including internet security services aimed at protecting the subscriber from issues like viruses or malware. All offer device level filtering or security software for installation on individual computers

All of the ISPs have commissioned third parties to perform the categorisation of 

internet content and services: 

• BT and Virgin employ Nominum
• Sky uses Symantec 
• TalkTalk uses Huawei [see "Huawei's SIG: Policy Enforcement and URL Filtering" - here], although Symantec was also initially involved.

The filtering solutions rely on two basic technologies:

• Filtering by Uniform Resource Locator (URL) blocking: the filtering of sites or services based on their web address – either addresses covering whole websites (http://www.example.com) or individual sections or pages on those sites (http://www.example.com/adultpictures). This involves the ISP checking some or all of the URLs which an opted-in subscriber requests against the list of sites or pages to be blocked. If there is a match, the subscriber request is not fulfilled – typically a page with the message “this site is blocked because it is classified as…” may be delivered instead.

• Filtering by Domain Name System (DNS) alteration: the DNS translates domain names (“www.example.com” into IP addresses “192.0.32.10”), to allow a subscriber’s content request to be correctly directed – this is the first stage in requesting a website or service. When used for filtering, the ISP’s DNS server will not provide the IP address for domains on the list; it may instead direct the subscriber request to an information page with “this site is blocked because it is classified as…”.

Each of Virgin Media, BT and TalkTalk has adopted a slightly different version of URL blocking; Sky’s filtering system is exclusively based on its DNS servers. The use of URL blocking allows a more granular classification of online content and services: Sky’s system will always block whole domains, while BT, Virgin Media and TalkTalk can target specific parts of a domain.

See "Ofcom publishes report on internet safety measures" - here.

UK: ISPs will Alert Subscribers on Copyright Infringement

The UK has a new plan for reducing copyright infringement, as probably the older plans did not work - UK Culture Minister Vaizey:'SPs have their role to play to help consumers find legitimate content'"- here and "[UK]: Major ISPs Asked to Build 'Downloaders Database'" - here:

 "Representatives from the UK's creative industries and major Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have come together with the support of government to launch Creative Content UK, a ground-breaking new partnership that will boost consumer awareness of the wide array of legitimate online content services and help reduce online copyright infringement.

Creative Content UK will comprise two key components. 

• The first, which will launch before Spring 2015, will be a major multi-media education awareness campaign, led by content creators and part-funded by government, that aims to create wider appreciation of the value and benefits of entertainment content and copyright. 

• The second component is a subscriber alerts programme that will be co-managed and co-funded by ISPs and content creators and due to begin at a later date. Participating ISPs will alert and advise subscribers when their accounts are believed to have been used to infringe copyright. Account holders will receive an alert from their ISP, advising them unlawful filesharing may have taken place on their connection and offering advice on where to find legitimate sources of entertainment content.

.. Creative Content UK founding partners include the Motion Picture Association (MPA), the BPI (British Recorded Music Industry), and the four main internet service providers: BT, Sky Broadband, TalkTalk and Virgin Media, with the prospect of other ISPs joining at a later stage .. The campaign will aim to inform and encourage consumers - ranging from the next generation of digital users to 'silver-surfers' – about the huge range of entertainment content that is available from legal and licensed sources; giving them greater confidence when buying and using content online and providing additional guidance about internet safety.

John Petter [pictured], CEO, BT Consumer, said: “BT is very pleased to be able to support this important announcement today. The UK has a world-leading creative sector which plays a vital role in promoting the nation’s economic prosperity. BT is committed to supporting the creative industries by helping to tackle the problem of online piracy while ensuring the best possible experience for its customers. That’s why we’ve worked very hard with rights-holders and other leading ISPs to develop a voluntary programme based on consumer education and awareness which promotes the use of legal online content.”

See "UK Creative Industries and ISPs Partner in Major New Initiative to Promote Legal Online Entertainment" - here.

UK ISPs for Safer Internet

TalkTalk announced recently that "Mother and daughter, Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Janet Ellis today (13th May) launched Internet Matters, a world-leading child internet safety organisation founded by the UK’s four major broadband providers; BT [see "BT Launches DNS-based Parental Control; Does it Log Traffic?" - here], Sky, TalkTalk [see "TalkTalk Launches Free, Opt-in, Parental Control/Malware Detection Service" - here] and Virgin. 

The not-for-profit organisation sees the ‘big four’ put aside competition and join forces for the first time, to help parents safely navigate the internet with their children. The move will cement the UK’s position as a world-leader on child internet safety, advising parents to ‘learn about it, talk about it, deal with it’".

Related posts - "UK Government: No Need ("appetite") for Network Based Parental Control" - here and then "UK to Enforce Opt Out Network Based Web Filtering on All ISPs" - here.

The site's parental control page explains that "Broadband providers offer the ability to set network level parental controls on your home broadband network. They restrict access to particular programmes or sites, limit access times, and importantly filter out inappropriate content like pornography. They work on every device that is connected to your broadband network". 

See "Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Janet Ellis launch Internet Matters child internetsafety portal" - here.

BT Broadband to Stop Traffic Management and Data Caps

BT announced that it has "..raised the stakes in the battle for broadband customers by introducing Totally Unlimited Broadband on all but its entry level offerings – and cutting the price. The UK’s most popular broadband now comes without any usage limits and free from traffic management from just £16 a month for 16Mbps copper broadband, £23 for 38Mbps Infinity or £26 for 76Mbps Infinity".

John Petter (pictured), managing director of BT’s Consumer division, said: “.. Customers told us that they wanted to be able to enjoy catch-up TV, streamed films and other bandwidth-eating applications without having to worry about going over their limit or being slowed down by their ISP .. but we wanted to make that really affordable too, without the sort of traffic management Virgin Media, TalkTalk or EE customers may find themselves subject to. Unlike Sky, we’re extremely confident that our network can stand up to the extra bandwidth demands from totally unlimited products everywhere across the UK"

See "BT launches better value totally unlimited broadband" - here.

UK: Broadband ISPs (except Sky) Still Limit P2P; Some Prioritize VoIP!

 
Thomas Newton (pictured) reports to recombu on the "Fair Use Policies - FUP’s - of the UK’s main ISPs and seen how they stack up against each other" as "Knowing what the traffic management policy of an ISP entails is as important as doing your homework on things like the monthly usage cap, the cost of line rental, customer service and bundled services like digital TV or phone plans".

The article covers BT Broadband, Virgin Media, Sky Broadband, TalkTalk and Everything Everywhere Broadband (see also "UK: ISPs Publish New Voluntary Code on Broadband Traffic Management" - here). 
 
"Sky Broadband is perhaps unique among the UK’s major ISPs in that it doesn't apply any kind of traffic management at all" - but everybody else still limit P2P file sharing (here) - although P2P's share of total traffic is lower now as streaming traffic increases; Netflix alone has now 1M subscribers in the UK - (here). 

 

TalkTlak and EE Broadband prioritize some traffic - such as VoIP (both), gaming (EE) and even Web browsing (TalkTalk).
See "Traffic Management, FUP’s and Throttling: EE throttles P2P, speeds up gaming" - here.

Large UK ISPs will Fight Copyright Infringements

Being fashionably late (for a party that is almost over now - see "French Copyright Law - 165 Cases Reached Court; File Sharing Declines" - here), the UK regulator, Ofcom published a "draft code for consultation that would require large internet service providers (ISPs) to inform customers of allegations that their internet connection has been used to infringe copyright".

See also "UK Culture Minister Vaizey:"ISPs have their role to play to help consumers find legitimate content" - here and

"The code will initially cover ISPs with more than 400,000 broadband-enabled fixed lines – currently BT, Everything Everywhere, O2, Sky, TalkTalk Group and Virgin Media. Together these providers account for more than 93% of the retail broadband market in the UK. The draft code requires ISPs to send letters to customers, at least a month apart, informing them when their account is connected to reports of suspected online copyright infringement.

If a customer receives three letters or more within a 12-month period, anonymous information may be provided on request to copyright owners showing them which infringement reports are linked to that customer’s account. The copyright owner may then seek a court order requiring the ISP to reveal the identity of the customer, with a view to taking legal action for infringement under the Copyright Designs and Patent Act 1988".

What seems to be a long process will start now and "Ofcom currently expects the first customer notification letters to be sent in early 2014"

See "New measures to protect online copyright and inform consumers" - here.

UK: Top 4 ISPs Committed for Opt-In Parental Control

   
The UK government is pushing ISPs for many months now to offer a paternal control service (see "UK Government Pushes ISPs (Again) to Provide Better Parental Control" - here and "UK Government Wants "Opt Out" Parental Control" - here).

It seems that the goal was partially achieved now. The leading ISPs have committed to offer parental control, however as an opt-in service. 

UK's "#10" (stands for the Prime Minister) site reports that " .. Prime Minister and Children’s Minister, Sarah Teather (pictured) have hosted a summit at Downing Street on tackling the commercialisation and sexualisation of childhood .. The commitment from the top four internet service providers (BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin) that all customers will receive an active choice at the point of purchase over whether they want to block adult content on their home internet or laptops".

Children’s Minister, Sarah Teather, said: "I welcome the tighter rules on advertising, and extra help for parents to control what their children view on the internet. These actions are important steps in the right direction".

See "PM launches Parentport website" - here.

Telefonica Follows Verizon and 3UK: Offers VoIP services to O2 Customers

 

If you can't beat them ... join them.

Telefonica announced a new VoIP service for its European mobile brand, O2. Unlike 3UK (see "Skype Does Good for 3UK" - here) and Verizon (see "Verizon likes Skype" - here), Telefonica will use its own Jajah service which it acquired last December for $207M ( see "Telefónica Acquires IP Communications Leader JAJAH" - here).

So this is not an OTT service. A new Net Neutrality challenge.

See the press release: "Telefónica Europe launches IP-based consumer phone services" - here.

"The first in a wide range of services powered by JAJAH is being launched today by O2 in Germany just six months after parent company Telefónica acquired the innovative Silicon Valley start-up .. The JAJAH IP Communications Platform also means that O2 customers will enjoy all the usual benefits of mobile VOIP without the hassle of software downloads, new hardware or complex installs .. In a first for any innovative IP-based voice solution anywhere in the world, the roll-out of Telefónica’s JAJAH-powered services will be supported by major advertising and media marketing campaigns in the coming months"

Related posts:

• Frost & Sullivan: Mobile Operators Should not Impose Bans or Surcharges to VoIP - here
• Skype: We Will Charge 3G Calls to Ensure QoS Stays High - here

Sky UK – Tiering without Traffic Shaping

 

Sky Broadband UK has announced 2 new broadband plans (see "Sky Launches New Up To 20Mb Broadband Product" - here) - "Sky Unlimited" and "Sky Everyday Lite". Both programs provide connection speeds of up to 20 Mbps (depending on the DSL link capabilities).

Sky Unlimited removes a 2 GB monthly cap that is imposed on the entry-level program, Sky Everyday Lite, for extra £7.5/month.

This is a very simple tiering plan, as the Lite program addresses subscribers who are accessing the net for occasional web browsing and some email only. Anyone else, has to go to the Unlimited plan. Sky is bundling this with their TV services.

Subscribers of both program are NOT subject for traffic shaping, although Sky's third program (used for wholesale), "Sky Broadband Connect:" is (see "DPI Deployments - Part4: UK - Everybody is Doing it !" - here - and Sky's policy "Traffic management of our Network" - here).

Net-Neutrality Crosses the Pond

"The deployment of traffic management techniques and policies is now happening in scale here [UK] as well. And last year's adoption of the EU Framework moves us firmly into new territory." said Ofcom's Chief Executive Ed Richards.

"Clearly, we need to be vigilant about genuinely anti-competitive discrimination. But we also need to be wary of rushing to judgement on the likely behaviour of firms at this stage" he added. "Ofcom, collaborating closely with our colleagues in BEREC, is now committed to developing some answers to these questions as a priority and we hope to publish our initial proposals later in the spring". here.

As Mr. Richards says, traffic management policies are already in place by UK ISPs. Nevertheless, the ISPs fully disclose their policies (which is one of the US Net-Neutrality guidelines). See the following examples for the UK Top4 ISPs:

• Plusnet - (5M Subscribers) "Our broadband service is provided over a shared network. This means we have to manage traffic to make sure our customers receive a quality and sustainable broadband service" - here and here
   
• TalkTalk (4.2M Subscribers) - "Traffic management involves monitoring and restricting the service speed at peak times for a small minority of users who exceed reasonable use of the service" - here
   
• Virign Media (4.1 M Subscribers) - "So, to make sure our service is fair for everybody, we monitor our network's performance. And, if someone is downloading a large amount of data and impacting others, we may moderate their speed during peak times"  - here
   
• Sky (2.4M Subscribers) = "To ensure we provide a sustainable quality broadband service to our customers, we continuously monitor and efficiently manage the Sky Network as a whole. To do this, during peak times (from 5pm to 12am each day), we may slow down the speed that all Sky Broadband Connect customers can get on certain applications which we consider use up a lot of bandwidth (for example peer-to-peer and newsgroups) and which have a negative affect on other customers" - here