Vodafone used to have a fixed line broadband service which was sold to
PlusNet, then it subsequently purchased Cable and Wireless, gaining a
significant fibre backhaul network, LLU network and Demon broadband customers.
Now the rumours are emerging that we may see the mobile provider dangle its
feet into a converged product marketplace.
The Total Telecom report is a bit concerning as the Vodafone CEO appears to suggest
that convergence is not very advanced in the UK. If referring to the
convergence of mobile providers and fixed line broadband, then currently it is
really just EE internet and their broadband customer numbers are fairly static. The UK
market is highly converged, but only in the IPTV and TV bundle arena, the
question Vodafone needs to know the answer to is why have mobile and fixed line
operations in the UK never passed the 1 million fixed line broadband customer
mark?
A big problem for any firm trying to grab even just 2 or 3% of the UK
broadband market share from a standing start is that you are either going to
invest billions in infrastructure which is slow to build, or you become just
another option for superfast broadband via the Openreach GEA product range.
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O2 should provide them with a nice case study of how not to do it.
Sorry Andrew, but Vodafone already supply fixed line ADSL2+ broadband over their LLU network…although its primarily aimed at business users and not highly publicised.
https://www.vodafone.co.uk/lightbox/business-homeworker-broadband/index.htm
They also had their own ‘At Home’ broadband product a few years back, which flopped.
Deutsche Telekom see their future direction with a hybrid modem that allows access via both vectored FTTC and 4G LTE, as a way of both increasing bit rates in urban areas and extending coverage in rural areas.
It isn’t so easy for BT to do in the UK, but I wonder if the approach is being considered by any of the mobile companies, especially with spectrum in the lower frequency bands.
Plenty of CPE with options for backup via 3G/4G and fewer options for bonding but they exist.
“fewer options for bonding but they exist.”
If I had to rely on BT copper lines there is no way we could order e.g. 5 or 10 ADSL2+ copper lines for line bonding, simply because there aren’t that many spare local loops available.
@JNeuhoff: I’ve got loads of pairs coming into my house. 4 separate cables I think so 8 pairs. Something to do with my house being a Taxi HQ for a while supposedly.