BroadbandSenzaConfini

Work in progress

What's the definition of broadband?

What do we consider broadband? 128kBit/sec? 1 MBit? 16 MBit down/1MBit up? Symmetric/asymmettric bandwidth?

What's the current market situation in Austria/Italy/Slovenia/...?

Austria

geizhals.at has a nice tool to compare broadband offerings: http://geizhals.at/isp/

Wired service

• DSL: On the countryside, we have Telekom Austria (TA) and resellers providing ADSL service. ADSL doesn't cover all areas due to the pyhsical limitations (cable length <= 4,5km). Bandwidth achievable with ADSL2+[1] is up to 20:3 MBit/s (down:up), however not for the entire coverage area. Current service is available up to 16:1 MBit/s flat exclusive for EUR 49,90/month. In areas with higher population density we also have telecoms "unbundling" the copper wires from TA, but the pricing is similar to the offerings on the countryside.

DSL offerings in Austria

Operator	Product	Bandwidth MBit/sec (advertised)	Volume included	Price €	URL
Telekom Austria	aon speed	16:1	unlimited	49,90/month*	http://www.aon.at/
Tele 2	DSL Extreme	20:1	unlimited	49,90/month	http://www.tele2.at/
UPC (inode)	xDSL privat	16:1	unlimited	75,-/month	http://www.upc.at/
Happynet	xDSL privat	20:1	unlimited	107,40/month	http://www.happynet.info/
Iplace	POWER DSL	22:1	unlimited	49,50/month	http://www.iplace.at/
* Does not include basic fee for telephony service, from 15,98/month

• CATV: UPC and other smaller operators provide triple play over HFC (hybrid fiber coax) according to the DOCSIS 2.0 specification.[2] Bandwidth available commercially is 25:2 MBit/s flat shared for EUR 69,-/month.

HFC offerings in Austria

Operator	Product	Bandwidth MBit/sec (advertised)	Volume included	Price €	URL
UPC	chello plus	25:2	unlimited	69/month*	http://www.upc.at/
Kabelsignal	kabelNET select	25:3	unlimited	109/month	http://www.kabsi.at/
Vorarlberg Online	HighSpeed Cable Profi	22:1	unlimited	49,90/month	http://highspeed.vol.at/
Liwest	Internet 24SPEED XXL	30:3	60 GB*	69,-/month	http://www.liwest.at/
* Due to the physical characteristics of the medium, bandwidth is shared with other customers. ** After exceeding the included volume, bandwidth is limited to 20:3 until the end of the billing period.

• Powerline
  • Linz AG is experimenting with Powerline technology. There were heated discussions because of the shortwave pollution caused by powerline. The maximum bandwidth sold commercially is 768:375 kBit/sec, so this product doesn't seem very competitive.
• FTTH
  • Citycom, a subsidiary of Grazer Stadtwerke, is offering triple-play via fibre.[3]
  • IKB provides FTTH services in Innsbruck [6]
  • TA is running a public private partnership pilot in Arnoldstein (Carinthia).[4].
  • The people of [Blons] have done it themselves - they formed an [association] that deploys FTTH to ~40 households. FTTH deployment in Austria is far behind our neighbour Slovenia, let alone Scandinavia or Japan.

FTTH offerings in Austria

Operator	Product	Bandwidth MBit/sec (advertised)	Volume included	Price €	URL
Citycom	24e-internet	12:1	unlimited	29/month	http://www.24e.at/
Citycom	24e-internet	24:1	unlimited	49/month	http://www.24e.at/
IKB		6:6	[email protected]	29,90/month	http://www.ikb.at/
IKB		10:10	[email protected]	39,90/month	http://www.ikb.at/
IKB		20:20	[email protected]	49,90/month	http://www.ikb.at/

Wireless service

HSxPA

In 2007, there was a big hype about "wireless broadband" in Austria. HSDPA bandwidth was advertised as "up to 7,2 MBit/sec", in practice the limit is at around 1MBit/sec downstream. HSDPA service is available for ~EUR 15-20/month with a 3GB volume limit.

HSxPA offerings in Austria

Operator	Product	Bandwidth MBit/sec (advertised)*	Volume included	Price €	URL
A1	Mobiles Breitband	7,2:0,384	5 GB	30,-/month	http://www.a1.net/
Hutchison 3G	3Data	7,2:0,384	15 GB	24,-/month	http://www.drei.at/
T-Mobile Austria	FAIRCLICK	7,2:0,384	10 GB	25,-/month	http://www.t-mobile.at/
one	hui	7,2:0,384	3 GB	20,-/month	http://www.one.at/
tele.ring	WILLI	7,2:0,384	3 GB	20,-/month	http://www.telering.at/
yesss	Diskont Surfen	7,2:0,384	1 GB	20,-/1GB (prepaid)	http://www.yesss.at/
* Due to the physical characteristics of the medium, bandwidth is shared with other customers and limited by other factors like distance from base station, interference, ...

WLAN

Public WLAN hotspots exist in Austria, but the density is rather low compared to other European countries. Free service in Cafés etc. is provided by companies like [Freewave]. Commercial service is provided by A1, T-Mobile and very few others, for ~EUR 24,-/day. The pricing is so unattractive that it's interesting for business travelers, but definitely not for the masses.

WiMax

WiMax licenses have been assigned in Austria, service is available in Vorarlberg and Burgenland. Intended for covering large rural areas, the licenses in Austria mostly went to the "usual suspects" who do not have a big incentive competing with their wired services...[5] The penalties for not providing service are ridiculously low.

Italy

Wired service

DSL offerings in Italy

Operator	Product	Bandwidth MBit/sec (advertised)	Volume included	Price €	URL
Fastweb	NavigaSenzaLimiti	20:1	unlimited	19,90/month	http://www.fastweb.it/offerta/famiglia/internet/fibra-ottica-adsl-flat/
Fastweb	NavigaSenzaLimiti	20:1	30hrs/month	9,90/month	http://www.fastweb.it/offerta/famiglia/internet/fibra-ottica-adsl-flat/

FTTH offerings in Italy

Operator	Product	Bandwidth MBit/sec (advertised)	Volume included	Price €	URL
Fastweb	NavigaSenzaLimiti	10:10	unlimited	19,90/month	http://www.fastweb.it/offerta/famiglia/internet/fibra-ottica-adsl-flat/
Fastweb	NavigaSenzaLimiti	10:10	30h/month	9,90/month	http://www.fastweb.it/offerta/famiglia/internet/fibra-ottica-adsl-flat/

Wireless service

HSxPA

HSxPA offerings in Italy

Operator	Product	Bandwidth MBit/sec (advertised)*	Volume included	Price €	URL
Vodafone	190	7,2:0,384	100h	30,-/month	http://www.vodafone.it/
Hutchison 3G	Naviga3	7,2:0,384	1,5 GB*	9,-/month	http://www.drei.at/
* 50MB/day, 30 days

Slovenia

Wired service

DSL offerings in Slovenia

Operator	Product	Bandwidth MBit/sec (advertised)	Volume included	Price €	URL
T-2	VDSL	5:5	unlimited	26/month	http://www.t-2.net/?AUID=4DE65010D3A938010BC6
T-2	VDSL	10:1	unlimited	21/month	http://www.t-2.net/?AUID=4DE65010D3A938010BC6
T-2	VDSL	60:25	unlimited	70/month	http://www.t-2.net/?AUID=4DE65010D3A938010BC6

FTTH offerings in Slovenia

Operator	Product	Bandwidth MBit/sec (advertised)	Volume included	Price €	URL
T-2	FTTH	10:10	unlimited	14/month	http://www.t-2.net/?AUID=4DE65011E194120110C6
T-2	FTTH	20:20	unlimited	28/month	http://www.t-2.net/?AUID=4DE65011E194120110C6
T-2	FTTH	50:50	unlimited	50/month	http://www.t-2.net/?AUID=4DE65011E194120110C6

Why do we need more symmetric bandwidth?

• Improve competitiveness of Austria/Italy/Slovenia as business location
• Free WiFi hotspots in hotels/hostels are an incentive for both business travelers and tourists
• Intelligence has moved to the edge of the network, but the bandwidths available havent' kept pace with bandwidths needed for effectively using new technologies like P2P.

How can we create incentives for high-bandwidth last-mile deployments like FTTH?

• Adapt the "Wohnbauförderung" (housing subsidy): When isolating existing buildings and installing fire alarm systems, deploy cable ducts for FTTH.
• Create a regulatory framework that will split infrastructure and services: Different service providers over one fibre...
• Rural areas: Tap the huge EU funds available for regional development projects.

Literature

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITU_G.992.5

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DOCSIS

[3] http://www.24e.at/

[4] http://www.telekom.at/Content.Node/innovation/glasfaser-arnoldstein.php

[5] http://futurezone.orf.at/it/stories/186360/

[6] http://www2.ikb.at/geschaeftsbereich/telekommunikation/tarife_preise/index.php

Disclaimer

The products and services mentioned on this page were researched via the websites of the respective operators in Feb and March 2008. I do not claim that the list of operators is complete :-). I have tried to focus on the "top notch" products which might not be available in all areas due to physical limitations of the transmission media. Please contact me in case of mistakes and/or edit yourself... this is a Wiki.