CommsDay magazine 4Q2016

Interview with Mitch Fifield CommsDay sat down with the Australian communications minister to talk about all the issues concerning the National Broadband Network and its controversial connectivity charges, universal service charging, regulation in the mobile sector and much much more

Melbourne Congress 2016: Full agenda inside

Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull & Comms minister Mitch Fifield inspect an NBN installation (2 at right)

COMMUNICATIONS DAY 21 September 2016 Page 14

INTERVIEW Ciena global CEO Gary Smith

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Tuesday 4 & Wednesday 5 October 2016 Langham Hotel, Southbank, Melbourne

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FIRST TIME: ACCC chairman Rod Sims

Optus VP corp & regulatory affairs David Epstein

Regional comms minister Fiona Nash

ACMA acting chair Richard Bean

Telstra group dir, corporate affairs Tony Warren

Shadow comms minister Michelle Rowland

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Symbio Networks’ CEO Rene Sugo

Comms Alliance’s Christiane Gillespie-Jones

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NBN chief engineering officer Peter Ryan

Vodafone Australia chief strategy officer Dan Lloyd

New Street Research’s Ian Martin

ACCAN CEO Teresa Corbin

Chair Renee Bowker of TelcoTogether Day 1 Tuesday 4 October 9.00 Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman Rod Sims 9.25 Symbio Networks CEO Rene Sugo 9.50 Telstra group director, corporate affairs Tony Warren 10.15 Cisco Head of Architecture, SP Cloud and Software Rada Stanic 10.40 Refreshment break 11.15 Macquarie Telecom national executive, industry & policy and OzHub chair Matt Healy 11.40 Equinix director Market Development, Asia Pacific Gareth Bridges on realising revenue growth with an Interconnection-First strategy’ 12.05 New Street Research senior telecommunications analyst Ian Martin 12.30 Nokia Oceania head of mobile networks Mark Barnett 12.55 Lunch 2 NEXT GENERATION TELECOM STREAM 2.00 Ciena Senior Director, Blue Planet Division Abel Tong 2.20 TBA 2.40 Ericsson head of portfolio management, PA Cloud Systems Jonathon H. King on digital industrialisation and powering the network economy 3.00 FutureSumo’s Skeeve Stevens 3.15 Mellanox ANZ country manager Sudarshan Ramachandra on 100GE and beyond 3.30 Break 4.00 PANEL: HOW TELCOS CAN ENABLE THE INTERNET OF THINGS Telcos are an essential part of the IoT foodchain in terms of connectivity. But is existing fixed and mobile infrastructure fit for purpose or are new topologies combining current tech with dedicated platforms such as SigFox, LoRA and others necessary for IoT success? Does IoT offer sufficient economic incentive to encourage telco investment? How can telcos work with device, application and other providers to ensure IoT success? What legal and regulatory hurdles stand in the way? Panelists include Nokia Oceania CTOWarren Lemmens, Cisco dir, engineering service provider, APJ Chia Tan, Optus Business IoT practice lead Anthony Stewart and KPMG national IoT leader Piers

Hogarth-Scott 5.00 Day 1 closing keynote: How To Save The NBN with iMediate Consulting’s Robert James 5.30 Drinks 6.30 Close Day 2 Wednesday 5 October 9.00 Federal minister for regional communications Fiona Nash 9.25 Shadow communications minister Michelle Rowland 9.50 Optus vice president corporate and regulatory affairs David Epstein 10.15 NBN chief engineering officer Peter Ryan 10.40 Refreshment break 11.15 Australian Communications and Media Authority acting chairman Richard Bean 11.40 Vodafone Australia chief strategy officer Dan Lloyd 12.05 Ruckus Wireless head of engineering, ANZ David White 12.30 Cyient Sr. Vice President - Communications BU & President – Asia-Pacific Sanjay Krishnaa 12.55 Lunch 2 REGULATORY AND POLICY STREAM 2.00 Australian Communications Consumer Action Network CEO Teresa Corbin 2.20 Coutts Communications managing director Professor Reg Coutts on USO reform 2.40 Comms Alliance director of program management Christiane Gillespie-Jones 3 Break 3.20 PANEL: GOING SUPERFAST AGAINST THE NBN A number of telcos have decided to resist the "natural monopoly" of the NBN and offer high speed broadband over their own infrastructure. This panel looks at the various business models that may succeed against the NBN as well the regulatory settings that distort the playing field. What will the ACCC to change the superfast regulatory regime, if anything? And what can the NBN do to discourage competitive bypass and attract back custom from the renegades. Panellists include Thomson Geer’s Tony Dooley, Opticomm’s Phil Smith and dgTek’s David Klizhov.

4.00 Close

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bout six years ago, when Australia’s National Broadband Network was roaring into life, some commentators made the bold prediction that it would lead to the end of the regulator battles between incumbents and competitors. Structural separation, disinterested ownership and a level playing field with “future proof” technology were all seen as panaceas to the industry’s problems.

How wrong they were.

This month’s CommsDay Melbourne Congress sees the new regulatory battlefronts take front and centre stage.

Should there be a leg up for a fourth mobile operator? What should be done about NBN bypass? Domestic mobile roaming? NBN’s connectivity congestion charging. They are all live issues currently engaging the industry’s best and brightest.

And our Congress will bring the antagonists and protagonists to the fore.

Then later in the month CommsDay is proud to head to Bangkok where we are media partner for the International Institute of Communications’ annual conference.

Some 200 of the world’s leading telecom regulatory minds will convene for a fantastic week of sessions and workshops. We sat down with ICC president and former Australian Communications and Media Authority chairman Chris Chapman to preview the event and what it plans to achieve.

This small magazine also features interviews with the Australian communications minister Mitch Fifield and Ciena’s global chief executive officer Gary Smith. Although they have considerably different roles and functions, I think you will find both conversations fascinating.

I am looking forward to seeing as many of our readers in person as possible at both the CommsDay Melbourne Congress and IIC annual conference events.

Until next time, Grahame Lynch, CommsDay Founder

AT&T considers power lines, unlicensed spectrum for ultrafast broadband The US telco claims to have patents supporting a technique carrying broadband over power line towers using unlicensed wireless spectrum. Tony Chan reports

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T&T claims to have developed a technology to bring low cost, multi-gigabit broadband internet connectivity to remote sites that previously could not be covered with conventional fixed and wireless technologies.

According to the operator, its new Project AirGig architecture – developed by AT&T Labs – uses power lines and “licensed free spectrum” to bring multi-gigabit connectivity to previously unconnected sites.

“Project AirGig has tremendous potential to transform internet access globally

– well beyond our current broadband footprint and not just in the United States,” said AT&T chief strategy officer John Donovan. “The results we’ve seen from our outdoor labs testing have been encouraging, especially as you think about where we’re heading in a 5G world.”

According to Donovan, AT&T is now looking for the right global location to trial the new technology by next year. AT&T is coy about what Project AirGig actually is and how it works, noting only that the technology was developed from the ground

up to be easier to deploy than fibre, and that it has more than 100 patents and patent applications supporting its new technology.

“We think Project AirGig is unlike anything that’s out there. We’re experimenting with multiple ways to send a modulated radio signal around or near mediumvoltage power lines. There’s no direct electrical connection to the power line required and it has the potential of multi-gigabit speeds in urban, rural and underserved parts of the world,” AT&T said. “Project AirGig delivers this last-mile access without any new fibre-to-the-home and it is flexible enough to be configured with small cells or distributed antenna systems.

No need to build new towers.

No need to bury new cables in the ground.”

One key component of AirGig are “low-cost plastic antennas and devices” invented by AT&T researchers.

These are placed along the power line to regenerate millimetre-wave signals to support both 4G and future 5G networks. These patentpending devices offer low hardware costs while ensuring signal quality of the system in a “unique” approach, AT&T added.

“We believe Project AirGig has the potential to quickly bring connectivity to all parts of the world. Our researchers are addressing the challenges that hampered similar approaches a decade ago, such as megabit per second speeds and high deployment costs,” said Donovan.

Quantum teleportation over fibre optic cable A new breakthrough in teleportation over fibre raises exciting questions over its applicability to telecoms networks. Petroc Wilton reports.

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esearchers at Canada’s University of Calgary have reportedly set a new distance record for quantum teleportation – transferring the quantum state of one particle to another at range – over fibre optic cable.

The achievement could set off fresh debate around the prospect of using quantum entanglement to revolutionise telecoms networks.

One feature of qubits, the subatomic particles that are the quantum computing

equivalent of traditional binary bits, is that – if they are interlocked as part of the same system – changing the state of one qubit changes the rest as well. This is the phenomenon known as quantum entanglement, and it happens instantaneously regardless of distance, bypassing the limit of the speed of light.

Now, according to the New Scientist, a professor Wolfgang Tittel and his team at the University of Calgary have teleported quantum

states in this way across some 6.2km using part of the city’s fibre optic network. Tittel has suggested that, with the use of quantum repeaters, their setup could see quantum communications networks extended over “arbitrarily long distances,” and certainly between cities; Dr Johannes Kofler, a researcher at Germany’s Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics, was quoted as saying the experiments could be a milestone in the path towards a “fibre-based quantum internet.” However, it’s important to note that there is longstanding theoretical debate around the practical application of quantum entanglement to networking technology; although the entangled particles may affect each other simultaneously, current theory holds that information still cannot be transmitted at faster-than-light speeds.

While Telstra has invested into quantum research primarily to ensure it stays abreast of future cloud computing developments, Telstra chief scientist Hugh Bradlow for instance has said that quantum entanglement won’t see telecoms break the lightspeed barrier. “You’ve got to have two qubits that are separated, and the time it takes to separate those qubits will be governed by the speed of light – so it doesn’t violate the laws of special relativity, that’s a misconception,” Bradlow told CommsDay previously.

to worry less and innovate more “Are we secure? Are we innovating?” Good questions. At Cisco we know that the more effective and simple your security solutions are, the more you can push the boundaries of what is possible. See why there’s never been a better time to use security to spark your next great idea at cisco.com/neverbetter

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Reaching the one terabit holy grail Researchers say probalistic constellation shaping will push optical communications to the limits of Shannon’s Law. Tony Chan reports

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esearchers from Nokia Bell Labs, Deutsche Telekom T-Labs and the Technology University of Munich have successfully pushed optical fibre transmissions to 1Tbps with a new modulation technique called probabilistic constellation shaping, achieving “unprecedented transmission capacity and spectral efficiency.”

According to Nokia, PCS enhances the use of quadrate amplitude modulation formats on fibre networks by dynamically adjusting their application to optimise channel throughput.

“PCS modifies the probability with which constellation points – the alphabet of

the transmission – are used,” Nokia explained.

“Traditionally, all constellation points are used with the same frequency. PCS cleverly uses constellation points with high amplitude less frequently than those with lesser amplitude to transmit signals that, on average, are more resilient to noise and other impairments.”

“This allows the transmission rate to be tailored to ideally fit the transmission channel, delivering up to 30% greater reach.”

The new technique pushes the maximum transmission capacity of fibre very close to the so-called Shannon Limit,

the theoretical maximum information transfer rate for fibre optical transmissions discovered in 1948 by Bell Labs pioneer Claude Shannon.

The higher throughput will be instrumental for supporting future network demands, commented Nokia CTO and Bell Labs president Marcus Weldon.

“Future optical networks not only need to support orders of magnitude higher capacity, but also the ability to dynamically adapt to channel conditions and traffic demand,” Weldon said. “PCS offers great benefits to service providers and enterprises by enabling optical networks to operate closer to the Shannon Limit to support massive datacentre interconnectivity and provide the flexibility and performance required for modern networking in the digital era.”

The PCS demonstration also highlights the important role Shannon played in modern day communications.

“Information theory is the mathematics of digital technology, and during the Claude E. Shannon (pictured) centenary year 2016 it is thrilling to see his ideas continue to transform industries and society,” added Technology University of Munich professor Gerhard Kramer. “Probabilistic constellation shaping, an idea that won a Bell Labs Prize, directly applies Shannon's principles and lets fibre optic systems transmit data faster, further, and with unparalleled flexibility.” The demonstration was was conducted on the fibre network of Deutsche Telekom.

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EC sets ambitious targets for 5G, WiFi coverage The EC president also proposes a new legal framework designed to encourage network investment. Tony Chan reports

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he European Commission has outlined new ambitions to accelerate wireless access for its citizens as part of its digital push. During his State of the Union speech, EC president JeanClaude Juncker called for the creation of a new legal framework that “attracts and enables investments in connectivity.”

Such a framework would allow businesses to plan their investments in networks and services in Europe for the next 20 years with the potential create 1.3 million new jobs over the next decade, he said.

As part of his address to the European Parliament, Juncker also unveiled a goal

to “fully deploy 5G” across the European Union by 2025, which Juncker said has the potential to create a further 2 million jobs in the region.

On a more granular level, the EC reiterated its ambition to have commercial 5G services available in at least one city in each of its member states by 2020.

Further, the EC said it wants “uninterrupted” coverage of 5G along main roads and transportation routes by 2025.

The EC also kicked of a new 5G Action Plan, which consisted of coordinated efforts on spectrum planning for 5G, pan-European 5G trials by 2018 and the develop-

ment of common industry standards for 5G. The EC’s 5G plan immediately garnered praise from the mobile industry body GSMA. “The Commission has recognised the need to incentivise a step change in infrastructure investment in order to fulfil the potential of the Digital Single Market” said GSMA director general Mats Granryd. “Its spectrum policy reform proposals, for example, will help provide the consistency needed to underpin investor confidence.”

However, Juncker did not stop at cellular connectivity, but promised public wireless access for main public areas.

“Everyone benefiting from connectivity means that it should not matter where you live or how much you earn,” Juncker said. “So we propose today to equip every European village and every city with free wireless internet access around the main centres of public life by 2020.”

Under the WIFI4EU initiative, free Wi-Fi is being promised for parks, squares, libraries and public buildings. The EC has proposed a US$120 million investment to fund the free public hotspot infrastructure, which is estimated to cover 6,000 to 8,000 communities serving between 40-50 million connections per day.

Besides wireless, the EC also updated its goals to bring fixed broadband access to communities and citizens.

Under the new targets for 2025, all main public-serving institutions such as schools, hospitals and transportation hubs will have access to Gbps connectivity.

“A new leader in the technologies that enable connected lives.”

© Nokia 2016

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11-03-2016 15:31:53

Nokia brings on everything as a service Nokia says its XaaS concept could save 40% of costs

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okia has unveiled a new strategy to offer multiple technology categories from the cloud, loosely dubbed as X-as-a-service, instead of traditional products.

The ‘XaaS’ portfolio will leverage the firm’s expertise across fixed, mobile and IP technologies to bring both network and value-added services from the cloud to both carriers and enterprises.

The goal is to not only bring customers the cost efficiency and scalability of cloud architectures, but also make possible the operational agility required to support the increasing number of services.

“With the number of connected applications growing rapidly, XaaS models are vital to quickly bring expertise to a

wide range of businesses,” said Nokia head of global services Igor Leprince. “The extensive Nokia XaaS portfolio will allow operators and enterprises to tap our global scale and experience and capitalise on operational efficiencies while rapidly meeting subscriber demands with the quality they expect in today's connected world.”

In addition to offering estimated savings of up to 40% on installation, integration and ownership costs, the XaaS model also offers the benefit of turning “capital expenditure into operating expenditure” that bring more flexibility and predictability, Nokia added.

Kicking off the XaaS portfolio are four specific services ranging from cloud-hosted

versions of existing standalone solutions such as a Wi-Fi controller that supports up to 8,000 hotspots and Nokia’s access management system for DSL and fibre-based fixed broadband access products, to service suites targeted at network planning and optimisation services, as well as “smartdata” gathering and analysis tools that pool performance data from the network, applications and subscriber devices.

According to Nokia, the platform that sits underneath the XaaS portfolio of services will be hosted inside the firm’s datacentres globally, including in-country facilities to meet local regulatory requirements.

China, India now the world’s top Internet markets New ITU data shows that India has surpassed the USA for both Internet and smartphone usage. Tony Chan reports

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hina and India are now the two largest markets in terms of both internet access and smartphone users, according to new data from the United Nations Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development.

According to the report released by the International Telecommunications Union, India has surpassed the US as the world’s second largest internet market with 333 million users, trailing only China’s 721 million netizens. At the same time, India also overtaken the US to become the world’s second largest smartphone market with an estimated 250 million mobile broadband subscriptions, the report said.

Globally, 3.5 billion people are expected to be using the internet by end-2016, up from 3.2 billion last year. In total, there are now 91 economies where over 50% of the population is online, up from 79 in 2015.

South Korea led the developing world with the highest household internet penetration at 98.8%, followed by Qatar (96%) and the United

Arab Emirates (95%). For internet usage per population, Iceland again took the crown with 98.2% of its population online, followed by Luxembourg (97.3%) and Andorra (97%). Australia and New Zealand ranked 26th and 19th respectively for internet penetration with 85% and 88% of their populations online.

On a technology basis, Monaco had the highest fixed broadband penetration rate with 47 out of 100 people signed up for services, just ahead of Switzerland (45) and Liechtenstein (43). New Zealand and Australia came in at 21st and 33rd positions respectively, registering 32 and 28 fixed broadband connections per 100 inhabitants.

On the mobile front, Finland leads with 144 mobile broadband subscriptions per 100 people, followed by Singapore (142) and Kuwait (139). Australia came in at 10th spot with 113 mobile broadband subscriptions per 100 people, just behind New Zealand, which had 114 subs per 100 inhabitant.

Despite the advancements,

there is still a wide digital divide, where more than half the world’s population remains unconnected.

While they lead the world in the number of connections, China and India are still home to a large population of those still unconnected. Out of the estimated 3.9 billion people still not online, China and India, along with Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nigeria, accounted for 55% of all unconnected people. Along the same lines, just 20 countries – including the US – account for a full 75% of those not using the internet.

One possible solution for bridging the digital divide is mobile broadband, which is now available in 165 countries in the form of 4G. “As smartphone penetration reaches near-saturation in the US, Europe and mature markets in Asia like Japan and Korea, India and Indonesia in particular are expected to drive future growth,” the ITU said. “If today’s near-universal basic mobile phone access could be converted to high-speed mobile broadband access, mobile phones could serve as a major accelerator of development, driving rapid progress towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals.”

But while UNESCO director general and co-vice chair of the Broadband Commission Irina Bokova highlighted broadband technologies as “powerful development multipliers,” she cautioned that investment in skills and educations was also required, along with the development of local and relevant content.

You know the ones we’ve talked about publicly. Telstra obviously [is] a major player but also Southern Cross in the submarine market continues to grow. There’s big investment going into Australia in its varied forms. Our customer base continues to grow.

CD: Are also looking to increase headcount locally?

Ciena’s global CEO unplugged

GS: Yeah, we’re totally in Australia [with] close to a hundred folks in total.

CommsDay’s Richard van dre Draay sat down with Ciena’s global CEO Gary Smith and Asia-Pacific VP Anthony McLachlan.

Anthony McLachlan: Our headcount has continued to grow here. ANZ MD Matthew Vesperman is new to the organisation and is continuing to build out his team with a focus on the ANZ market place.

CommsDay: What brings you to Australia, who are you seeing while you're in town?

Gary Smith: Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been in Asia-Pacific, in Hong Kong, India and Australia. Overall, APAC is our fastest growing region, which shouldn’t surprise anybody. You’ve seen a pivot to the East for sure and I think we’re up about 50% year-on-year in APAC overall.

In key growth areas, Australia has done very well for us with Telstra etc. India is going crazy right now, this build out on 4G and sort of taking the mobile internet directly in… is fascinating. There aren’t too many parallels with this concept of leap frogging over from fixed line to 1.2 billion people with a mobile internet; it’s pretty exciting.

CD: I gather that your focus at the moment is strongly on India in light of some of the issues involved in getting into

the market in China?

GS: Yeah, I mean China is obviously a fast growing market. The issue from our perspective is we could never figure out how to do well in that market. The dynamics are very particular to China; it’s sort of centrally controlled with some indigenous players there, but we’ve been able to be number one and two in every other single market in the world, including challenging markets like Brazil. [That’s] been a fast growing market for us. We did a lot of the infrastructure around the World Cup, [that] was based on Ciena.... and India is our fastest growing single country right now.

CD: You mentioned Telstra.

Can you talk about your customers in Australia right now and what’s happening there?

GS: Yes, our customer base is broadening out in Australia.

GS: We have more people now; we’ve passed a threshold point… Ciena [has] about 5,500 people. We have more people outside of the US now than in the US, which is appropriate. It’s coming to the point where depending on the quarter, most of our revenue comes from outside, it’s fifty-fifty.

CD: In terms of Australia and New Zealand, what will be your key focus going forward in the near term?

GS: Our key focus is really on the build out that’s going on in both the core infrastructure and importantly, and increasingly, the metro type access points. That’s not just to deliver broadband, it’s [also] to deliver mobile backhaul... it’s only mobile until

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it gets to the local station and then it’s terrestrial. That’s a key part of it, both for 4G and preparing for 5G when it comes as well.

AM: Equally though to that, obviously with a lot more bandwidth being connected, [both] international bandwidth and subsea networks... we’ll need more intelligence coming into networks. We recently acquired the Cyan asset and with that came the Blue Planet [orchestration platform] solution and that is a key area around that orchestration for us. That actually allows us to put lot more automation into the customers’ networks, more automation and things like NFV and the like as well. That big area of discussion, I think,[engages] most carriers within APAC and globally, right? And, equally so here in Australia.

CD: On that point, what are your thoughts on projects like the NBN in Australia?

GS: You look at other parallels to other countries [but] first of all there is no one single model that you’ve seen globally that says ‘hey here’s the blueprint, this works, go!’

If you look at where you’ve got very deep penetration of broadband, it’s places like South Korea and Japan, which have had some degree of national government impetus as well as [input from] commercial enterprise. There are some examples of that working successfully and you’ve got various different models around the world.

There’s no one size fits all, as long as the investment gets done.

The other thing I’d say is [that] people get wrapped up around the technology in terms of fibre to the home particularly. We’re biased, we think that fibre gives you the most flexibility; it gives you the most throughput for sure. But you have to be practical about it. Using a multitude of different access technologies I think is pragmatic, be it satellite or cable or copper even. But the reality is, you’ve got to get as much broadband out there as you possibly can.

India is particularly interesting because they’re going to leap frog into a mass market where most people will get their internet experience through their phone.

I think it’s two-fold: one, from a customer experience point of view [and] number two, every economics statistic will tell you [that] the percentage of broadband penetration has an impact on the GDP. It’s pretty highly correlated. I think it’s a sound investment.

CD: That ties in nicely with your recent comments about bridging the connectivity divide.

GS: There a lot of questions and a lot of enthusiasm around things like the Internet of Things. Absolutely, I think it’s going to be phenomenal but you need to step back from it and under-

stand the context. The first phase of the internet was really just around basic connectivity and we’ve still got a ways to go, even in a lot of industrialised countries. You’ve still got potential for broadband penetration in the US, in Australia [and] in the UK. It has become a very focused issue. You’re then [also] talking about moving into this phase of the mobile internet.

That’s why I think India is particularly interesting because they’re going to leap frog into a mass market where basically most people will get their internet experience through their phone. I think that will just be fascinating, it’s unprecedented we’ve never seen that before.

CD: In a way, it makes perfect sense, doesn’t it?

GS: I think it does. You’ve got 1.2 billion people, you can’t fibre the thing up. It’s a way of getting the internet out to people. They’re looking at very low cost handsets as well [and] the whole ecosystem to support it.

I think probably the most exciting thing that’s going on in the telecoms industry right now globally is what’s [happening] in India.

CD: That particular market would be interesting from a mobile backhaul point of view as well in that case?

GS: Absolutely, they’re focused on mobile phones but when you build that infrastructure out there – and it’s to my point around this met-

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ro stuff – once you’re out there you can deliver Ethernet business services, you can do mobile backhaul, direct to home stuff. It gives you a lot of flexibility around that last mile connection.

But to continue on the thread of the question, we’ve still only got a third of the planet connected to the internet. About half of the planet has a mobile phone of some sort, so we’ve got a long way to go on a global basis of getting everybody on net.

CD: That’s easy to forget sometimes amidst the hype of the IoT. GS: People are constantly focused on connecting things and we haven’t connected all the people yet. The next phase of all of this is where you get the mobile connectivity and then you have [the issue of] how can you leverage that? You’ve then got the intelligence, things like the IoT, artificial intelligence [and] big data can then provide knowledge based stuff to really impact people’s lives in things like healthcare and education.

There are some great opportunities there once you’re monitoring health and devices and things, you’ve got a lot of flexibility to mine it as knowledge.

CD: Is the NBN something that Ciena would like to get more involved in here in Australia?

GS: Certainly, from our point of view we think we

can help, particularly as Anthony said around two things we’re increasingly seeing.

One: we can provide enormous amounts of capacity on a scalable basis, we’re number one in the world at doing that, which is pretty remarkable when you think that we’re actually not in the largest market in the world…

China.

can [then] move capacity around at any one point in time.

CD: Which is where your hyper scale customers come in.

GS: Yes, absolutely. If you think about the dynamics of the industry on a global basis, it’s really being driven by the content guys – both directly and indirectly. An interesting The second thing is then statistic: if you take the subproviding the intelligence on marine space [and] submathe network and… this orrine cables, the number one, chestration. To be able to two and three owners of camanage a dynamic network, ble capacity in the midbecause I think in simple Atlantic now are Google, Faterms a lot of these networks cebook and Microsoft. That’s are built in a static way. a big shift, a few years ago that would have been Verizon, AT&T, NTT An interesting statistic: if you take the and Cable and Wiresubmarine space [and] submarine cables, less. Now it’s the content guys. the number one, two and three owners of cable capacity in the mid-Atlantic now are CD: On submarine caGoogle, Facebook and Microsoft. bles, you’ve grown rapThey’re point to point connections with a certain amount of capacity. But when you start to overlay that with an intelligent internet, the IoT et cetera, the flows of capacity are very difficult to predict.

You don’t know where you’re going to need capacity at any one point in time, you just want to the right capacity at the right time and in the right place. What Ciena is able to do with its Blue Planet technology, which is essentially an open standard set of software tools, really enables the ability for carriers to build a very flexible, automated provisioning system. You

idly in that industry in the last few years. How do you characterise the global subsea market? Has it become more stable? Also, for some time, we’ve been seeing a lot of submarine cables being announced but they don’t always materialise. Does that make it difficult for the guys in sales?

GS: Anthony runs that kind of business. We were talking this morning actually with somebody about the telecom nuclear winter in 2003 when you couldn’t give submarine capacity away, right? They built out this… capacity and you couldn’t give it away.

The opposite is now true; you can’t get enough submarine

capacity just generally.

We’ve been able to upgrade a lot of that capacity on these networks way beyond the original envisionment of the capacity. We’re number one in that market worldwide but you’re also now seeing a lot of new cables being announced because it’s got to the point where they need to continue to do that.

We’re working here with customers like Southern Cross particularly in Australia, a big Ciena customer. I think you’ll see a number of these cables now begin to be announced and get into production where you haven’t really seen a lot of new cables generally for the last five or six years really, because we’ve been able to put additional capacity on without the need for it.

AM: I think too that with the existing cables, [with] Ciena pioneering the coherent technology [and] being able to run over the top of existing cables just changed the business model… Telegeography said that around 75% of all bandwidth is ultimately going to be consumed by the content guys on international links.

There is a lot of unlit capacity on the existing cables and Ciena has been able to [develop], and others have adopted and embraced coherent technology as well.

But we’ve pioneered the way to actually upgrade those from 10Gbps to 40Gbps to 100Gbps and as we bring out

new generations of technology, we’re creating better efficiency so [that means] effectively more bandwidth.

But even at the ends [we’re pushing] that to datacentres.

Submarine has gone from beach to beach to [now] datacentre to datacentre. We talk about this in terms of what we call geo-mesh, being able to extend and use a technology to reach straight to the datacentre solves a big problem for carriers in the backhaul.

Because once you hit the ground, terminating electrically and converting it and switching it around only to go to a datacentre [means] we’ve been able to glass it all On a global basis the primary competitors are Huawei and Nokia. the way through, again taking further cost elements out of it.

The economics have changed, the life of the cable has expanded. New cables, though, will continue to come. There’s a fundamental belief that… the NBN will actually [drive that demand] that [and] as mobile broadband penetration increases you’ll see that demand aggregated up [together with] continued demand on international capacity.

New cables come but it’s a little bit of a thing in the submarine industry where we get a lot of announcements around lots of cables but we’re at risk of a few of those coming off.

TGA is actually in the water, building another link across from New Zealand. I think there’s other cables mentioned around, on the East and West coast of Australia to service that demand and they’ll be next generation style fibres, which will give longer runway and more bandwidth and capacity.

CD: Who are your key competitors??

GS: On a global basis the primary competitors are Huawei and Nokia. The value that we bring is [that] we’re a focused player as opposed to a generalist trying to be all things to all people. The market really values, not just in our space, but very generally in the tech world, best of breed.

Our customers live in very competitive markets and they have to really go with best of breed re technology. With Ciena – because this is all we do – we have the best technology in the world in this space. We couple that increasingly with a deep understanding and relationship with the customer.

In terms of the modelling of the architecture [and] the relationships, we’re a trusted advisor to these customers who are dealing with a lot of change and a lot of challenges, both from a business point of view and from an architecture point of view.

It’s really the confluence of leading technology, leading software offerings and trusted relationship.

Chris Chapman talks about his new role at the IIC The former ACMA chairman is gearing up for his first annual conference as president of the International Institute of Communication. He spoke with CommsDay founder Grahame Lynch

F

ormer Australian Communications and Media Authority chairman Chris Chapman says he has “never been busier” as he steps up the pace in his new role as the president of the International Institute of Communications.

Chapman, who chaired the Australian regulatory agency for a maximum allowable ten year term, is hoping his high profile across the Asia Pacific can be leveraged in his new role to help revitalise the 48 year old UK-

based organisation in the region.

“The IIC is a not for profit, member driven organisation that provides a traditional meeting place for industry players and regulators,” Chapman told CommsDay. “It is non-government and non-aligned bringing together people for 48 years. It is not a policy advocate, not does it take a position but it has been bringing together the best of industry together with the best of regulators in an informal environment with

the Chatham House rule.”

Under Chapman the IIC is bringing its peak event in region, with its International Regulators Forum and Annual Conference planned for Bangkok, Thailand between 10 and 13 October.

The IIC has previously held events in locations as diverse as Brussels, Miami and Vienna and is hoping this major annual show will help boost its stocks in Asia Pacific, where it already has active chapters in Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand.

Chapman first became involved in the IIC in his capacity as ACMA chairman back in 2009 when he attended an event in France where he was taken aback by the quality of the debate and openness of the group to diverse perspectives and new ideas. “There were some quite contested policy discussions,” he recalls.

“People who in print may have been highly adversarial were quite cordial and constructive in the IIC forums.

What most fascinated me was the trusted environment.”

Chapman says that often regulators run a mile at the smell of criticism, but that the IIC provided somewhere where they could roadtest and showcase their ideas with the best of industry.

The Thailand meeting is made up of two discrete events: the Regulators' Forum, as the name denotes, is open only to regulators. This year's event sees a wide array of topics up for discussion including the pressures of convergence, collaboration between network, content and

47th Annual Conference Trends in converged communications: New tipping points, new digital policies and strategies

12-13 October, 2016

Venue: The Eastin Grand Sathorn Hotel, Bangkok

47TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE TOPICS: 12-13 October 2016 Priorities for regulators adapting to digital transformation Linking ICT policy and regulation with Sustainable Development Goals Business and policy models in the new digital economy Stimulating quality digital content in an OTT world Evolving priorities, consumption patterns and attitudes to privacy, security and freedom

INTERNATIONAL REGULATORS FORUM 2016: 10-11 October 2016 The demands of convergence Cross sectoral regulation Levelling the playing ďŹ eld: the challenges Connecting the unconnected Spectrum: what is 5G and what does it mean for the regulator?

BOOK NOW FOR BOTH EVENTS:

TEL: +44 (0)20 8544 8076 WEB: www.iicom.org EMAIL: enquiries@iicom.org

SCAN ME FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THIS ANNUAL CONFERENCE

other regulators, the challenges of regulating for a level playing field in access and content, 5G spectrum as well as international regulation harmonisation.

The second, the annual conference, is open to all and will cover regulatory tipping points in convergence, universal connectivity, smart cities, cybersecurity, digital consumerism and citizenry and will also focus on two special case studies: the emergence of Myanmar where an entire communications regulatory system and market is being created from scratch and Australia’s own NBN. According to Chapman, Australia’s NBN is an object of intense fascination across the world. “Wherever I go I am always being asked about it. What is its construction status? What have been the outcomes? Has it proved to be the right solution for the policy goals set for it? So we are dedicating a session to it which we are populating with a number of experts from Australia,” he says.

Australian speakers at the event include acting ACMA chairman Richard Bean, the ACCC's executive general manager Michael Cosgrave, NBN board director Justin Milne and Telstra regulatory executive Jane van Beelen.

Other participants demonstrate the diversity of the event: ranging from an executive from south east Asian competitor to Netflix, iFlix, through to the head of regulatory affairs for Axiata, the international assets holding group of Telekom Malaysia.

Regulators from as far afield as Bangladesh, Jamaica and

The Eas n Grand Hotel in Bangkok: venue for the IIC event

Colombia will rub shoulders with television executives from Japan and India, telecom executives from Myanmar and academics from Singapore and Hong Kong.

One feature of the event will be a special workshop on the topic of spam and unwanted electronic communications.

The issue of spam and nuisance communications is viewed as a priority by many governments, and one where

international collaboration is needed in areas of policy, regulation, and enforcement.

The workshop, organised by the Canadian Radiotelevision and Telecommunications Commission, will present case studies that demonstrate challenges and successes in moving the spam and nuisance communications agenda forward. ““Many delegates tell us the highlight of the week is the intimate access they get

to high profile industry figures and senior regulators for spontaneous discussions often over breakfast or drinks,� says IIC director general Andrea Millwood Hargrave.

The 4 day event is scheduled for Thailand at the end of its rainy season with temperatures just below 30 degrees. Typically, this annual event attracts over 200 participants drawn from regulators, content providers, telcos, OTT providers, technology businesses, government and professional services providers. Delegates come from all over the world with approximately 30% from Europe, 30% from North America, 25% from Asia and the rest from elsewhere.

The choice of Bangkok is interesting given recent negative political developments in that country, but the Thai government has pulled out all stops to attract ICT events to its capital.

Just a month after, the International Telecommunications Union will be holding its 2016 major global conference and exhibition in Bangkok. Thousands of industry executives, government representatives and technology specialists from around the world are expected to attend.

Last year's event in Hungary attracted 4000 participants from 129 countries.

And then next year, Terrapinn is holding its peak Asia telecom event, Telecoms World Asia, in Bangkok. Rebadged from its successful 18 year Carriers World moniker, the event is expected to attract 600 delegates next March.

IIC holds three workshops

In addition to its main annual conference, IIC is holding three special workshops during its regulation week.

Workshop 1: Eliminating spam and nuisance communications, Tuesday 11 October, 14:00-17:00, EASTIN GRAND SATHORN The issue of spam and nuisance communications (nuisance calls, malware, botnets) is a priority for many governments, and one where international collaboration is needed in areas of policy, regulation, and enforcement.

Whether you have a robust spam and nuisance communications regulatory framework, or you are an emerging player in the arena of spam and nuisance communications policy or enforcement, you will benefit from this interactive discussion on the sharing of best practices in this area.

Workshop 2: Building a responsible and sustainable advertising policy framework, Thursday 13 October, 08:00-09:15, EASTIN GRAND SATHORN HOTEL On the morning of October 13th, the IIC is organising a workshop to look at the key issues raised in creating a responsible and sustainable advertising policy framework for the region.

Considering the APEC Action Agenda on Advertising Standards and Practice Development, topics to be discussed will look at the progress made since the Agenda was published (in 2014) and consider regulatory practice in other jurisdictions.

Workshop 3: Driving towards Industry 4.0, Friday 14 October 2016, 09:15 -14:00, ANANTARA SATHORN HOTEL Principal Sponsor: Electronic Transactions Development Agency (ETDA) The so-called 'Fourth Industrial Revolution' or Industry 4.0 is the term generally used to refer to the total digital integration of a value chain from end to end. That is, all the data created by the use of differing digital technologies are brought together and analysed to push forward the development of digital ecosystems.

And these ecosystems have their own sets of value chains bringing growth to economies and social benefits but also significant challenges.

This workshop, supported by the Electronic Transactions Development Agency (ETDA) of Thailand in association with the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, the IIC Thailand Chapter and the Capital Market Graduate Association, will explore the policy implications of Industry 4.0.

writing off a certain amount of NBN cost on the budget just to ease that top-down pressure on the industry?

INTERVIEW: Australian communications minister Senator Mitch Fifield

C

ommunications minister Mitch Fifield has flatly ruled out any budget writeoff for the NBN despite growing industry concern around its capacity-based pricing, confident that the national network builder will ultimately find the right balance of maintaining its own rate of return without throttling retail customers.

Meanwhile, the minister is preparing to respond to a slew of key industry reviews – of the Australian Communications and Media Authority, the spectrum regulation framework, and the Universal Services Obligation amongst others – expecting to go public on at least two in the next couple of months.

With Fifield just having passed a year in the job, he sat down with CommsDay

group editorial director Petroc Wilton to talk about everything from NBN’s contentious connectivity virtual circuit charge (CVC) to recent calls for government to support a fourth mobile operator.

Communications Day: I know that the CVC is [going through] a continuous review process... and there are ideas to scale it down with usage, with number of connections etc. But the fundamental issue is that NBN has to get a certain quantum of revenue from the industry each year, and that has to keep going up because it has to keep making that commercial rate of return. Do you think that industry, ultimately, can bear the costs that NBN has to exact? Would you, at this stage, completely [rule out] the idea of going back and

Mitch Fifield: That isn’t in contemplation. It’s a fairly modest rate of return NBN is seeking, 2.7-3.5% in the Corporate Plan. As I’ve said, I don’t think the CVC arrangements have ever been set in stone; it’s always been NBN’s intention that they will come down over time.

We already have industrywide dimension-based arrangements in place, which was a reduction on what was before; NBN has added that it wants to start consulting with RSPs about moving to an RSP-specific discounting arrangement. And their intention is that will be in place in the second half of the financial year.

The key is for NBN and the RSPs to work together; I think NBN has demonstrated that it’s prepared to do that, it continues to be prepared to do that, and I hope the RSPs are more comfortable after NBN has reiterated its willingness to continue to talk, and continue to refine the pricing arrangements.

CD: We have now had [senior executives] from three of the Big Four fixed-line players talk, on some level, about problems with the CVC construct as it currently is: TPG CEO David Teoh, Vocus CEO Geoff Horth, David Epstein at Optus... are you concerned at the idea of industry feeling throttled in the NBN speed tiers that they can sell, because they can’t afford to dimension enough capacity?

MF: NBN wants to work with the RSPs; NBN wants to have a good takeup; NBN wants to have happy endusers, that is in its interests. It’s a matter between wholesaler and retailers to find the balance.

CD: What about alternate revenue sources.... for NBN to find some other way to monetise its existing assets, something like the Qantas in-flight Wi-Fi, or the mobile tower backhaul offering they were talking about? The instant NBN talks about any kind of off-mission operation like that, there are cries of mission creep... do you think that might be an option to ease the commercial pressures?

MF: I don’t want to open up on a particular issue that’s really a matter for NBN as a commercial entity; certainly, I recognise that the sensitivity in terms of what is the core business for NBN, and NBN moving beyond that. But I know NBN is always keen to look for what it can do, revenue that it can raise within its mandate.

CD: On funding for the NBN; are you confident that once the government equity for NBN runs out, NBN will be able to secure the funding it needs from the debt markets? Have you had any conversations, or spoken to [NBN CEO] Bill Morrow about any conversations, with potential funders? What’s the process if government needs to top up funding?

MF: The expectation, per the 2016 Corporate Plan, is that NBN will seek to raise from external markets. Our equity

is capped at A$29.5 billion, as you know. But as is set out in the Budget papers, if NBN was initially unable to raise, on acceptable terms, interim support is something that could be looked at – but government hasn’t addressed what that might be, if that circumstance arose. Our expectation is as per the Corporate Plan.

the public radar during, and since, the election – though I know a lot of them you’re still working on. Like the Australian Communications and Media Authority review – do you have a timeline for that?

CD: When it does come to debt funding, it seems like you’re taking a – well, not hands-off approach, but [leaving] the commercial aspects to NBN and Bill Morrow. Of course, you’re a stakeholder minister. Is there any concern that, when it does go after debt funding, NBN might start to become independently

CD: The Copyright Code – is that essentially dead now?

I know NBN is always keen to look for what it can do, revenue that it can raise within its mandate. minded, pursue its own financial agenda – perhaps at the expense of its original mission to get broadband to all Australians at a cheap price?

MF: Our response to the review will be in the near future – it’s relatively imminent.

MF: Well, the two sides have essentially reached agreement on the structure of a Code, but they’ve got to have further discussions on the issue of funding arrangements... they’ve advised the ACMA that they will revisit it in 2017.

CD: Will you be actively pressing to make sure that happens, or is it fundamentally something for them?

MF: It’s fundamentally something for them to resolve.

CD: How often do you talk to Bill Morrow?

CD: The NBN non-commercial services; the last thing on that was the second discussion paper from the Bureau of Communications Research. The idea of this industry-wide levy to fund NBN satellite and wireless; obviously there’s been an interesting controversy there, with players like TPG saying it should be levied on wireless players as well as fixed... what’s the state of that?

MF: At least every week – often several times a week!

MF: We’re still considering the work of the Bureau.

CD: Let’s get off the NBN. There are a few key comms policy areas that have dropped off

CD: Okay. But it’s still the plan to deconstruct that original implicit NBN cross-subsidy and re-

MF: The Statement of Expectations ensures that NBN’s strategic direction aligns with government objectives, and that’s something that will continue even after the A$29.5 billion of equity has been provided.

place it with an overt levy model?

speculate on what future USO arrangements might be.

MF: We’re still considering the Bureau’s work.

CD: Regulated domestic mobile roaming. Clearly it’s excited some quite divisive industry debate; you’ve got TPG and Vodafone on one side, Optus and Telstra on the other side. I’m not asking you to pick sides, but what are your thoughts on the process in general, or the concept of regulated domestic roaming as a boost to competition?

CD: So are you 100% married to the levy idea, or is there literally everything to play for with that study still?

MF: We’ve got more consultation to do; more thinking to do. But there’ll be more to say on that later.

CD: And radcomms [spectrum regulation] reform?

MF: The exposure draft will be available later this year; that’s the game plan.

CD: Universal Services Obligation reform. That’s currently sat with the Productivity Commission... which will report next year. It’s notable that a lot of stakeholders, and notably the Shiff regional telecommunications review, have called for a complete rework of the USO... [but] as it currently stands, it does have that tie-in to NBN and the Telstra deal, via what used to be the Telecommunications Universal Service Management Agency.

Obviously your response will depend on what the PC recommend – but would you be open to the idea of unpicking that TUSMA agreement, as complicated as it is, and inherently linked with the NBN deal?

MF: TUSMA is the vehicle that gives effect to the USO contract; that contract has a way to go, there’s a review I think in 2020... but it’d be premature, before we have the work of the PC, for me to

MF: There are strong-held views on both sides of the debate amongst the telcos; it’s important that I take the opportunity of the declaration study to make sure the arguments for and against are well-ventilated with the The ACCC have in the front of their mind the importance of a regulatory environment that fosters investment.

ACCC. I know the ACCC have in the front of their mind the importance of a regulatory environment that fosters investment; as the minister, obviously, I want a regulatory environment that fosters investment as well!

But ultimately, this is a matter for the ACCC; they’re independent, it’s been a number of years since they’ve looked at this area, and I know they’re keen to conclude their declaration study very quickly in the interests of certainty.

CD: In a similar vein... [TPG CEO] David Teoh has been urging government to encourage a fourth mobile player... [ACCC chair] Rod Sims has said that in

principle, a fourth mobile player would be good for competition... in general terms, do you think a fourth mobile player would be good for the Australian market, could the Australian market support one?

MF: Ultimately, it’s up to the commercial entities themselves as to what line of business they want to go into; we’ve never had a government policy that stipulates a certain number of mobile phone carriers. So I’ll leave it to the telcos to determine the businesses that they themselves want to be in.

CD: David was of course referring to the Singapore example, where you had the regulator offering spectrum at a 50% discount to new players.... is that something you’d consider, or would you leave it, again, to a policy that wouldn’t mandate how many players you had in the market?

MF: Yeah, again, I’m not looking to mandate a certain number of players in the market.

CD: [Let’s say] you’ve got your chance to start all over again.

You’re comms minister, Stephen Conroy was never minister, the NBN was never dreamed up; what would you do differently?

MF: It’s not any luxury incoming government ever has, to start with a clean sheet of paper; you’ve always got to start with that which you inherited, that which was left behind. So what government’s got to do is deal with what’s before it, and make the best of it. And as you

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Communications Minister Mitch Fifield (second right, right) at an NBN worksite

MF: There’s not a lot that know, there was a lot of work keeps me awake at night! You to be done to make the best seek to control what you can of, and to turn things around control, there’s a lot beyond with, the NBN in the state your control, so there’s no that we found it, that Malpoint worrying about that. colm Turnbull found it, with But obviously, making sure what was essentially a failed project – and [he] brought order to bear The board and management of NBN, I where there was chathink, effected one of the major corporate os. turnarounds in Australian history CD: And here we are now, you’re a year into the gig – congratulations! – and the NBN is shaping up now, you can start to see its impact on the industry.

What are the big issues keeping you awake at night, the big things in the policy space that really need urgent attention?

the NBN remains on track [and] achieves its ambitions, but achievable, rollout targets; that’s something that’s absolutely front of mind.

And I do have to give a heck of a lot of credit, not just to Malcolm for the path that he

set, but the board and management of NBN; who really, I think, effected one of the major corporate turnarounds in Australian history. It’s going to be important in the short term to land the review of ACMA; to also land the spectrum radcomms legislation; to make sure that we have that regulatory certainty, and the rules of the game, clear for the players in the sector. And in another part of the portfolio, obviously to get started with media reform, to address some of those glaringly out-of-date media laws preventing configurations for Australian businesses that best suit them.

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