“The expansion of broadband creates great business opportunities and sources of employment. Therefore, the regulation on sharing of telecommunications infrastructure should be subject cable to network development.” Thus synthesized Dr. Joan Francesc Fondevila Gascón, director of the Center for Studies on Cable (CECABLE) and university professor, the content of the twentieth sprouted Congress on Cable and Broadband in Catalonia-2015, organized by the CECABLE, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), the Observatory of Scientific Communication at the University Pompeu Fabra (UPF) and Universitat de Girona (University School Mediterrani), and performed with great success in attendance and contents of 5 to 7 May 2015 in the School of Engineering at UAB, Bellaterra.
“We are thrilled to have reached the 20th edition of the event the cable and broadband in Catalonia and in Spain, in a sweet moment of deploying the fiber optic network, which totals nearly two million lines of very high bandwidth and almost thirteen million total broadband”, said Joan Francesc Fondevila in the opening ceremony. “In full Broadband Society, it is a priority to eliminate uncertainties and try to meet the goals of digitizing the Digital Agenda for Spain, since the trend of recent years is very positive and above what is key quintuple play. Avoid at all costs arising digital divides and geographical areas not covered by broadband believe”, argues Fondevila.
In the session on “Broadband in Catalonia and Spain”, Joan Oliver, Wifidom, defended the role of WiFi networks in an environment that is focusing on the optical fiber. The complementary factor and explain always on “the need for microwave networks” with more freedom in free license.
The cable is a phenomenon that requires large investments, but also can be played by small operators, such as traditional cable or some more recently emerged. Meritxell Bautista, Fibracat, reflected the relief of “marketing strategies adapted to each market niche. The local cable has a future”.  The differentiating factors are independence, creativity, financial capacity and technical differentiation.
A phenomenon that reflects the fullness of the Broadband Society is the growing number of smart phone subscriptions. This is the main engine of growth in mobile data traffic. “The increased use of mobile data subscription concentrates on video and social networks,” says Alfonso Aguado, Ericsson.
Networks do not cease to be a technology for content creation. In this sense, Ana Mesas, Adobe, explained the trends in content creation by creative cloud, whose media impact increasingly requires more bandwidth flow.
Xavi Casajoana, Voz Telecom, launched the keys to the current distribution channels to approach the cloud for businesses. The managed service provider is a figure that helps optimize business performance. The great evolution of Voz Telecom has led the company to create a business model based on the franchise, following the satisfactory results achieved and clear growth prospects.
The company is currently deploying more fiber optics in Spain, Telefonica said the “essential” character, according to Esteve Bosch, of this infrastructure, and the need to relax the law for the benefit of those who make the effort to deploy the technology. The decision of the National Commission of Markets and Competition to propose an obligation to Telefónica to this open its fiber network (except in nine major cities) generates discrepancies between the operator and the regulatory authority. The slowdown in investment in next-generation networks to a third of the expected rate threatens 10 million fiber connections raised at the end of 2015 and 20 million by the end of 2017, ie more than 80% of Spanish households.
“One advantage of these plans is that in most of the urban areas not only going to have a fiber optic network, but a few, which improves the chances of the end customer,” said Fondevila. The aim of Jazztel (five million homes with fiber by the end of 2015) and Vodafone and Ono (10 million) confirms that scenario.
For Jose Manuel Garcia, Neutrans, the fiber must be added 4G LTE networks in the frequency of 3.5 powerful, “that allow bring broadband to rural areas”. Keep in mind that the proximity operator populations preferentially targets small to medium type, not sufficiently covered by the major operators. Many have a history of traditional cable, and competitive advantage is the strong link with the area or population they serve. Your challenge is to maintain the right quality connectivity that will be global without losing local service. An operator is supported by the connectivity, giving you the quality demanded by the market and allows you to focus on sales and service aspects of the business. WiFi operators are also potential users of an operator connectivity it provides all network services, including backhaul and management of hotspots.
One effect of the new legislative framework can be that alternative operators moderate investment in infrastructure, as they will compete in the same areas with the Telefónica network thanks to the wholesale offer. However, the new regulatory framework will have to wait to become effective, if not delayed further by the expected legal resources of the operators.
In the block “Services and content on broadband networks”, the traditional round table “The keys to success of Catalan and Spanish historic Cable” showed that, before legislative swings, traditional cable deployments to ensure access network in rural areas. “The value of investments of adventurers of traditional cable business is huge,” said Fondevila, who stressed “the great adaptation of these companies to technological progress, to the point that they can offer quintuple play”. For Xavier Edo, Alpha Enginyeria and Acotec,”proximity and quick problem solving is the key to local networks”. Alejandro Rubio, Aire Networks, emphasized the evolution of these networks, “adapted to quintuple play”, and stressed that its platform, versatile, avoid congestion operator. Oriol Riba, Fibra Òptica Centelles, explained that, in terms of price, local operators tend to have the reference offer tariffs slightly below of the large operators.
In the session on “Evolution of installation type and cable broadband”, there was emphasized that the circumstances that plague the network deployment affect equipment suppliers. “There is some concern, as the pace of activity was high and can now be slowing,” said Enrique Perez, Huawei. The business reality is multidevice, with more bandwidth and flexibility to manage.
As for evolution of DOCSIS 3.0 to 3.1, Robert Pous, Promax, remarked that “the capacity increases and approaches that of FTTH GPON, though probably in ten years the local cable operators migrate to fiber”. In this vein, José Manuel Lain and Javier Alonso, Technetix, consider short-term small operators continue to rely on the DOCSIS as managements try to resolve the complaint at the time.
Jordi Soler, Xarxa Oberta de Catalunya, proposed marketing projects managed network, owned by the Generalitat of Catalonia. Soler detected in the market “a lot of movement and a special investor interest utilities”. To XOC, local authorities are aware of the importance of having optical fiber. This supports a separate distance rates to achieve territorial balance.
Cable Runner has an open network and the deployment of dark fiber optic network leveraging sanitation. With a growing number of network built, Josep Lluís Soria declares his company “open to win to win” with anyone having their deployment. That collaborative spirit is manifested by Francesc Xavier Berjano of Mediterranean Consulting, whose strategic communications projects for public and private environments yield results “a big time saver”.
Time and safety are two essential axes for the company, which must preserve the “perimeter protection”, according to Guillermo Fernandez of WatchGuard. The APT (Advanced Persistent Threat), led, advanced and persistent, are monitored by computer security companies. In this cloud environment it is of great weight, as advocated Xavier Martin, Ilimit, pointing growth hybrid cloud. The cloud is suitable for big data, and that can connect to the Internet of Things (IoT) and increases the amount of data manageable.
The third session, on “Various impacts of broadband networks”, began with institutional roundtable “New sources of employment thanks to broadband?”. “One of the main beneficiaries of the explosion of the deployment of broadband networks is employment, but opportunities arise more diversified digital content industries. The job profiles are multiplied in the digital environment”, notes Joan Francesc Fondevila. Jordi Lopez, Telecos.cat, said the technology sector externalities that are borne by” more productivity, outsourcing and innovation”. Jordi Farré, the Official School Technical Engineers Electronic Communications Catalunya, he stressed that the work of the sector is concentrated in the private sector (95%) and stressed that we must monitor the implementation of the LGT 2014. Daniel Ollé, the CNMC, considered that there are considerable possibilities for college through digitization. Joan Cervera, Xoc, showed that the media sector is boosting the market. For Roman Lantarón of FECEMINTE, “it is positive that more employment in the sector, but controlling the intrusion” . Daniel Marco, the Generalitat de Catalunya, stressed that “we must find ways” to fill the positions of work or digital technology that become vacant due to lack of skilled labor.
The implications of the Internet and audiovisual are increasing. Andreu Roman, Sony, highlighted the implications in terms of flow and broadband technology standards that implies convergence between the two sectors. David Andreu, of Anxanet, emphasized that customer proximity and knowledge of the territory are an added value of great value. Xavier Redon, of Cellnex he said “the triple jump audiovisual” involving the HEVC, DVB-T2 and 4K, and Joan Rosés, Cluster Audiovisual de Catalunya, highlighted the tissue created by the 1,700 companies, a third of which he was born in the last four years. In addition, each euro invested in audiovisual is higher than in other industries multiplier.
The major social networks (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Instagram) recorded an enthusiastic movement to follow the event.
In the event participating and collaborating institutions such as the Generalitat of Catalonia, UAB, UPF, Cercle Fiber, Marketing Club of Barcelona, ​​College of Industrial Engineers of Barcelona (CETIB) Catalan Association of telecommuni Enginyers (Telecos.cat) College Officer Telecommunications Engineers of Catalonia (COETTC), College of Computer Engineering of Catalonia (COEIC), National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC), Faculty of Communication Sciences at UAB, Catalan Federation of Employers Telecommunications Installers (FECEMINTE) FECOTEL (Telecommunications Coordinator Federation), Federation of Telecommunications Installers (Fenitel), Barcelona Digital Technology Centre, TIC.CAT, Red.es, Localret, AOTEC (National Association of Telecommunications Operators and Service Internet), AEDOC (Spanish Association of Digital Documentation), AETIC (Association of Business Information Technology and Communications Spain), ISNA (National Association of Internet), APD (Association for Progress in Management), Asimelec ( Multisectoral Association of Spanish Electronics and Communications), Catalan Association of Technology (ACTec), Computer Technicians Association (ITA), Astel (Association of Operators and Telecommunication Services) CTecno, Vallès Technology Park (PTV) , CENATIC (National Reference Center for the Application of Information Technology and Communication ICT), Ilimit, International Association of Technology, Education and Development (IATED), Foundation for the info- technological Development of Companies and Society (Fundetec) Platform FOTÓNICA21 or Catalan Society of Technology.