We speak to Gavin Young, Chief Architect for Access at Cable&Wireless Worldwide.

Within his current role, Mr. Young is focused on the design and architecture of the national broadband network and the associated network products, and is also heavily involved in regulatory aspects of broadband access.  He has previously held a number of access technology leadership roles within BT, and also worked at Bulldog Communications (later acquired by Cable&Wireless).


There have been reports that Cable&Wireless Worldwide has been looking into entering the world of managed-network IPTV services in the UK.  Where do these plans currently stand?

GY: Cable&Wireless Worldwide works with the largest users of telecoms, globally, and is the market leader in providing mission critical communications. We support IP services such as Managed Video Conferencing, giving us a strong foundation for meeting the onerous demands of IPTV where the requirements such as QoS have synergy with the demands of our major business customers.

Cable&Wireless Worldwide is also one of the few broadband operators in the UK, if not the only one, that supports multicast. We already offer wholesale broadband network connectivity which can be used for multicast capability for IPTV transport and we have ISPs and associated end-users using multicast IPTV on our platform today. 

It will be interesting to see how this market evolves; the BBC has already mentioned making multicast the default initial connection for iPlayer customers to reduce the network impact of iPlayer and we’re well placed to work with our customers to facilitate their multicast requirements.

The demands on broadband access networks have changed hugely in the past few years, with consumers ever keener to access over-the-top video, and managed-network IPTV services steadily rising in popularity.  Do you think that access networks in the UK will be able to keep up with this rising demand?

With improvements in codecs for compressing TV, many users will be able to receive multiple simultaneous SD channels over ADSL2+ and a single HD channel.  ADSL2+ networks will be stretched to offer multiple simultaneous HD channels (or 3D TV) so Next-Generation Access (NGA, using VDSL2 or Fibre-to-the-Premise, FTTP) will be needed for the latter service scenario.

The other challenge is the backhaul fibre network from the Access Node, which is a traditional bottleneck in Broadband Architectures.  Many DSL networks, including those of some other LLU operators, only have 100 or 155 Mbps backhaul fibre speeds since this part of the network is often leased from others and, subsequently, expensive. 

We’ve invested heavily in our MSP (Multi-Service Platform) which is an MPLS platform that sits on our Next-Generation Network and can be used to provide metro-area aggregation from the exchanges with 10 or 20 Gbps resilient rings and 1 Gbps connectivity into the Access Node within the local exchange. We see this combination of bandwidth and cost control as a key differentiator for us and this part of the C&W Worldwide network will also be a great asset when it comes to integrating faster Next-Generation Access technologies.


Will fibre-based broadband connections eventually become the norm in the UK and further afield?

Certainly NGA using FTTC and FTTP is already being deployed and looks set to pass around 40% of homes during the next couple of years.  Virgin Media has already passed a significant percentage of homes with fibre and high-speed cable modems.  However, economically, it will be challenging to reach the “final third” of homes in the UK.  This is the dilemma that organisations like the Broadband Stakeholders Group, Ofcom and Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) have been struggling with. 

It is hard to see how normal market forces will deliver NGA in areas where the population density is lowest. Some NGA providers have estimated that up to 20% of broadband connections could be on the faster NGA technologies in a few years time. However, this still leaves a significant percentage (more than 80%) on today’s broadband technology (mainly ADSL2+).


Do IPTV providers have a good chance of winning a substantial slice of the pay-TV industry, in your opinion, or will OTT video eventually make
it irrelevant?

Ultimately, it all comes down to content and price.  If great content is “free” through iPlayer or YouTube then no one will pay for it to be delivered via an alternative platform.  Such content is already available via broadband to be delivered to your TV instead of just the PC, using your Freesat box or Wii Console as a set-top box for example.  However, unique content ranging from Premier League football through to university lectures can help drive people to use “walled-garden” IPTV services.


Where do you think the IP&TV industry will be in five years' time?

The IP&TV industry will be much more converged with an increased focus on HD content, improved user experience and much greater use of video over broadband.  Technologies that increase bandwidth and performance will be more prevalent (e.g. VDSL2 with DSM/vectoring and PHY-layer Retransmission, GPON, WDM PON, 3D TV, OLED displays etc.). 

Business models could start to look very different than they do today with new approaches to monetising content such as a video equivalent to Spotify, for instance.  Video to mobile devices will also increase as 4G/LTE networks and associated femtocells are more widely deployed.