Broadband Internet access - What does Europe actually need?

Analys is & commentary for

decis ion makers in the telecoms industry

Broadband Internet

access

What does Europe actually need?

HELIO

SA

DVISER

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Europe is preparing to roll out

high speed broadband to

every citizen

The EU is assuming that fibre

is needed to support user

demand; but is it?

Fibre will clearly be used

where it is economic to do so

Executive summary The European Commission's Digital Agenda sets a political target of

achieving symmetric, 100 Mbit/s broadband connectivity near-universally

with 30 Mbit/s being available to remaining, outlying areas. Individual

Member States are also setting targets for broadband connectivity: in the

UK, for example, the Digital Britain programme is aiming to deliver at least

2 Mbit/s of broadband Internet connectivity universally across the country

by 2012, with a target of achieving next generation broadband to 90% of

the population by 2017.

But what are the motivations for delivering such high bandwidths and is

there any substance behind the need for a symmetrical 30 Mbit/s

connection? This paper examines the evidence for demand for high

bandwidth access to determine what kind of Internet connection is

realistically required by everyday Internet users over the next 5 to 10

years.

The EU is currently promoting a policy which assumes that only fibre

connections can deliver the type of connectivity which meets user demands

and that mobile or other wireless solutions will fill in the void where fibre

is not available. However, before significant investment is made, it is

important to understand whether user demands can be met through other

means and in particular whether there is a more balanced approach in

which all technologies have a role to play. Indeed, is there any need for

Governments to invest in the roll-out of (fibre) services at all? Or is it

feasible that the necessary connectivity could be provided at zero cost to

European Union Member States, and more widely, through a more reasoned

understanding of bandwidth demand? Without knowing users’ Internet

demand profiles, it is impossible to make informed decisions to these

questions.

Our findings are that:

• A download speed of 10 Mbit/s is more than sufficient for the majority

of current and future domestic Internet users. In many cases,

connection speeds significantly less than this will satiate the demand

from most user types.

• Streaming of HD video is the thirstiest future application and is likely

to become the prime driver of Internet traffic volumes.

• For some gaming applications, low latency is required if gameplay is

not to be degraded; however gaming is not likely to be a key driver of

future bandwidth demand. Other than this, there are no specific

latency issues for domestic users.

• Symmetrical connections are generally not necessary, even for those

who generate a lot of content which they wish to upload. Even for

gaming, it is latency which needs to be kept low − symmetry is

unnecessary as long as connection speeds are reasonable.

Where fibre is needed (e.g. for large industrial organisations), the market

will obviously address it. Equally, it seems unreasonable that investment

decisions should be taken just to satisfy gaming when the majority of other

user demands can be economically addressed by other technologies. Whilst

recognising the potential advantages of using fibre to deliver Internet

1

connectivity in areas where it is cost-effective to roll out, in many other

areas, the high speed, high bandwidth, symmetric, low latency services

provided by fibre are unnecessary and may prove to be an expensive means

of fulfilling users’ Internet connectivity expectations.

Both mobile and satellite broadband are fully able to serve the majority of

everyday Internet users. Using satellite for delivery of HD video content,

there is little to no need for fibre connectivity for many domestic users as

other means of Internet delivery (ADSL, mobile and satellite itself) are

more than sufficient.

A policy which promotes fibre as the only means of Internet delivery for all

users may therefore be imposing unnecessary costs both to those providing

financial support to roll-out and eventually, and inevitably, to end users.

The use of existing (ADSL and satellite) infrastructure can economically

deliver the necessary bandwidth to those users who are not currently within

easy reach of fibre. A more balanced approach, which recognises the

strengths and weaknesses of the different delivery platforms and the

differing demands of Internet users would therefore be a much more

pragmatic, realistic and cost-effective way forward.

But fibre is not necessary

everywhere

A mix of other (existing)

technologies can do the job

more efficiently

2

Average Internet connection

speeds are typically only half

the advertised rate

ICT, and in particular

broadband, is crucial to

European economic recovery

Introduction According to UK telecommunications regulator Ofcom[1], in 2008, the

domestic Internet download speed experienced across the UK averaged

3.6 Mbit/s, which was half the advertised speed of 7.2 Mbit/s. From data

produced by the OECD[2], the average advertised download speed for a

basket of 20 Western European countries by the end of 2009 was 20 Mbit/s.

It is therefore likely that the average speed of connections across these

countries is nearer 10 Mbit/s and in less developed countries, the

connection speed is significantly worse (Turkey, for example, has an

average advertised connection speed of less than 5 Mbit/s).

It is worth noting that in some of these countries, broadband Internet is

delivered via fibre and this will tend to skew the average figures higher. In

Denmark, for example, 10% of connections are on fibre and in Sweden this

rises to 21%. However, in many EU countries, the percentage of connections

using fibre is still well below one. Further, these averages do not take into

account the many millions who have no broadband Internet access at all.

The chart below shows Internet connection speeds for a range of countries

across Europe and more widely.

Europe has become the world leader in broadband Internet, with 114

million subscribers, it is the largest world market and penetration rates are

rising swiftly. Half of all European households and more than 80% of

European businesses have a fixed broadband connection, three quarters of

them with average download speeds above 2 Mbit/s.

ICT, and in particular the broadband Internet, is a crucial component of the

European economic recovery plan, that has allocated 347 million Euro to

speed up rural broadband from a total of 1 Billion Euro earmarked to

encourage the growth of industry[3]. ICT accounts for half of the rise in EU

productivity and available high-speed broadband is key to new jobs, new

skills, new markets and cutting costs. It is essential to businesses, public

3

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Japan

Korea

Finland

Sweden

France

Netherlands

Portugal

Canada

Poland

Norw

ay

Austria

Belgium

Iceland

Germ

any

EU Average

USA

Denmark

Italy

Luxembourg

Hungary

Slovak Republic

United Kingdom

Switzerland

New Zealand

Ireland

Turkey

Australia

Czech Republic

Spain

Greece

Mbps

Typical Internet connection speeds

services and to making the modern economy work and it’s therefore

important that Europe gets any future investments right.

The question remains, however, what is the actual need for broadband

connectivity for a typical European citizen? Clearly there will be differences

between users, wherein some will only need connections for everyday

electronic services (such as eGovernment and eBanking) where as others

may want more for gaming, file transfer and on-demand video. It is also

worth bearing in mind that although there may be an element of latent

demand which would mean that if higher bandwidths were more widely

available, the bandwidth might get rapidly filled, this is not part of the

need for bandwidth but is a side-effect of its availability.

Our analysis of the different needs of Internet users is based around

defining a number of specific user types and examining the needs of these

users. In making this assessment we have focused on four specific technical

parameters, chosen as they represent the major differences between the

various potential technological solutions which may be used to deliver

Internet connections. The parameters we have focused on are:

• Speed of connection − the speed with which a user can connect to the

Internet. This is traditionally measured as the speed from the Internet

to the user.

• Total bandwidth consumed − this is the amount of Internet bandwidth

used by a single user over a one month period, some technologies tend

to cap this as their overall capacity is limited.

• Symmetry of connection − some technologies provide a slower

connection from the user to the Internet than from the Internet to the

user, some are equal in both directions.

• Latency − this is the length of time that it takes for data to travel to

and from the Internet from the user’s perspective; again some

technologies do better on this than others.

Given the fact that the various information sources for each of the user

types do not necessarily identify specific results with respect to these

parameters, instead of providing a specific numerical result, we have

sought to group requirements into bands.

These bands have been defined as follows:

We have analysed demand for

a number of different types

of Internet users

4

Low Medium High Very High

Speed of

connection Up to 2 Mbit/s Between 2 and 10

Mbit/s

Between 10 and

30 Mbit/s

Above 30

Mbit/s


Total bandwidth

consumed

Less than 1

Gbyte/month

Between 1 and 10

Gbyte/month

Between 10 and

100 Gbyte/month Unlimited


Susceptibility to

latency

Able to withstand latency over 500

milliSeconds

Able to withstand latency between 100 and 500

milliSeconds

Latency must be below 100

milliSeconds

[not used]

We have drawn on existing

data. Our results represent a

‘poll of polls’

Symmetry can be assessed by considering the upload speeds which users

require, compared with the download speeds they demand and as such, we

have simply considered whether or not symmetry is required; there is no

sliding scale of requirement.

The values we have assigned within the different parameters are useful in

differentiating on the grounds of system capability and availability and

represent a reasonable reflection of current and future demand. As

examples, the charts below show typical Internet usage caps for a selection

of countries across the world.

Our work has not sought to undertake significant new technical nor

economic analysis but has analysed and updated information drawn from

the wide library of existing, published material available concerning

Europe. As such, our results represent a ‘poll of polls’ and thus should be

both representative and reflective of typical user requirements.

5

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Canada

Iceland

Australia

New Zealand

Portugal

Average

Belgium

Luxembourg

United Kingdom

Ireland

Turkey

Slovak Republic

Spain

Hungary

GByte/month

Typical Internet usage caps

User profiles

General

In undertaking our analysis we have specifically attempted to exclude the

effects of latent demand. That is to say that we have excluded the impact

that availability of Internet services has on people’s usage profiles. There is

evidence to suggest[4] that as people are provided with higher bandwidth

Internet connections, they begin to use and explore services which require

this bandwidth, whereas if they are not provided with it, they remain

content with the services they do have access to and do not seek to expand

their usage. It is questionable what real economic or social value is gained

by satiating latent demand. We have therefore focused on the real demand

associated with providing users with those services they would request, but

are not currently provided, rather than the potential demand which might

arise had they access to greater bandwidth.

Approach

It is impossible to include all usage profiles within a ‘typical’ set of Internet

user types as each of us has a specific set of websites and services that we

will be likely to access, based on experience of Internet content and our

own specific need for information and entertainment. However, the usage

types we have defined represent broad categories with which everyone

will, to a greater or lesser extent, identify.

As the Internet increasingly becomes a medium over which various types of

content are distributed, it is envisaged that, during our leisure time,

certain activities such as streaming high quality video into the home will

become routine and begin to homogenise domestic Internet quality of

service demands. However, it is possible to profile particular user groups

whose on-line behaviour may lead to significantly different characteristic

service demand profiles.

It is therefore important to consider the type and mix of online services

that people use and thus, in turn, trends in on-line behaviour and service

demand. Once defined, these usage categories can be readily converted

into quantified user demand for given download speeds, symmetry, latency

and aggregate demand.

Several ways of profiling Internet users have been developed to date

including the Neilson NetRatings system[5]. These have mainly been used to

determine marketing opportunities for companies selling products and

services online. Indeed much work has been put into establishing links

between Internet usage habits and particular products (including Internet

service provision itself) to target sales most effectively. Such information

tends to be aggregated at a national or industry sector level describing, for

example, the current demand for a given level of bandwidth from a

‘typical’ domestic Internet user in a specific country. We have decomposed

this and other data to determine individual user type profiles.

We have focused on demands

which generate real economic

returns

We have followed standard

user profiling techniques

6

Users have been split between

professional and domestic

User types

Past surveys of Internet usage have traditionally delineated between

businesses (professional) and leisure (domestic) use and this broad principle

has been applied to guide our research. User categories have been further

broken down into a number of specific user types:

• Professional

▪ Large industrial business offices and R&D institutions, typically

requiring high-bandwidth, high-availability servers for data-mining

and dissemination. Facilities for extensive, regular back-up and

access on-line databases are also typically required.

▪ Small-Medium Enterprises (SMEs)

▪ Home workers (including the use of Virtual Private Networks)

• Domestic

▪ Rural users (which also reflects the Internet usage of older citizens

and of those whose Internet use is only occasional)

▪ Casual web-browser (day-to-day use of the Internet for search and

low quality video streaming, social networking, portal, blogs and

picture sharing)

▪ Gamers (including real-time gaming, strategy, extensive downloads

of new games)

▪ Streaming Video users (watching and downloading video and audio

clips)

What follows is a synthesis of our findings with respect to the Internet

demand profiles of these different user types. More detailed supporting

technical descriptions can be found in Appendix A.

7

Professional users

Large industry, governmental & research establishments

In the commercial business sphere Internet traffic generated by large

industry is primarily generated by data transfer processes through routine

(typically daily) file back-up and synchronisation processes. An increasing

share of commercial business Internet traffic is being taken up by audio-

visual services, such as video conferencing and webinars alongside the more

traditional uses of information/marketing distribution, e-commerce and

desk research. E-mail remains a high proportion of business Internet use.

Many large governmental departments now offer multiple services to

citizens online (so called eGovernment). These typically involve the upload

and download of significant quantities of information, such as tax returns

and on-line e-learning courses. The multimedia interface of the Internet

also offers an ideal platform to communicate advice to citizens on a range

of issues (from advice on health and education to information on transport,

employment and crime); indeed 28% of citizens and 68% of business

regularly use eGovernment services[7]. However, governmental sites, whilst

offering a lot of information to citizens, vary markedly in sophistication

across Europe[7].

In terms of the demand profile created there is generally a need for high-

speed uncapped Internet access. For most business applications low latency

and symmetry are not required; however, some corporate software

applications may be designed to require low latency or symmetry.

Professional, industrial users are often more concerned with dedicated

connections rather than speed, latency and symmetry.

Small-Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs)

The SME sector represents a very wide range of companies whose

requirements will vary significantly both through the size of the

organisation and the activities in which they are involved. Larger IT savvy

companies will have a greater demand for Internet connectivity compared

to smaller, non-ICT related businesses. The gap between the smallest and

largest businesses in terms of broadband use has, however, been steadily

decreasing over recent years. By comparison, the adoption of mobile access

to the Internet varies, with extremes of just over 87% for the largest

businesses compared with just over 32% for the smallest[9]. 54% of

businesses are providing employees with Internet-enabled PDAs or mobile

telephony for remote working, 52% provide broadband for home working,

and more than one third use instant messaging. 24% currently use Internet

Governments and industry are

the main sources of commonly

accessed online services

Most big businesses are as

concerned with dedicated

capacity as they are with the

speed of connection

Use of Internet by Small-

Medium sized Enterprises is

growing rapidly

8

Industrial, government and R&D

requirements

Speed of connection High to Very High

Total bandwidth consumed Very High

Symmetrical connection Required

Susceptibility to latency Medium to High

Many businesses are content

with a DSL connection

Access to broadband Internet

is enabling more home

working

telephony in their business, and another 19% expect to do so in the next 2-3

years, pointing to a near doubling of this technology in the workplace. 22%

don’t currently offer or use any of these technologies[8].

Across Europe a DSL connection is the most popular way for businesses to

connect to the Internet with over 80% of businesses connected via this

medium. Uptake of fibre connections has been relatively low due partly to

a lack of availability, partly to cost and partly to the businesses being

largely satisfied by a DSL connection. Symmetry and low latency are

relatively unimportant.

Home workers

Across Europe home working has risen markedly as Internet broadband has

become more widely available. This is principally thought to be because

broadband connections have enabled information to be accessed remotely

over Virtual Private Networks (VPN) which enable employees to securely

connect to e-mail and employer databases remotely[15]. Due to this close

association between the availability of broadband Internet and home-

working, countries with low levels of broadband penetration tend to have

lower levels of home workers[16].

9

Small/Medium Enterprise requirements

Speed of connection Medium to Very High

Total bandwidth consumed Very High

Symmetrical connection Occasionally Required

Susceptibility to latency Low

Home worker requirements

Speed of connection Medium

Total bandwidth consumed Medium to High

Symmetrical connection Not Required


0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

All 1-50 Employees 51-250 Employees

Aware of VoIP

Currently using VoIPUse and awareness of VoIP

The percentage of households with access to broadband Internet in 2009 is

shown in the graph below.

10

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Korea

Iceland

Denmark

Netherlands

Norw

ay

Sweden

Finland

Canada*

Switzerland*

United Kingdom

Luxembourg

Belgium

Japan

France

Germ

any

Austria

Australia*

United States*

EU Average

Spain

Ireland

Hungary

Portugal

Poland

Czech R

epublic

Slovak R

epublic

New Zealand*

Italy

Greece

Mexico

Percentage of homes with broadband Internet

Domestic use of Internet is

also rising, but significant

differences exist between EU

countries

Streaming of HD TV is likely

to drive future domestic

bandwidth use

Take-up of Internet is lower

in thinly populated areas

Domestic users Domestic Internet use has increased dramatically over recent years. In a

recent survey more than 80% agreed that Internet connectivity should be

universally available, regardless of where people live[25].

Homes are now routinely equipped with various Internet enabled devices

such as IP phones, laptops, televisions and remotely controllable devices

(such as intruder alarms). Day-to-day Internet activities such as e-mail

(which remains the most popular online activity globally[26]) along with

listening to music, browsing news, RSS feeds and podcasts, performing

online banking and using instant messaging require relatively low speed and

usage of bandwidth.

However, there are significant regional variations: online banking is less

popular in Romania, while watching TV programs is least popular in Spain;

in the UK and Germany, downloading music is a top 10 activity and

compared to other countries, online gambling scores well in Sweden. East

and Southern Europeans are more active instant messaging, while Southern

Europeans have a slightly higher fraction of bloggers than Western and

Eastern Europe[43].

In the future, higher bandwidth requirements will be driven mainly by the

desire to stream and download high quality (HD) video or TV programmes,

and such applications will drive necessary speeds up to 8 Mbit/s. The chart

below shows the bandwidth requirements of the various domestic Internet

applications envisaged over coming years.

Rural users

Whilst we have identified a category called ‘rural’ Internet user, this

category is also reflective of many older users whose use of the Internet is

currently low. In the future though, use of the Internet for online medical

consultations to enhance the efficiency and convenience of health provision

may increase this[27][28].

Broadband is currently available to 80% of Europe’s rural population[4]

although generally at quite slow connection speeds which may have

restricted the take-up of online services: use of eGovernment services in

11

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

VoIP Online Radio Fast Browsing SD Video

Streaming

P2P File Sharing HDTV

Downloads

HDTV Streaming

Mbit/s

Bandwidth required for different applications

the EU27 is respectively 22.5% in thinly populated areas and 32.9% in

densely populated areas. Rural users tend to use the Internet mainly for

basic audio visual streaming and general web-browsing[23]. Demand for

higher connection speeds may be depressed by the lower incomes of some

rural households.

In the 55-to 74-year-old age group weekly Internet usage drops off

markedly: just 19% of European women in this age bracket were weekly

Internet users during the first quarter of 2007, compared to 31% of

European men. Since this data was gathered, more senior Europeans have

seen the benefits of Internet use and moving online but the correlation

between Internet usage and gender remains starkest in the 55 and older

group[45]. As the current Internet literate population ages, Internet usage

by older citizens is likely to increase to more normal levels.

Rural, senior and occasional Internet users rarely require speeds of more

than 2 Mbit/s; latency is not an issue and asymmetric upload speeds of up

to 0.5 Mbit/s are usually more than sufficient. In response to this

connectivity requirement, governments and institutions across the EU plan

to invest in the development of broadband infrastructure. This will provide

a means of upgrading skills, providing training opportunities for people and

entrepreneurs located in rural areas, including agricultural workers, the

food industry and forest managers. Provision for rural broadband varies

widely across Europe with some countries only providing rural inhabitants

with mobile broadband if and where coverage is available. The situation

with respect to rural broadband service provision is further exacerbated

given that users are dotted around scarcely populated areas, such that

aggregating demand to achieve sufficient economies of scale is difficult.

Casual web-browsers

A casual web-browser is an individual that uses the Internet on a regular

basis to check e-mail and surf the web, someone who goes Internet

shopping and uses social networking sites to keep in contact with their

friends – the latter of which has seen a recent explosion in popularity[6].

The UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) found that the most popular

use of the Internet was for e-mail. Casual users will also download music or

videos and upload photos and files from time to time. This user will also

occasionally use the Internet to stream average quality on-demand TV. This

is the single biggest Internet user group; in a recent survey 35% of

Europeans declared using the Internet in the last 3 months prior to the

survey for the type of services typified by these users[6].

Over half of Europeans access download broadband speeds above 2 Mbit/s[4]

and according to recent survey more than one in eight people do not think

a universal minimum broadband speed of 2 Mbit/s is fast enough, but that

Use of Internet by those aged

55 and above will rise

significantly as the population

ages

Amongst day-to-day Internet

users, e-mail remains the

most popular activity

12

Rural users requirements

Speed of connection Low

Total bandwidth consumed Medium



User generated media is the

largest growth area

Streaming HD video will

become commonplace

4-8 Mbit/s is[29][30]. Conversely, a survey by Ofcom revealed that the

majority of consumers are happy with the speeds they currently receive[25].

HD video streamer

Whilst casual browsers represent the largest proportion of users today, HD

video streamers represent the most common future user of the Internet

over a 5 to 10 year time frame. Across Europe, consumers are not spending

significantly more time online than they were a year ago. However, as one

usage grows, another tends to shrink. As a whole, the communication

(including Instant Messaging) and content sectors (including portals, ISPs

and government) are in decline whilst the exploding consumer generated

media phenomenon is growing and seeing a trend towards streaming of HD

video[44]. Indeed overall, consumer generated media (+47%), search (+13%)

and entertainment (+8%) sites have experienced the biggest increases in

online time while communication (-10%), and content sites (-3%) have

experienced the biggest decreases[6].

This fact is reflected in the following graph describing IP expansion and

breakdown of its use in recent times.

Europeans are rapidly changing their habits, adopting new ways to

communicate. 80% of regular Internet users engage in increasingly

interactive activities (e.g. communicating, using online financial services,

sharing and creating new content and participating in innovative processes

[28]) and thus the uptake of services such as streaming of HD video are

likely to become commonplace where available speed of connectivity

permits. Streaming of HD video is likely to be the application which drives

future volumes in Internet traffic[48].

13

Casual browser requirements

Speed of connection Low

Total bandwidth consumed Medium



0

5000

10000

15000

20000

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Pbyte/month

Web/Email

P2P

Gaming

Internet Video to PC

Internet Video to TV

Growth in Internet bandwidth

Thus the type of user described here will use the Internet connection not

only to support the typical web-browsing applications of the ‘casual web-

browser’ described above but also to support the download of broadcast

video, typically in high definition and, often, direct to a TV or media

storage unit.

Gamers

People who play large amounts of video games over the Internet are

referred to as gamers. They are a very particular user group whose needs

are generally quite different from those of others and which are very

dependant upon their gaming habits.

Turn-based strategy games for example will have very different

requirements to a first-person real-time role playing game in terms

of the bandwidth, symmetry and latency. Turn-based games will

require the user to periodically upload significant quantities of

information to web-server while real-time games will need swift

continual transfer of relatively small amounts of information.

Moreover gamers tend to be highly IT literate and will, in general,

use data transfer heavy means of communicating including, social

networks, video and webcasts; in addition to using the web to

acquire games through downloads.

Gamers are dominated by 20-35 year old males who typically, live

in urban and sub-urban areas[38]. It has been argued that the

reason they are clustered around these areas is the ready

accessibility to high speed Internet. However there is no evidence

to suggest it is a driver for urbanisation, nor is there any indication

that, as gamers grow older, the age demographic will similarly

increase, but instead that a new set of younger users will emerge.

The map on the left shows the relative concentration of 20-30 year

olds in the UK and reveals a distribution clustered around city

centres and suburban belts with much lower distributions in rural

areas. Most gamers are therefore currently living in cities and

towns and not in the countryside.

Gamers have specific needs,

but the use of the Internet for

gaming will not drive

bandwidth requirements,

nor urbanisation

14

Gamers requirements

Speed of connection Medium

Total bandwidth consumed High

Symmetrical connection No

Susceptibility to latency High

HD streamer requirements

Speed of connection Medium to High

Total bandwidth consumed High



A connection of 10 Mbit/s is

sufficient for all but the most

demanding users

Conclusions We have identified a number of distinct Internet usage profiles and

assessed the demands of these users against a set of criteria based upon

the technical performance of their connection. The performance criteria

we have used include whether or not a connection needs to be symmetric

together with the following:

As might be expected, demand for Internet connectivity varies in many

different ways across the different kinds of user we have identified and

different data sources give varying figures. However, it is possible to

determine some typical figures and the results point to a number of

interesting conclusions:

• The vast majority of Internet users are unlikely to need more than a

10 Mbit/s asymmetric connection with a reasonable monthly bandwidth

allowance over the near to medium term.

• The only current and foreseeable domestic application which exceeds

this requirement is that of streaming of high definition video.

• There are very few applications which require low latency.

• Business use (both for larger SMEs and for big industry) is only likely to

be fully supported by very high speed connections.

One of the questions which this paper aimed to address was whether or not

the drive to roll-out fibre across Europe was the optimum way of delivering

the mix of Internet services required by consumers. The table below

identifies the ability of the different delivery platforms to meet the various

service parameters we have defined.

15

ADSL Mobile Satellite Fibre

Speed of connection Low to High Low to High Low to Medium High to Very

High

Total data delivered Nominally unlimited; however caps

often apply

Generally limited to around 1 Gbyte

per month[46]

Generally limited to a few Gbyte per month except for

professional use

Unlimited

Symmetrical

connection No No No (except for

professional use) Yes

Performance with

respect to latency High Medium Medium High


Speed of connection Up to 2 Mbit/s Between 2 and 10

Mbit/s

Between 10 and

30 Mbit/s Above 30 Mbit/s

Total bandwidth

consumed

Less than 1

Gbyte/month

Between 1 and 10

Gbyte/month

Between 10 and

100 Gbyte/month Unlimited

Susceptibility to

latency

Able to withstand latency over 500

milliSeconds

Able to withstand latency between 100 and 500

milliSeconds

Latency must be below 100

milliSeconds

[not used]

The following table summarises the various requirements of the user types

identified and compares these with the ability of various alternative

delivery mechanisms to service to that requirement (ticks in brackets

indicate that the technology concerned may be able to support some users

within that category but not all).

It is clear that the high speed, high bandwidth, symmetric, low latency

services provided by fibre are unnecessary in order to deliver the services

that the majority of consumers seek. Only in the case of large industries

and to a lesser extent larger SMEs would fibre provide the most appropriate

minimum solution. It is worth noting that some of these user needs are

currently being met by professional satellite services[47]. For other

consumers, a mix of other delivery methods appears more than capable of

meeting their requirements both now and in the medium, and longer, term.

Streaming of HD video can in many cases be performed more readily and

efficiently using broadcast means, especially if many people want the same

content. As such, a broadcast delivery platform (e.g. cable or satellite) may

be best situated to support users’ HD video aspirations in conjunction with

alternative Internet delivery means − significantly reducing the need for

extensive and expensive fibre roll-out.

Both mobile and satellite means of delivering broadband data are similarly

placed with respect to the user groups they can serve, which correspond to

the majority of everyday domestic Internet users. Whilst rural users’ needs

can theoretically be met by mobile Internet services, it is questionable

whether coverage would extend to these areas (indeed the same is true of

fibre and ADSL). However, satellite is already able to meet the demand of

these users as its de facto coverage includes rural areas.

Whether or not, therefore, a policy which promotes fibre as the primary

means of Internet delivery for all users is a reasonable way forward

depends to a large extent on the relative cost of delivery via the different

means. However, it is certain that the use of existing (ADSL and satellite)

infrastructure is likely to be able to economically deliver the necessary

bandwidth to those users who are not within easy reach of fibre (and even

many who are). A more balanced approach, which recognises the strengths

and weaknesses of the different delivery platforms and the differing

demands of Internet users would therefore be a much more pragmatic, cost

effective and reasoned way forward.

Fibre is not needed

everywhere

HD video content may be best

distributed via a broadcast

medium

Existing (ADSL and satellite)

technologies can economically

deliver connectivity to those

not in easy reach of fibre

16

User type Speed of

connection

Monthly

bandwidth

Symmetry

required

Latency

susceptibility ADSL Mobile Satellite

Large Industrial High to Very High Very High Yes Medium to High (�)

SME High High Some Low (�) (�)

Home Worker Medium Medium to High No Low � �

Rural Low Medium No Low � � �

Casual Low Medium No Low � � �

HD streamer Medium to High High No Low � � see below

Gamer Medium High No High �

Appendix A − User profiles

Large industry, governmental & research establishments

Small-Medium Sized Enterprises

17

Speed of

connection

Typically 4 or 5 bespoke connections of up to 1Gbps in bandwidth are installed to serve the larger office buildings of larger companies and institutions[22]. ISPs offer managed Internet Access offers

speeds from 2Mb to 1Gb − to ensure fast, always-on access for business-critical systems and applications – often enabled through a

dedicated fibre-optic cable.

Total bandwidth

consumed

Large businesses with very high-speed broadband connections generally have an uncapped monthly allowance due to the large volumes of data uploaded and downloaded daily to web servers and back-up systems. A large modern office block will typically

download around 1 TB (terrabyte) of data each month[40].

Symmetrical

connection

Some businesses demand symmetrical connections at speeds

between 1Mb/s and 100 Mb/s.

Latency Latency requirements are typically low − around 20ms except where a dedicated line has been installed to ensure very low latency levels to facilitate a low latency connection to support web

conferencing[11].

Speed of

connection

More than 80% of European businesses have a fixed broadband connection, three quarters of them with average download speeds above 2 Mbit/s[6]. Recently various trade associations for small businesses have lobbied for a minimum of 8 Mbit/s connection

speeds to be rolled out across Europe[10].

However, connection speeds are generally faster in western Europe where two or three connections of up-to 20-24 Mbit/s in speed are often used by small business as part of bundled packages by ISPs

who may also prioritise business traffic over domestic customers.

The British Computer Society has reported that a third of all businesses think they will need speeds of up to 100 Mb/s in the

future in order to run core business computing[18].

Total bandwidth

consumed

Most small businesses buy packages from ISPs without caps,

monthly usage exceeding 100 GB[14].

Symmetrical

connection

Symmetry is rarely important as long as upload speeds are

comparable to download speeds.

Latency Latency is not normally an issue except for some applications[11]

[12], where 20ms typical latency will be required.

Home workers

Rural users

Casual web-browser

18

Speed of

connection

Home-workers require speeds of at least 1 Mbit/s, and if routinely backing up their systems remotely, then speeds closer to 2.5 Mbit/s[19]

are required.

Access large files remotely to work with them at home (including their

back up), speeds upwards of 2-4 Mbit/s are generally required[17].

Total bandwidth

consumed Regular back ups will typically require a monthly download of 10GB.

Symmetrical

connection Symmetry is not a significant issue.

Latency Home workers require relatively low latency connections in order to communicate in real-time with remotely networked systems (such as storage servers). This is particularly important if the connection is to avoid becoming overloaded with multiple and conflicting commands from user to server. Typically latencies of between 25-100 ms are required to

avoid conflicting commands being sent to the server[42]

Speed of

connection

Speeds of around 0.5 Mpbs, suitable to support casual web-browsing and

text-based communication[24].

Rural broadband users are used to download speeds a third slower then

those in urban or surburban locations; typically around 1-2 Mbit/s.

Total bandwidth

consumed Typical monthly bandwidth consumption is around 3GB.

Symmetrical

connection There is no identified need for a symmetrical connection.

Latency There is no identified need for a low latency connection.

Speed of

connection

Download speeds of between 2 Mbit/s-4 Mbit/s are likely to be sufficient

for the needs of the average web-browser[32][33].

Total bandwidth

consumed

The lack of demand for the streaming and download of high quality video by this user group means that typically casual Internet browsing will

consume between 6-8 GB per month[34].

Symmetrical

connection

Casual web-users typically require upload speeds of up 0.5-1 Mbit/s, a need driven by the need to send e-mails with large attachments (such as A/V files) and uploading photographs to picture sharing websites and

other forms of cloud computing services[27][34].

Latency Latency requirements are driven by the need to efficiently support day-to-day web-browsing; e.g. the command for a video to stream to be buffered within a given timeframe. As such the latency requirements are not

stringent.

HD Video downloaders

Gamers

How Helios can help Helios understands the technical, commercial and economic facets of the

bewildering variety of different technologies which can deliver broadband

Internet connections.

We can help regulators, service providers and end users to develop their

strategy and approach to maximising the benefit which these technologies

offer.

19

Speed of

connection

A minimum connection speed of at least 4 Mbit/s is required to support video downloads. To stream HD video of a constant quality without ‘jerks’ a connection speed of at least 10 Mbit/s is required by the user[32]. However, if the content is pre-downloaded onto a local hard disk

this connection speed may be somewhat excessive for the users’ needs.

Total bandwidth

consumed

One hour of programming content is typically around 0.5 GB in size for standard definition programming, and approximately double that for high definition programming. Thus considering a user that typically views 27 hours of on demand content each month, the monthly download requirement currently stands at around 30 GB[36]. Some

predict this will rise fivefold by 2014[48].

Symmetrical

connection

Upload speeds are relatively low: 2 Mbit/s connection speeds satisfy

these users’ needs.

Latency Latency requirements are similar to that for the casual web-browser, driven primarily by the need for a response to be generated from a remote server to commence the download or stream of video content.

As such the latency requirements are not stringent.

Speed of

connection

A high bandwidth of around 8 Mbit/s is, in general, required for

effective gaming.

Total bandwidth

consumed

Total monthly consumption of around 15GB is sufficient. It should be noted that this download limit is, by comparison, quite modest as although gamers they spend many hours on line they generally send

relatively small amounts of information[11][37].

Symmetrical

connection

Good performance upload speed (2 Mbit/s), though this does not imply

full symmetry.

Latency Gamers (especially ‘first person shooters’) need low latency, ideally

much less than 100 ms.

References [1] http://www.ofcom.org.uk/research/telecoms/reports/

bbspeed_jan09/bbspeed_jan09.pdf

[2] http://www.oecd.org/sti/ict/broadband

[3] http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?

reference=MEMO/09/35

[4] http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/eeurope/i2010/docs/

future_internet/swp_bpi.pdf

[5] http://en-us.nielsen.com/tab/product_families/nielsen_netratings


annual_report/2009/sec_2009_1103.pdf


benchmarking/egov_benchmark_2007.pdf

[8] http://www.cbi.org.uk/pdf/cbigooglesurvey1106.pdf

[9] http://www.statistics.gov.uk/pdfdir/ecom1109.pdf

[10] http://mediacentre.thus.net/latest-news/2010/03/the-devil-is-in-

the-detail/

[11] http://www.dslreports.com/speed

[12] http://developer.yahoo.net/blog/archives/performance/

[13] http://www.ofcom.org.uk/research/cm/broadband_rpt/

broadband_rpt.pdf

[14] http://business.bt.com/broadband-and-internet/internet-access/

broadband

[15] http://www.broadbandchoices.co.uk/working-from-home-

broadband.html

[16] http://www.statistics.gov.uk/articles/labour_market_trends/

teleworking_Oct05.pdf

[17] http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/20/59/39574039.xls

[18] http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file47788.pdf

[19] http://www.samknows.com/broadband/news/broadband-upload-

speeds-set-to-improve-10635.html

[20] http://www.telco2.net/blog/2008/12/


interinstitutional/cocom_broadband_july09.pdf

[22] http://www.opal.co.uk/products-and-services/business-broadband-

internet-connections/broadband-adsl/

[23] http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/

article4057225.ece

20

[24] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/5919422/Rural-

broadband-users-get-a-third-slower-service-says-Ofcom.html

[25] http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/index.cfm?

newsid=105129&pn=13

[26] http://www.education-innovation.net/apple08.htm

[27] http://www.nesta.org.uk/library/documents/Getting-up-to-

speedv5.pdf

[28] http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?

uri=COM:2009:0390:FIN:EN:PDF

[29] http://www.prlog.org/10292687-most-brits-reject-minimum-uk-

broadband-speed-of-2 Mbit/s-as-slow.html

[30] http://interactive.bis.gov.uk/digitalbritain/

[31] http://www.pr.com/press-release/168106

[32] http://www.moneysupermarket.com/c/broadband/speed-guide/2/

[33] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/click_online/4497351.stm

[34] http://www.broadband-finder.co.uk/broadband-information/

broadband-buying-guide.html

[35] http://www.telco2.net/blog/2008/12/

[36] http://en-us.nielsen.com/main/insights/consumer_insight/

april_2009/media_is_on_demand

[37] http://www.broadbandgenie.co.uk/broadband/gaming-broadband

[38] http://www.sasi.group.shef.ac.uk/publications/pandpexamples.htm

[39] http://www.on-communications.com/

[40] http://www.emc.com/collateral/analyst-reports/expanding-digital-

idc-white-paper.pdf

[41] http://www.spcnetwork.co.uk/uploads/Business_Customers.pdf

[42] http://compnetworking.about.com/od/speedtests/a/

network_latency.htm

[43] eScape Reports by In-Site, September 2007

[44] Nielsen Online, June 2008

[45] eMarketer, February 2008

[46] http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/mobile-working/2010/06/10/o2-

drops-unlimited-mobile-data-allowance-40089205/

[47] http://www.comsys.co.uk/wvr_main.htm

[48] http://www.cisco.com/en/US/solutions/collateral/ns341/ns525/

ns537/ns705/ns827/white_paper_c11-481360.pdf

21

The content of this document is intended for general guidance only and, where relevant, represents

our understanding of the current status of telecoms industry matters. Action should not be taken

without seeking professional advice. No responsibility for loss by any person acting or refraining from

action as a result of the material in this document can be accepted and we cannot assume legal l iabil-

ity for any errors or omissions this document may contain.

© Hel ios Technology Ltd - June 2010

Al l rights reserved.

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