[Air-L] Broadband speeds: demand for 10 Mbps and above

Khakimov, Amonulla (MGS) Amonulla.Khakimov at ontario.ca
Wed Feb 11 10:03:22 PST 2009


Hello Catherine,

Thank you for sharing these studies.
Below is the link to another OECD report I found that talks briefly on
the need for higher speeds and refers in turn to couple of other
researches in this regard:
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/49/8/40390735.pdf 

This study suggests that for the networks that will exist during
2010-2020 the speed requirements would be 50 Mbit/s downstream and above
10 Mbit/s upstream for an end-user. 
However, the analysis of applications that would require such speeds is
not as detailed as I'd wish..

I guess what I am looking for is sort of a schematic presentation on
what can and can not be done at certain speeds in foreseeable future.
Although there might be some futuristic elements in this approach.. To
certain degree it's a little bit of guessing what applications will be
on the market soon or what compression technologies might become
available to address these issues.


Amon.

-----Original Message-----
From: air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org
[mailto:air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Catherine
Middleton
Sent: February 10, 2009 11:54 PM
To: air-l at listserv.aoir.org
Subject: Re: [Air-L] Broadband speeds: demand for 10 Mbps and above

Amon asks: "what should be the justifiable bb speed targets to  
households for countries, like Canada, US, UK?" (full message quoted  
below)

This is an important and unresolved question. The need for higher  
speeds is very commonly simply stated or assumed, without any specific  
justification. In theory, faster speeds are better, but in practice,  
at least in the short term, faster speeds from an ISP to a residence  
don't mean that content necessarily travels much faster. Additionally,  
it's well-known that speeds of "up to XX Mbps" rarely deliver the  
potential maximum speeds. (see the "UK Broadband Speeds 2008" report  
on this point).

Regarding justification of the need for speed:
- The California Broadband Task Force report does include a specific  
list matching applications to required network speeds:
California Broadband Task Force (2008). The State of Connectivity -  
Building Innovation Through Broadband: State of California.
http://www.calink.ca.gov/pdf/CBTF_FINAL_Report.pdf 
.

- Similar information is also found in International Telecommunication  
Union (2003). Birth of Broadband. Geneva: ITU.

- Another report that addresses the issue of demand for higher speed  
networks is:
Broadband Stakeholder Group (2007). Pipe Dreams?: Prospects for next  
generation broadband deployment in the UK,
www.broadbanduk.org/content/view/236/7/

- The issue of network symmetry (i.e. equivalent, or near equivalent  
upload and download speeds) is very important in a world where users  
generate content.

The Australian case:
In Australia, the National Broadband Network tender requested  
proposals for a 12 Mbps network. There doesn't appear to be any  
specific rationale for that particular speed, and many stakeholders  
argued for the need for much higher speeds in public consultations on  
the NBN. (see
http://www.dbcde.gov.au/communications_for_business/funding_programs__an
d__support/national_broadband_network/submissions 
  and
http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/committee/broadband_ctte/submissions/sublis
t.htm) 
  In Australian cities, commercial ISPs will provide many consumers  
with speeds better than 12 Mbps well before the NBN is built (if it is  
built).

In the short term, the primary reason for higher speeds is to deliver  
(i.e. broadcast) television services and other entertainment content.  
But despite the experiences of most people on this list, the average  
internet user isn't yet using the internet to download (or upload)  
much content. Canadian data continue to show that a large proportion  
of internet users, although they have broadband, don't really use the  
internet that intensely, or for applications that really require high  
speed. (See various papers on this topic at
http://www.broadbandresearch.ca/ourresearch/papers.html 
, especially my work with Jordan Leith in the 'Working Papers' section  
of the site. We are currently working on a paper using 2007 data.) So  
while most people think they'd like higher speeds, actual usage data  
doesn't (yet?) suggest that everyone requires higher speeds to support  
the applications they are using.

This of course raises the perennial 'build it and they will come'  
issue, the argument that if we had higher speed networks there would  
be more apps that took advantage of all this bandwidth, and people  
would find uses for it. I do think that in the longer term, more  
interesting and potentially useful things are possible, but there are  
enormous unresolved questions about how to build next generation  
networks that could provide for innovative health, education,  
government and other applications.

For more info on broadband deployment, see my bookmarks at
http://delicious.com/canadabroadband 
.

catherine
--------------------------------
Dr. Catherine Middleton
Canada Research Chair - Communication Technologies in the Information  
Society
Ted Rogers School of Management
Ryerson University
Toronto, Canada

http://www.ryerson.ca/itm/fcty/Middleton/Middleton.html


> Message: 3
> Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2009 13:05:09 -0500
> From: "Khakimov, Amonulla (MGS)" <Amonulla.Khakimov at ontario.ca>
> Subject: [Air-L] Broadband speeds: demand for 10 Mbps and above
> To: <air-l at listserv.aoir.org>
> Message-ID:
>
<150AD404D534DD4CB1CF586D947F3AA403C81ACD at CTSPITDCEMMVX22.cihs.ad.gov.on
.ca 
> >
> 	
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> Hello all,
>
> I am looking for directions to research studies and reports that  
> justify
> need for higher broadband speeds. There are lots of discussions going
> around the need for ultra-broadband, fibre networks, etc. in many
> countries. Some jurisdictions set up specific speed targets, for
> instance UK recently announced it's plan to provide universal  
> broadband
> access at minimum speeds of 2 mbps. However, I have seen only few
> studies on technical review of those bandwidth heavy applications that
> require high-speeds.  Further, what should be the justifiable bb speed
> targets to households for countries, like Canada, US, UK? Average  
> speed,
> for Canada, according to OECD is around 7 Mbps.. Many experts suggest
> these days that the minimum speed should be 10 Mbps or above.. What
> online applications imply that? IPTV, on-line games, VC? Anything  
> else?
> Any studies to support that?
>
> your help in finding relevant data is greatly appreciated..
>
> Amon.

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