Broadband coverage in Europe in 2012:

Transcription

1 Broadband coverage in Europe in 2012: Guide for France Prepared by: Laura Kell Date: 27 November 2012 Version: 1.1 Point Topic Ltd 73 Farringdon Road London EC1M 3JQ, UK Tel. +44 (0)

2 Contents 1. Key factsheet 3 2. Introduction to Broadband Coverage in Europe in Understanding the data needed for BCE Technologies and technology groups Total and rural coverage Geography Confidentiality Key deadlines 10 Page 2 of 12

3 1. Key factsheet The European Commission has chosen Point Topic to carry out a Survey of Broadband Coverage in Europe in This is an update to a project measuring Broadband Coverage in Europe in The study was a success, and produced the best view achieved so far of broadband coverage in Europe. We would appreciate your help completing the survey for the new study. Key deadlines: December 2012 January 2013 End March 2013 Find out more: invitation for a telephone conference with Point Topic Survey distributed Deadline for survey response Data needed for the survey The central task of the project is to collect and verify high-quality data for the coverage of nine broadband technologies: Coverage for nine broadband technologies (DSL, VDSL, FTTP, WiMAX, standard cable, Docsis 3 cable, HSPA, LTE and satellite); In each district across Europe (using NUTS 3 areas); Urban and rural splits. The data provided by different operators and NRAs will be combined to show total country coverage by different broadband technologies. The study will report differences between urban and rural broadband coverage. It will also be used to map the coverage of standard broadband and next generation superfast broadband across the whole of Europe district by district. We would be very grateful if you could provide information about the broadband coverage your company provides in terms of homes passed by your services. You will receive the survey in January If you would like any more information on how to prepare your response for BCE 2012, or have any comments on the results published for BCE 2011, Point Topic would be happy to schedule a teleconference to answer your questions. Please contact Point Topic by at broadbandsurvey@pointtopic.com or phone +44 (0) Page 3 of 12

4 2. Introduction to Broadband Coverage in Europe in 2012 The European Commission has chosen Point Topic to carry out a study of Broadband Coverage in Europe in 2012, known as BCE The study will update the work completed this year to map Broadband Coverage in Europe at the end of The BCE studies play a key role in supporting the European Commission s Digital Agenda. The main objective of the study is to monitor progress on the broadband coverage objectives of the Digital Agenda, which are: Basic broadband access for all by 2013; High speed broadband access (at least 30Mbps) for all by The study is designed to measure progress towards these objectives and identify where action will be needed to achieve them. The central task of the project is to collect and verify high-quality data for the coverage of the nine broadband technologies in the study by surveying operators and NRAs within the study countries. The survey will cover broadband operators (organisations which own broadband infrastructure) and NRAs (National Regulatory Authorities) in the 27 EU countries and also Norway and Iceland. The data provided by different operators and NRAs will be combined to show total country coverage by different broadband technologies. It will also be used to map the coverage of standard broadband and next generation superfast broadband across the whole of Europe district by district. In January 2013, a new survey will be distributed which will be looking for broadband coverage figures for year-end We would appreciate your help completing this survey. To help you prepare for your response, this document sets out the requirements for BCE The results to be published for France for BCE 2011 are also provided in a separate document. We hope that these documents give you the information you need to respond to the BCE 2012 Survey. We hope that you are able to help with the survey. It will make a real contribution towards the aim of achieving a high level of broadband service for the whole of Europe. Page 4 of 12

5 3. Understanding the data needed for BCE 2012 We need to track the coverage of nine different broadband technologies across the 29 study countries. Understanding the overlap between the different technologies is essential, and we need to report differences in urban and rural coverage. This section describes what data we are collecting, and explains data will be used confidentially. 3.1 Technologies and technology groups The nine technologies for which coverage data is required are DSL, VDSL, FTTP, WiMAX, standard cable, Docsis 3 cable, HSPA, LTE and satellite. For satellite broadband, not only the coverage but also the commercial availability needs to be briefly assessed. Most of the nine technologies will also be allocated to the following technology combination groups shown below. The Standard fixed and mobile broadband group includes all the technologies which are capable of delivering at least 144 kbps downstream speed but does not include satellite broadband. The Standard fixed broadband group includes only the fixed technologies capable of delivering these speeds. The Overall NGA (Next Generation Access) group includes all the technologies capable of delivering at least 30 Mbps downstream speed. Technology Standard fixed and mobile broadband Standard fixed broadband Overall NGA DSL Y Y VDSL Y Y Y FTTP Y Y Y WiMAX Y Y Standard cable Y Y Docsis 3 cable Y Y Y HSPA LTE Y Y Satellite Table 1: Allocation of technologies to technology groups Page 5 of 12

6 We will be reporting overall NGA coverage and overall fixed NGA coverage, taking into account the overlap between different technologies. We will also report basic fixed broadband coverage in each study country and for the study as a whole. Each fixed NGA technology will be included in the basic fixed broadband technology combination. Definitions for the different broadband technologies and their coverage are provided on the next page. Ideally, we would like you to provide data which matches this definition. If you are using a different definition, we would be grateful if you could explain how your definition differs. 3.2 Total and rural coverage The study requires rural and urban coverage to be reported for each technology at a country and NUTS 3 level. Rural areas are defined as NUTS 5 areas with a population density of less than 100 inhabitants per km 2. Ideally, we want rural coverage data to be supplied for each NUTS 3 area according to this definition. If you don t have data for this exact definition provide whatever you have but specify the definition of rural used. If no data is available, please make an informed estimate and explain how you made your estimate. Point Topic will provide an estimate of the urban and rural split in every NUTS 3 area. If no other data is provided, we will use this split to estimate the urban and rural broadband coverage for each technology within your country. Page 6 of 12

7 Table 2: Technology definitions for use in the BCE 2012 study Technology Technology Definition Coverage Definition DSL VDSL FTTP WiMAX Cable Modem DOCSIS 3 DSL (for Digital Subscriber Line) is the basic technology used to provide broadband over conventional telephone lines. The types of DSL used for basic broadband (mainly ADSL or ADSL2+) deliver download speeds up to 24Mbps. VDSL (also called FTTC+VDSL for example) is a "Very-high-speed" version of DSL capable of delivering 25Mbps or more over conventional telephone lines. VDSL is usually provisioned from a street cabinet which has fibre backhaul or directly from the telephone exchange in areas which are close to the exchange. This definition does not include implementations where fibre is provisioned to a large building, such as a block of flats, and the final connections are provided by VDSL within the building, which are defined as FTTP. FTTP (fibre-to-the-premises) is broadband provided over fibre optic cables going all the way to the home or business premises. This definition also includes "FTTB", where fibre terminates at a large building and broadband distribution within the building, to different flats for example, is by a different non-fibre technology such as VDSL. WiMAX is a wireless service using one of the IEEE standards d, for fixed users and e for mobile. Cable Modem broadband is delivered over a fixed cable TV network using coaxial cable according to the earlier cable broadband standards such as DOCSIS 1, usually providing download speeds up to about 20Mbps. DOCSIS 3 broadband is delivered over a fixed cable TV network using coaxial cable according to the DOCSIS 3 standard, providing download speeds of 30Mbps and above. A household has DSL coverage if it is a telephone exchange area fully enabled for DSL. A household has VDSL coverage if it is close enough to a VDSL-enabled cabinet or exchange to get a broadband signal of at least 25Mbps downstream, typically equivalent to a radial distance of about 500 metres. A household has FTTP coverage if it can be connected now to a fibre service without requiring the construction of new fibre infrastructure. A household has WiMAX coverage for broadband if it can receive at least 2Mbps downstream from an existing service without requiring the construction of new WiMAX infrastructure. A household has cable modem coverage if it can be connected now to a broadband service without requiring the construction of new cable TV network infrastructure. A household has DOCSIS 3 coverage if it can be connected now to a DOCSIS service without requiring the construction of new cable TV network infrastructure.

8 HSPA LTE HSPA (High Speed Packet Access) is the upgraded version of 3G mobile networks capable of providing mobile broadband at a maximum download speed of at least 21.1Mbps. LTE (Long Term Evolution) is the next-generation mobile service standardised by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project which requires separate spectrum from 3G mobile and which supports maximum downstream speeds up to at least 100Mbps. A household has HSPA coverage if it is in the stated coverage area for at least one HSPA-upgraded 3G mobile network. A household has LTE coverage if it is in the stated coverage area for at least one LTE mobile network. Page 8 of 12

9 3.3 Geography The study will include all of the 27 European Union countries plus Norway and Iceland. Data will be reported at a country level for each of the study countries. We are also collecting data for NUTS 3 areas, so that we can then accurately report overlap between technologies 1. On the next page we show a map of each of the NUTS 3 areas within your country. We are using the most up-to-date definitions of NUTS 3 areas available, published in Figure 1: NUTS 3 areas within France In table 3, we show our estimates of population, land area and households in each of the NUTS 3 areas within your country. Population figures are sourced from Eurostat 2 and reflect the population on 01 January 2011 where available. For some NUTS 3 areas in France, 2011 figures are not available and 2010 figures have been used instead. 1 NUTS areas are defined by the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics scheme developed by Eurostat. NUTS 3 areas generally correspond to intermediate administrative areas such as counties, provinces or departments. 2 Reference population figures for each NUTS 3 area have been sourced from Eurostat

10 Household estimates have been included for each NUTS 3 area. We have used household and population data published by Eurostat to estimate the average number of people per household in each of the study countries. This household multiplier is then applied to the population within each of the NUTS 3 areas within the study. The household multiplier that we are using for France is 2.3 people per household. Land area has been calculated using the geographical information software tool MapInfo, and can be used with population counts to calculate the population density in each NUTS 3 area. We would welcome new data for population, households or land area if you have a more accurate or up-to-date source. 3.4 Confidentiality Point Topic and the European Commission will ensure that the data that respondents provide in response to this questionnaire will remain confidential. The coverage data provided by the project which will be published online in the Digital Agenda Scoreboard will be limited to: Country level totals and percentages for the net coverage of each broadband technology studied in terms of homes passed District (NUTS 3) level maps and data for total and rural percentage availability for each of two technology combinations. Provisionally, these technology combinations will represent the current availability of Standard broadband and of Superfast broadband. They will show the total net coverage of all the technologies which qualify for these descriptions as a single data point. On this basis the coverage of individual operators will generally not be identifiable. Point Topic will supply more detailed data to the European Commission, not for publication. This will include maps and data for the coverage of each individual technology at NUTS 3 level in addition to the above. It will not identify individual operators as such. This data will be for the internal use of the European Commission only on normal commercial confidentiality terms. Point Topic will retain securely the original data from the questionnaire to support any further needs for analysis for the European Commission exclusively. 3.5 Key deadlines The results of the survey need to be finalised by the end of April in order to be published in the 2013 Digital Agenda Scoreboard. This means that draft results of the survey need to be sent to the Commission not later than the end of March Page 10 of 12

11 We will be issuing the survey in January 2013, and would appreciate response before the end of March If you are not able to provide data for end-2012 by that time, please provide the most recent data available. Please contact Point Topic if you do not think it will be possible to submit results by this date. Page 11 of 12

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