Multimedia “triple play”
specifications approved
ITU defines cost-effective video, data and voice services for
broadband
| The
ITU-T FS-VDSL Focus Group: Vision and mission
The participants in the new
ITU-T FS-VDSL Focus Group, which comprises 16 network operators and 52
equipment vendors, envisage a new multi-service video-centric network
platform based upon VDSL delivery, which will enable operators and service
providers to provide end-users with a rich mix of video, data, and voice
services. And by using global ITU-T standards, greater economies of
deployment are expected.
This worldwide group of operators, service providers
and equipment vendors are pushing hard to have a stable base of standards
on which to deploy services offering the “triple play” i.e. multiple
streams of high-quality video, high speed data and voice services. Using
VDSL technology, this can be achieved over existing copper phone lines and
with superior quality. With capital expenditure now less than USD 1000 per
customer connected, international standardization will help to further
reduce start-up costs, and the barriers to deployment will come down. The
use of VDSL rather than today’s typical ADSL (Asymmetric Digital
Subscriber Line) provides significant increase in bandwidth enabling
provision of multiple digital television channels including HDTV and
on-demand services, along with high-speed data and multiple voice
channels. |
ITU has approved a set of
specifications that will allow traditional “copper wire” telecommunication
operators to compete cost-effectively with cable and satellite operators in
providing multiple high-quality digital video streams at the same time as
high-speed Internet access and voice services, known in the industry as the “triple
play”.
“With triple play multimedia services, while mum is
checking the TV weather forecast in one room, the kids are enjoying a movie in
another, dad can be reading his e-mail.”
ITU 020173/Photodisc
ITU 020174/EyeWire
ITU 021215/A. De Ferron
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“Operators will be able to offer these new services at
significantly reduced deployment costs, and consumers will benefit as new
multimedia services are offered,” according to Don Clarke, Chairman of the
newly established ITU-T Focus Group on “Full Service-Very high speed Digital
Subscriber Line” (FS-VDSL). “
This means that while mum is checking the TV weather forecast
in one room, the kids are enjoying a movie in another, dad can be reading his
e-mail.”
The new Focus Group has been established under Study Group 16
of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T), which is
responsible for studies in “Multimedia services systems and terminals”. The
Group is working on specifications for the deployment of multimedia services
over VDSL.
Significant interest has been shown in VDSL services, with
operators including Bell Canada, Qwest, Telecom Italia and Telenor carrying out
trials. Bell Canada, which already has a triple play service proposition, plans
to extend this service to apartment buildings using VDSL. It cites the service
as providing new competitive opportunities to generate revenues via the enhanced
interactivity that VDSL provides.
The set of specifications, which define how extensive
multimedia services can be provided over existing copper networks, were approved
at the first meeting of the ITU-T Focus Group in September 2002 in California
(United States). They are:
-
Part 1: Operator requirements.
-
Part 2: System Architecture.
-
Part 3: Customer Premises Equipment.
-
Part 4: Physical Layer Specification for
Interoperable VDSL Systems.
-
Part 5: Operations, Administration and Maintenance
and Provision aspects for FS-VDSL Services.
“These specifications now make the delivery of fully
interactive multimedia services via VDSL an economic reality. And once they are
true worldwide standards, I expect we will see even greater returns to both
operators and consumer,” adds Clarke, who notes that thanks to continuing
advances in video compression, operators will be able to ensure that the quality
of the image will match that provided by cable and satellite.
The Focus Group will now work with the intent of approving a
set of ITU-T Recommendations by mid-2003. “It is exciting to see how these new
technologies can really provide customers with the services and capabilities
they desire, and we are very happy to integrate this with our other Study Group
16 work,” said Pierre-André Probst, Chairman of ITU-T Study Group 16.
| For
further information, please contact: Don Clarke (don.clarke@bt.com)
Chairman of the ITU-T Focus Group “FS-VDSL”; Pierre-André Probst (probst-pa@bluewin.ch),
Chairman of ITU-T Study Group 16; John Magill (john.magill@ties.itu.int),
Vice-Chairman of ITU-T Study Group 16 and Vice-Chairman of the Focus Group
“FS-VDSL”; and Simao Campos-Neto (simao.campos@itu.int), ITU-T
Counsellor for Study Group 16 |
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