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service , but that is also tuned to the unique needs of every user , every connected device , and every application . It also creates a scalable ‘ cloud ’ foundation for service providers to rapidly deploy a host of complementary services including cybersecurity , personalised user controls , Wi-Fi presence detection , and more across entire device populations . Put very simply , cloud management presents a win-win opportunity for service providers , and software is the key differentiator ,” he concludes . PERSONALISED . “ Since the Covid pandemic , users spend more time at home and have realised how important connectivity is , and specifically WiFi quality at home ,” observes Lionel Gremeau , product & marketing director , SoftAtHome . “ Every home is different and the WiFi signal will be spread differently according to house infrastructure and potential neighbour interferences . Each household has its own usages : Work-from-Home , Video streaming , binge watching , gaming , IoT devices , etc . A personalised solution is needed for WiFi .”
“ Delivering a full WiFi Mesh solution with too many powerful repeaters in the home can result in degradation of performances . At SoftAtHome , we talk about Smart WiFi as we believe that the WiFi solution needs to be adapted to households and usages . The operator can add value to their WiFi offering by providing a mobile APP to help users understand how many repeaters are needed and how to position them in the home . Then continuous WiFi performance monitoring with automatic remediation actions can be performed from the backend . In some cases , some of the recommendations can be pushed directly to the user to improve Quality of Experience . All these services are visible and valuable for the user , as we ’ ve witnessed it with the launch of Orange Livebox 6 . The ‘ Wi-Fi Sérénité ’ service provides all these services together with a dedicated WiFi hotline . The
“ OTT and fragmentation of content sources is removing the need for heavy , hard drive equipment .” - Shan Eisenberg , Netgem sort of premium service can increment ARPU in a developed market by € 5 ,” he notes .
“ It is critical ,” asserts Toutah . “ The difference between the WiFi and broadband access is largely irrelevant to virtually every consumer . Gigabit access that runs into a slow - or underperforming - inhome wireless network means that you have a slow , underperforming service . There is very little tolerance - especially since the Covid-19 pandemic - for poor WiFi performance . This , again , is where intelligent settop boxes and gateways can play a critical role . A set-top box that is integrated into mesh networks offers an advantage for NSPs by expanding network coverage and providing a management platform that allows subscribers and providers to optimise the overall connected home experience . Managing a wireless environment is complicated . The right CPE strategy ensures that consumers do not have to manage this complexity alone - or even at all ,” he concludes .
annual sales count for Smart Home Devices grows from some 725.9 million in 2022 , to over 4.5 billion in 2027 . Notably , the lifetime of these devices is significantly less than most video devices , but nonetheless , consumers will expect that their home WiFi will support all of their purchases . After all , why are they paying so much to an operator , if the in-home network keeps dropping out ?
This has been the fuel for the rise in interest among operators for WiFi extenders , WiFi mesh technologies , and the advanced WiFi analytics that attempt to optimise the inhome
radio conditions .
But compounding the problem is the aforementioned growth in WiFi devices within the home . Rethink TV refers to these as Consumer Client Devices ( CCDs ), and in terms of their annual sales , they stand globally at some 3.33 billion in 2022 . This grows to 7.38 billion in 2027 , and you can envision what burden this rising installed base places on operators .
Operators , to this end , should focus on what they do best . From the market ’ s perspective , this is clearly not in providing valued video services , given the growth of
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both SVoD and AVoD viewing and revenues . These days , operators are utility providers of Internet connectivity , whose most obvious value is in the portal they provide to a world of content and experiences .
The operators are looking to move their video services into applications that can be run on other video devices . After all , shifting their video distribution into IP-native formats gives them the benefits of distributing them over any old device . The age of the set-top is over , CAS has been replaced by DRM , and as sports move towards D2C , the last bastion of pay TV will fall .
To this end , the tenyear strategy for the video component is to keep the customer as happy as possible – to reduce as many annoyances as possible , to not hike prices , and to ensure that they are having the best experience that the technology can provide . Content aggregation is key , but the real value is in the discovery elements . Knowing the customer well enough to
make solid recommendations is one , but there is also value in voice-based search too – with remote controls being the conduit while set-tops are still prevalent .
But above all this is the WiFi network quality , particularly as the market moves further into the age of OTT consumption . Given the enmeshed presence of triple-play services , as it is legitimately difficult to find a broadband-only offering without video or the woeful telephony bundling , the operators are in the firing line if a broadband outage or poor WiFi quality degrades the customer ’ s experience .
Consequently , investments should be made into robust WiFi CPE , supporting mesh and extender auxiliary devices , and the analytics required to keep that network online at all times and at full strength . As operators accelerate their fibre deployments , they have a good opportunity to make drastic changes to their CPE and vendor choices , to facilitate that change .
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