1. Broadband Coverage in Europe (SMART 2013/0054) Project Overview
Technology
Presentation
Mapping of Broadband Services in Europe – Technical Review Panel Meeting
Broadband Coverage in Europe (SMART 2013/0054) Project Overview
1st March 2016
Alzbeta Fellenbaum, Senior Analyst -

2. Mapping of Broadband Services – Technical Review Panel Meeting / March 2016
Project Description

3. BCE Project Description
Mapping of Broadband Services – Technical Review Panel Meeting / March 2016
BCE Project Description
Tool to monitor progress of broadband coverage goals set in the Digital Agenda for Europe
Ongoing project since 2008
Previous research partners: IDATE, Point Topic
IHS in partnership with VVA conducted the project in
Data collected from all EU Member States + Iceland, Norway and Switzerland
31 study countries
Measuring household coverage of nine broadband access technologies, three coverage combinations and three speed categories
DSL (incl. VDSL), VDSL, cable (incl. DOCSIS 3.0), DOCSIS 3.0, FTTP, WiMAX, HSPA, LTE, and satellite
Overall broadband coverage
Combination of DSL (including VDSL), cable modem (including DOCSIS 3.0), FTTP, WiMAX, HSPA and LTE; excluding satellite
Overall fixed broadband coverage
Combination of DSL (including VDSL), cable modem (including DOCSIS 3.0), FTTP, and WiMAX
Next Generation Access (NGA) coverage
Combination of VDSL, DOCSIS 3.0, and FTTP
Coverage by broadband network/s capable of at least 2 Mbps, 30 Mbps and 100 Mbps download speed
In addition to individual technology coverage and combination technology coverage, DG Connect also asked for coverage by download speed to be included in the study in The following speed categories were thus added among the research metrics: Coverage by broadband network/s capable of at least 2 Mbps download speed; Coverage by broadband network/s capable of at least 30 Mbps download speed; Coverage by broadband network/s capable of at least 100 Mbps download speed. However, since this was a new metric, the level of quality of received data varied quite substantially.

4. BCE Project Objectives
Mapping of Broadband Services – Technical Review Panel Meeting / March 2016
BCE Project Objectives
Collect coverage data on a country, regional and rural level for all nine broadband access technologies through:
a survey of network operators and National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs);
a review of alternative sources (e.g. operator websites, white papers, reports);
Estimate coverage for the different technology and speed combinations; and
Report the findings on both EU average as well as country-level data in a final report and prepare a regional-level database.

5. Key Metrics for Broadband Coverage Analysis
Mapping of Broadband Services – Technical Review Panel Meeting / March 2016
Key Metrics for Broadband Coverage Analysis
Regional coverage
Data collected on a regional level using NUTS 3 regions
Total 1,362 NUTS 3 areas in 31 study countries
Estimates for combination categories calculated on NUTS 3 level rather than total national and rural level
Rural coverage
Unified definition of rural households:
Households in a square kilometre with population less than one hundred people classified as rural
Based on methodology developed by Point Topic using the Corrine land cover database and creating a database of population and land type in every square kilometre across Europe (European Kilometre Grid database)

6. Methodology of Data Collection & Aggregation
Mapping of Broadband Services – Technical Review Panel Meeting / March 2016
Methodology of Data Collection & Aggregation

7. Survey Design and Data Collection
Mapping of Broadband Services – Technical Review Panel Meeting / March 2016
Survey Design and Data Collection
Survey questionnaire
Near-identical question wording and formatting of Excel based survey as in previous years
One question asking about absolute number of homes passed by broadband networks applied to individual technologies for each NUTS 3 area on national and rural level
“What is the number of homes passed by your networks providing this technology in your country?”
Respondents
31 NRAs
~250 network operators active across the 31 study countries
Aprox % response rate – BUT in about a third of study countries, NRAs collected and aggregated technology coverage data on behalf of the BCE research team
France, Germany, Netherlands, Romania, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Spain, Estonia, Cyprus and Malta

8. Technology Coverage Definitions
Mapping of Broadband Services – Technical Review Panel Meeting / March 2016
Technology Coverage Definitions
Technology
Technology definition
Coverage definition
DSL
DSL (for Digital Subscriber Line) is the basic technology used to provide broadband over conventional telephone lines. The types of DSL used for standard fixed broadband (mainly ADSL or ADSL2+) deliver download speeds of at least 2 Mbps.
A household has DSL coverage if it is a telephone exchange area fully enabled for DSL.
VDSL
VDSL (also called FTTC+VDSL for example) is a "Very-high-speed" version of DSL. 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.
A household has VDSL coverage if it is close enough to a VDSL-enabled cabinet or exchange to get a high-speed broadband signal.
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.
A household has FTTP coverage if it can be connected now to a fibre service without requiring the construction of new fibre infrastructure.
WiMAX
WiMAX is a wireless service using one of the IEEE standards d, for fixed users and e for mobile.
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.
Cable Modem
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.
A household has cable modem coverage if it can be connected to a broadband service without requiring the construction of new cable TV network infrastructure.
DOCSIS 3
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 DOCSIS 3 coverage if it can be connected now to a DOCSIS 3 service without requiring the construction of new cable TV network infrastructure.
HSPA
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.
A household has HSPA coverage if it is in the stated coverage area for at least one HSPA-upgraded 3G mobile network.
LTE
LTE (Long Term Evolution) is the next-generation mobile service standardised by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project and which supports peak downstream speeds of up to 100Mbps (LTE) and up to 1Gbps (LTE-Advanced).
A household has LTE coverage if it is in the stated coverage area for at least one LTE mobile network.
DSL Not all DSL connections are capable of download speeds of 2Mbps and higher (e.g. due to a large distance - typically more than 5km - between customer and exchange), these connections should not be reported in the survey, but we ask you to note this fact in STEP 4 - Technology definitions of the survey.
VDSL Actual VDSL download speeds can vary and we ask you to note the typical VDSL connection speeds in STEP 4 - Technology definitions of the survey.
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.

9. Speed Coverage Definitions
Mapping of Broadband Services – Technical Review Panel Meeting / March 2016
Speed Coverage Definitions
Speed category
Speed category definition
Coverage definition
At least 2 Mbps download
Broadband connections capable of realistically achieving actual download speeds of at least 2 Mbps. This category encompasses DSL (including VDSL), FTTP, WiMAX, standard cable (including DOCSIS 3.0 cable), HSPA and LTE broadband access technologies. However, not all DSL connections are capable of download speeds of 2Mbps and higher, these connections should not be included in this category, but we ask you to note this fact in STEP 6 - Speed definitions of the survey.
A household has at least 2 Mbps download speed coverage if its broadband connection achieves a minimum 2 Mbps download speed for the majority of the time.[1]
At least 30 Mbps download
Broadband connections capable of realistically achieving actual download speeds of at least 30 Mbps. This category encompasses VDSL, FTTP, and DOCSIS 3.0 cable broadband access technologies. However, not all connections utilizing these technologies can achieve 30 Mbps and higher actual download speeds. For example, VDSL connections with distance from the exchange point higher than 500m see radical decrease in actual speeds. Therefore, these connections should not be included in this category.
A household has at least 30 Mbps dowload speed coverage if its broadband connection achieves a minimum 30 Mbps download speed for the majority of the time.[1]
At least 100 Mbps download
Broadband connections capable of realistically achieving actual download speeds of at least 100 Mbps. This category encompasses FTTP and DOCSIS 3.0 cable broadband access technologies. In cases where vectoring is applied to VDSL2 technology and speeds reach 100 Mbps and higher download speeds, VDSL with vectoring should be included in this category. However, not all connections utilizing these technologies can achieve 100 Mbps actual download speeds. For example, in the case of FTTB (fibre-to-the-building) connections included in the FTTP category in-building wiring can pose significant constraints on achievable end-user broadband speeds. Therefore, these connections should not be included in this category.
A household has at least 100 Mbps download speed coverage if its broadband connection achieves a minimum 100 Mbps download speed for the majority of the time.[1]
[1] The 'majority of the time' is understood to mean actual download speeds achieved by a household for at least 75% of the time.

10. Survey responses Country Complete data from NRA Partial data from NRA
Mapping of Broadband Services – Technical Review Panel Meeting / March 2016
Survey responses
Country
Complete data from NRA
Partial data from NRA
NRA oversight and/or feedback
Data from operators
Austria X
Belgium
Bulgaria
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Rep.
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
(x)
Iceland
Ireland
Italy
Country
Complete data from NRA
Partial data from NRA
NRA oversight and/or feedback
Data from operators
Latvia X
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland UK

11. Mapping of Broadband Services – Technical Review Panel Meeting / March 2016
Parallel research
Supplemental research carried out to check the validity of survey data as well as to fill in any missing pieces of information
Desk research of the following publicly available sources:
 NRAs market reports and national broadband plans
 ISPs financial reports and press releases
 Industry organisations white papers, special reports and analysis
 Industry news
Additional data provided by FTTH Council Europe

12. Validation and integration of data
Mapping of Broadband Services – Technical Review Panel Meeting / March 2016
Validation and integration of data
Each country’s data was integrated for each technology individually, allowing to first obtain estimates for individual technologies at a NUTS 3 level, which were then used to calculate estimates for technology combinations – again at a NUTS 3 level
Unless information provided by NRAs or operators suggested otherwise, a standardised default formula was used taking the average of:
The minimum possible coverage; equal to the coverage of the most widespread technology or operator in the area; and
The maximum possible coverage; equal to the sum of the coverage of all the technologies or operators being considered, or to 100%, whichever was the greater
A varied formula was used in cases where some technologies’ coverage was more complementary than overlapping

13. Final dataset format and map creation tool
Mapping of Broadband Services – Technical Review Panel Meeting / March 2016
Final dataset format and map creation tool
All data inputs and outputs in Excel
Maps created using ArcGIS software

14. Challenges and Key Takeaways
Mapping of Broadband Services – Technical Review Panel Meeting / March 2016
Challenges and Key Takeaways

15. Challenges Lack of involvement of some NRAs and operators
Mapping of Broadband Services – Technical Review Panel Meeting / March 2016
Challenges
Lack of involvement of some NRAs and operators
A small number of NRAs and operators have not been able to contribute to the study either due to the lack of the data itself or due to confidentiality concerns
Most confidentiality related concerns were mitigated by signing NDAs and in cases where NRA involvement was not possible we’ve established close relationships with incumbents and other operators who provided us data
Household figures
Some discrepancies arising from varying household figures available from national statistic offices
A unified approach to total households and rural households was applied using Eurostat population data and Point Topic’s EKG database rural estimates
Rural data
Not all NRAs/operators are capable of providing rural data
Rural coverage was estimated based on an assumption that a technology will typically cover a particular rural area only when urban or non-rural areas within the same region reach 100% coverage

16. Challenges Speed data Data revisions
Mapping of Broadband Services – Technical Review Panel Meeting / March 2016
Challenges
Speed data
Given the rather unfamiliar concept and definition of actual speed coverage, the quality of the received speed data have varied substantially
Research team used responses as a guidance but determined speed data based on speed capability of individual technologies compared with data from alternative sources (speed databases)
Data revisions
On a number of occasions new and/or more accurate data became available over the course of the year between the editions of the study
The research team, in cooperation with the NRA or operator, needed to re-evaluate the previously reported data and provide restatements
Change of timeline for the final year of the study
In order to align reporting of the broadband coverage data with the publication of the Digital Economy and Society Index and the European Semester related country assessments the timeline of the study has been moved forward by six months to reflect the situation at the end of June 2015, rather than end of year data
A number of NRAs do not have mid-year data but estimates provided based on previous years growth and trends

17. Key Takeaways & Conclusions
Mapping of Broadband Services – Technical Review Panel Meeting / March 2016
Key Takeaways & Conclusions
The BCE study is now a well established project familiar to most participants and respondents
The research team has established good relationships with most NRAs
Most comprehensive data received from countries, in which regulators are involved in data collection
Overall very good experience with the Excel questionnaire
Similar wording and formatting of survey questionnaire is essential for year-on-year comparability
Speed coverage methodology
A more comprehensive methodology needs to be developed to determine coverage by the various speed categories

18. Mapping of Broadband Services – Technical Review Panel Meeting / March 2016
Thank you!