IDENTIFYING THE CHALLENGES

BT has identified a number of capabilities that would enable operators to bring new products to market quickly, with low or no capex requirements. New products and services would be white-labelled and appear seamless to the customer.

EXPLORING THE SOLUTIONS

Secure service which saves and restores end
user data onto online servers
 

PC Anti-virus and firewall bundle	PC-based security package
PC Backup and Restore	Secure service which saves and restores end user data onto online servers
Identity Theft	A professional advisor will advise end users who have been (or fear that they might become) a victim of identity theft
End user IT support	Gives end users direct access to a team of highly trained advisors, dedicated to helping them to solve their IT issues:   • Set up and support their Internet connection • Set up a home network • Help to ensure that their PC and home network are secure • Fix their PC software or home network faults • Share music, pictures and files across their network and beyond • Save time
Web Domains	Personal domains on the Internet, each with email addresses
Managed web hosting and building service	Linked to personal domains; available in Home, Business and Business Plus service packages
Insurance and premium for identitiy theft	A personal caseworker will develop an action plan tailored to the end user’s specific needs and guide them through the resolution channels. Monitoring of credit reports and proactive alerts. Users can also be given unlimited online access to their credit report
Dabs.com	White-labelled variant of BT’s dabs.com capability, offering small CPE, PC equipment and peripherals

Table : Product/Service Details

Value-added broadband offerings – A broadband service that just allows the end-user to browse the Internet is insufficient to differentiate one service provider from another. Bundling fixed voice, mobile voice and broadband together, and also offering value-added services such as TV, helps to strengthen the bond between the customer and service provider and reduce churn.

Ideally, value-added services should be available in a number of contexts and not just associated with one access technology. This potentially requires a large scale roll-out of IMS which has yet to happen. In the short term, we are therefore compelled to consider value-added services in the context of the bearer.

TV is a good example, although even this is delivered to the end user in different ways, typically unified at the set top box. Evidence suggests that end users are prepared to pay for a service that sits somewhere between a full Sky subscription and Freeview. Due to the network constraints of offering mainstream TV over IP, service providers are converging technologies to offer a compelling TV service.

The benchmark service is believed to deliver at least 40 mainstream Freeview channels, 80 specialist channels and a time shift service. This package is typically offered through a set top box with twin Freeview tuners, local storage and a broadband connection for time-shifted mainstream content, delivered as unicast ‘Video-on-Demand’. The 80 specialist content channels currently present a challenge, as there are a number of delivery options available and no clear winner.

BT believes the solution is to deploy a combination of static and dynamic multicast addressing and higher speed access tails. We are currently consulting the industry about our ideas, via Consult 21.

REAPING THE BENEFITS

The above capabilities are intended to augment a broadband offering by delivering infrastructure, content and value-added services that would:

• Create an enhanced user experience 
• Provide significant opportunities for ARPU stimulation 
• Require minimal capex for operators wanting to enter new markets 
• Minimise future network and systems investment